THESTORYTELLINGMONK
The Red Hairy Monster
Another day, and more drudgery. The woodcutter was getting old and very tired. Spending each day in the forest cutting wood and selling it in the market place was exhausting, and left him bitter and sad. With a wife, aging parents and four children to support at home, all his hard work barely kept the wolves of hunger at bay.
He was staggering out of the forest after one particularly arduous day when he saw a monk sitting under a tree. He touched the holy man’s feet to seek his blessing.
“Why the sad face and heavy steps, my son?” lovingly inquired the monk.
“Ah holy one… I have worked so hard all my life, and I can barely put food on the table each day to feed my family. If only I had a helper…” he lamented, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“I can provide you with a very vigorous and strong worker,” said the monk.
“Thank you very much,” said the poor woodcutter, “but I am not in a position to pay a salary to anyone… not even to myself!”
“My son, this helper will work for free all your life.”
The woodcutter could not believe his good fortune. Before he could stammer out his gratitude however, the monk added, “But you should know that you must always keep him busy. If you let him idle even for a moment, he will kill you.”
The woodcutter knew that there was more work than any man could do in the vast forest, and he was confident that he could keep this helper busy forever.
“Go home my beloved child—your aide is already waiting for you,” concluded the sage with a knowing smile.
A huge, hairy, red monster with an enormous axe in his hand greeted the old woodcutter when he returned home. The monster bowed respectfully and asked whether there was any work for him. The woodcutter told the creature to go into the forest and return with 200 pounds of wood.
The monster disappeared in a blur of red light. A few minutes later the blur reappeared and with it the monster and a huge pile of freshly chopped wood. The woodcutter was overjoyed and thought that this was much better than he had originally imagined.
He commanded his red friend to cut down the best trees in the forest and build a huge house for him, thinking that this would occupy the creature for at least a week. The old man went to bed but when he awoke in the morning and looked out the window he found before him a huge house. At first he thought he was dreaming but when he touched the wooden walls it seemed real enough.
The monster was again ready with his axe. This time he had to build a wooden fortification around the village to protect it from thieves. The monster had completed a beautiful fortification after only working for half a day and once again was demanding more work.
In a matter of days he had rebuilt the church to the design of the wood cutter, had mended all the dilapidated houses in the village, built bridges and created fences for every field. The monster was demanding more work but the woodcutter had nothing to give him. He began to worry, remembering the monk’s words that the monster would kill him if he was unemployed.
Fear got the better of the woodcutter and he ran frantically towards the forest in search of the monk. The monster, never one to miss a bit of exercise, followed him with his huge gleaming axe. The woodcutter tore through the wood screaming and wailing for the monk and finally, by the grace of God, found him. On his knees he pleaded, “Please take back this monster!”
“My son, I told you the condition, and you accepted it.”
“But I did not know he worked that fast!” cried the poor man.
“Once a wish is granted it can never be taken back” declared the monk.
Eventually the old man’s miserable wailing persuaded the monk, who took pity on the woodcutter. He said that he knew a job which would keep the monster busy.
“Is this all I need to do?” queried the old man when he had listened to the monk’s instructions.
“Do exactly as I told you and all be well. Go in peace.”
He returned to the village, followed by the monster, who was constantly asking him what work he had for him and muttering that the sharpness of his axe shouldn’t go to waste.
The woodcutter told him to go to the deepest part of the forest, find the tallest straight tree and bring it back after polishing it clean. The red smudge returned in a couple of seconds with a huge tree trunk, smooth and cleanly polished, which he planted firmly in the ground. Thereupon the woodcutter told him to go up and down the pole. The moment he reached the top he had to come down and when his foot touched the ground he must go up again. He told the monster to continue until he received further instructions.
Thus the woodcutter’s life was saved.
Represents our ordinary life, as we drag ourselves through another day at work, another meal, another diversion… “and our little life is rounded with a sleep” as Shakespeare would conclude (The Tempest Act 4, scene 1).
“The mind is a great servant but a terrible master.”
- Yogic saying
He is on a journey of
self-discovery, and will
meet his inner helpers.
A metaphor for our awakened intellect within. He alerts us to the presence of a wonderful servant within us which can also be a terrible master—the mind or ego.
Symbolizes the ego* which needs to be mastered for us to live
a balanced, fruitful life.
* I am using the word “ego” in its Eastern philosophical understanding, not in its Western psychological sense. The two concepts are vastly different—if not opposite.
Western psychology and psychotherapy talk about the ego (a Latin word which means “I”) as a set of functions and skills for negotiating the world. It is, according to Freud, “the reality principle” — that part of ourselves which is able to be in contact with the real. Freud views the ego as a sort of diplomat having to perpetually negotiate between two conflicting forces — the id or inner instincts and impulses (“I want that!”), and the superego or outer injunctions and prohibitions of society (“No, you can’t!”). In that sense, the ego maintains healthy, functioning boundaries.
Eastern philosophy and spirituality, on the other hand, has always talked of the ego (the translation of the Sanskrit word ahamkara which means, literally, “I do”) as a limiting filter in our total consciousness—that part of ourselves which reduces our divine identity to a small subset of name, form, function, gender, emotion, etc. (“I am a man, I am sick, I am rich, I am angry, etc.”). In that sense the ego is a liar who keeps us separate from the Ultimate Reality.
To summarize (with some inevitable over-simplification) the main difference between the two approaches, the West begins its inquiry by asking “Who am I?” and discovers an intelligent, complex mind; whereas the East starts by identifying “What or who am I not?”, and by a process of elimination, discovers its identity as an eternal, unlimited soul.
The monster symbolizes also our breath. The faster and more restless the breath becomes, the more chaotic our emotions and mental states become; conversely, the calmer the breath, the more focused and peaceful the mind. This close correlation between breath control and mind-control was already noted in the ancient yogic scripture Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2:2, “When the breath is restless, the mind is restless. When the breath is still, the mind is still. By breath-control, the yogi becomes realized. Therefore control the breath."
Symbolizes the spinal column through which our life force (prana) circulates.
Mystics take control of the mind by channeling its energy up and down their spinal tree, by using such techniques as circulating the life force or kundalini within the spinal canal through controlled inhalation and exhalation for instance.
One can imagine a further development. After chasing up and down the tree trunk for what seems an eternity, the Red Hairy Monster realizes the trick. He takes a giant leap from the top of the pole… and evaporates into Infinity, never to return to a life of ups and downs.
This is the state of enlightenment, described in various mystical traditions as merging the finite (the human body and mind) into the Infinite (God, Life, Cosmic Force…) through the crown of the head (the top of the pole).