The legend of Sun Wukong (孙悟空)

Learn about the perils of 傲 (arrogance) through the legend of Monkey God and the 16th-century novel, Journey To The West.

We will be taking a less conventional approach: Instead of focusing on his powers and heroics, we will look at his character flaws and colossal mistakes. We will learn how he overcame these through deep reflection, willpower, and ultimately learning to let go.

Activities include:

- Monkey time! Carefully observing and imitating the traits of primates, leading to an understanding of the concept of Monkey-Mind: The tendency for humans, in spite of our intelligence, to be impatient, proud and discontented.

- To The West & Back In 60 min: Reliving Sun Wukong’s life story, and analysing the wisdom (or lack thereof) of the choices he made, and why he made them.

- Relating children’s lives today to Sun Wukong’s life through our original game. Explore whether there are similarities in the need to possess more and more, to prove oneself to the world, to struggle with restlessness and discontent, etc. Explain how Sun Wukong struggled with these, and the havoc he wreaked on others and himself as a result.

- Understanding how Sun Wukong turned into a new leaf and his difficult journey of growth spanning 14 years and 81 tribulations, filled with hardship and being unappreciated. We will learn how he attained Buddhahood and the title of “Victorious Fighting Buddha” (斗战胜佛), when he finally realised that greatness can only be manifested through compassion and through service to others.

- Understand the concept of 生老病死 through our original game. We will introduce children to the 抓周 tradition, where objects symbolising career choices or personality traits are placed before a child at his/her 1st birthday. We will explore the tension between Choice and Luck. We will learn about the importance of discipline, forming good life habits, and not squandering our talents. We will learn how to take responsibility for our choices. And how, like another equally-acrobatic animal character, Monkey God learnt the importance of how “With great power, comes great responsibility” :P

- Understanding the metaphoric meaning of the name Sun Wukong: 悟 = enlightened, 空 = emptiness.

Important to note:

* Note: If you had previously attended the "Journey To The Where?" workshop, pls do not sign up for this workshop as there are overlaps in content.

* Due to limited slots, bookings are non-refundable.

* This is a drop-off programme. Pls drop off and pick up your child after the workshop.

* Do note that by attending this workshop, your child will not understand the complete "Journey To The West”. What we aim to do instead is to plant the seeds.

* Photos of the classes may be taken and used for publicity purposes.

* Curriculum is subject to minor changes.

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