Wiser Monkey

WISER MONKEY - VINTAGE

Vintage Item in excellent condition. Beautifully crafted, hand painted and well detailed Monkey. Liquorice and gild/gold tones in a gloss finish.

• Practical use: bookends – paper holder – window-door stopper.
• Show piece: attractive ornamental bookends to support and prevent books from tipping over. They are typically heavy enough to hold the books upright – or simply a display feature at home or office.

Last chance – ONLY 2 monkeys left  – no repeats. 

• Height: 14 cm
• Width body: 10 cm
• Width Head: 11 x 8 cm
• HEAVY item

Enjoy FREE worldwide delivery – including secure packaging and logistics, making it a special saving for you.

We offer a great discount if you can pick up the item from Bowral NSW, (email us) for details.

A wise monkey illustrated story:
Once, there lived a wise monkey, who was the leader of eighty thousand monkeys. One day, wandering in a forest they went very far and became very thirsty. So, they looked for water and eventually found a water-pond surrounded by densely grown canes. But before the monkeys could jump into the water to quench their thirst, their leader, the wise monkey, warned them to wait until the safe drinking was assured, as the place was new for them. So, he made a circuit and scrutinised the foot-prints around the pond. There, he noticed that there were some foot-prints, which appeared to have gone to the water but have not come up again. So, he inferred that there was a water-ogre living in the lake.

The result of the investigation was very disappointing and frustrating for all the monkeys. So, the wise monkey then made the suggestion that they could still drink the water safely by using the canes as straws, as there was a lavish growth of canes there. So, each monkey picked up one cane and made it hollow to use it as a straw and drank the water.  Thus, they all quenched their thirst safely by obeying the wise leader. The water-ogre, however, appeared but could not harm a single monkey, as he was not empowered to touch the land.

The monkey king is identified with the Bodhisatta; the 80,000 monkeys with his followers; and the ogre with Devadatta.

About Bidhisatta
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a being who has attained enlightenment but chooses to postpone attaining paradise (nirvana) to help others on their path to enlightenment. They are essentially "Buddhas in training," embodying qualities of compassion, wisdom, and self-sacrifice. Bodhisattvas are not gods, but rather enlightened beings who strive to benefit all sentient beings.

About Devadatta
Devadatta was by tradition a Buddhist monk, cousin and brother-in-law of Gautama Siddhārtha. The accounts of his life vary greatly, but he is generally seen as an evil and divisive figure in Buddhism, who led a breakaway group in the earliest days of the religion.