ᖭི༏ᖫྀ

initially, food for him was a tool for connection and sharing it was an act of love, it was him mirroring his mama’s care for him.

food was something deeply tied to bonding for him. his mama was sacrificing her own comfort to feed him and make sure he had enough. he felt and knew this and because of it, he saw food as a way to share love and care with others, as his mama did with him.

all until a rich young guy refused to give mo ran his dumpling skins (literally his leftovers) and gave them to the dog instead. it made baby mo ran realize that a dog was seen more valuable than him, simply because he was poor.

this moment caused a crack in his perception of food, it showed him that food could be something other than just an offering of love. it could be something to be picky about, something scarce.

he realized that food was something that, in a way, could determine his worth.

later when ranwan first met, the rice congee cwn offered to mo ran was a lifeline, literally his only means of survival at that point. the memory of that meal was rooted so deeply inside of him that not even the flower was able to erase it, and as an emperor he rewarded everyone at wubei temple out of gratitude. the heat of this irony is scorching, cause the whole time his savior was in his bed.

after he came to ssp, when he received food for his birthday, he forced himself to finish it, pushing past his limits and through the nausea of having too much just so that nothing would go to waste. i’m sure at one point he couldn’t even taste what he was eating anymore but he kept going anyway. food was still tied to survival, he didn’t see it as something to enjoy or savor yet, it was still an obligation, a necessity. it absolutely could not go to waste.

food didn’t have anything that could be appreciated, except its presence and availability.

as an emperor, we see him sitting on his throne, casually peeling grapes. the way this scene was written is exquisite and luxurious, but it also showed his detachment and indifference towards the grapes.

as an emperor he could have anything he wanted, it wasn’t about survival anymore. now it was a luxury, a symbol of his status but that’s all it was. it didn’t hold the same meaning it once did for him. he now had food and delicacies simply because he could.

food was a way of proving his worth and solidifying his position, but none of that mattered anymore; not when he was about to end his own life. everything had dulled in a world without chu wanning.

and so he buried himself under the tree where he had met chu wanning, next to a bowl of wontons.

chu wanning’s wontons, the wontons that changed everything. at that time shi mei offered him the bowl, mo ran wasn’t even hungry. he was feeling wronged. he was hurt and disappointed, with a heart bleeding from rejection. at that moment, the food offered to him was an act of kindness and consideration, someone had really taken the time to prepare him wontons from scratch! with a spicy broth too, just the way he liked, and they went as far as pouring the wontons into a thick bowl to prevent the heat from escaping. it was an act of kindness poured straight out of chu wanning’s guilty heart, right into shi mei’s thieving hands.

after his rebirth, we see 1.0 mo ran recalling the smallest details about how chu wanning liked his food (vols 1,2) all while claiming that he “hated him”. it showed just how closely mo ran had always been paying attention in his first lifetime, it proved that he cared on a way deeper level than he realized. he remembered how cwn liked his food down to the smallest details which was a level of intimacy that went beyond simple observation, it had been his subconscious absorbing everything it could about chu wanning.

cwn as xia sini asked elder xuanji how he could appear more approachable to his disciples, the answer he received was simple- he should show them that he cared. and so he tried.

during a meal with mo ran, cwn reached for his favorite dish, but instead of serving himself, he picked the first meatball and placed it on mo ran’s plate- thanking him for taking care of him over the past few days. he was trying to show mo ran gratitude and display kindness in the way he knew how, and in the way that felt safest for his thin face. he was showing he cared through food.

the gesture took mo ran by surprise; it was his first time after years seeing food being an act of care, something that was once familiar to him through his mom but so strange and so distant and far away now. he couldn’t make sense of it, since it was coming from chu wanning, and since he himself hadn’t seen food this way for years (with how his happy moments with his mom had been distorted by the flower).

in vol 4, when mo ran placed the plate closer to chu wanning than to shi mei that one time the three of them shared a meal, to me it was a subtle metaphor showing where his heart was leaning now. he was desperate to give chu wanning a good experience so he ordered the best meal the restaurant offered that he knew would appeal to him. mo ran started trying to subtly fix chu wanning’s unbalanced diet, going as far as using tricks to make him eat a balanced meal every time.

in vol 6 he even made a whole batch of soup dumplings specially for wanning. mo ran was finally beginning to see food as more than just a means of survival or something mandatory to stay alive, he started to use it as a way to show care for his beloved, even though he hadn’t yet realized it.

but imo, one of mo ran’s most profound acts of love is when he changed his diet to stop eating spicy food. this was a sacrifice for cwn. he had grown up without the luxury of being picky, yet now as an adult, he had the choice. but instead of choosing something for himself, he chose to adapt to chu wanning’s diet. this wasn’t about just being “picky”, it was about aligning with someone he loved. he wanted to share meals, to have the tips of their chopsticks touch as they dipped into the same pot, as if it were their hearts meeting. he wanted their hands to reach for the same dish, resulting in cwn’s ears turning red and cute (and biteable). he wanted to bask in the joy of eating together, it returned to being an act of selflessness again. it was a sign that he had finally learned to enjoy food for the pleasure of companionship, just like he had once had with his mother. back when sharing simple humble meals had been enough to bring him satisfaction as long as he had her with him.

he had given up spicy food but the heat never disappeared. this time the warmth of the meal filled him with something way more intense than the burn of any spicy food he had once craved, and this heat was one not even water could quench. it settled and lingered in his chest, warming him from the inside out.

in many asian cultures (including my own, but i’m not sure about the chinese perspective on this) sharing food from the same plate is seen as an act of love, care and bonding. it’s a connection that goes beyond just the meal itself. when mo ran chose to share food with chu wanning, he chose to share his life with him, and this act of sharing is a symbol of his growing love and bonding.

i’ve tried to cite the events as they happened chronologically in the story. there’s a clear pattern that meatbun followed here. i don’t think it was a coincidence or an attempt to insert some filler moments, but it was to display how mo ran’s perception of food evolved in tandem with his love for chu wanning, and how it became a mirror of his healing. food, which used to be a warm moment that connected mo ran with his mom once, lost its meaning. but eventually it became a symbol of connection and love again, something to cherish and appreciate.

when 1.0 mo ran was sleeping next to cwn that one morning and asked him to get up and make him some congee (after kissing him lol), it made it clear that he had asked chu fei to cook for him often (even though we all know he’s not that good at cooking sksjdju).

then we have corpse!txj coming into the second timeline and for the first time in years asking hbn if he could regain his sense of taste, simply to be able to taste the porridge made by chu wanning, even though as a corpse, he didn’t need to eat to stay alive.

that’s the point i was trying to make earlier; as an emperor he could acquire delicacies but he never really found any meaning in them. and during his time as a corpse (which literally spanned years), he never asked for food because he didn’t need it and it had held no meaning for him. but when he reunited with his wanning, he craved it, though he could no longer taste it again.

and finally, we have mo ran eating chu wanning’s porridge as his last meal. not only that, but he also fed chu wanning the best part of the fish iirc. even at his worst, even when he knew these hours were his last and this meal was his final one, he still chose to give the best part of the fish to cwn. emphasizing his selflessness and the depth of his love for him.

this time, food was something that comforted him, something that made him feel at home.

it was a meal that brought them together for one last time.

by the 17th century, it became a popular depiction on Japanese Buddhist temples, with the most famous one found on the third panel of an eight-panel sculpture on the sacred stable at the Toshogu shrine in Nikko, Japan.

you can read more about the shrine here.

-end of historical background-

now, here comes the question:

why was this philosophy depicted by monkeys?

it’s actually a play on words, in Japanese the proverb is

“見ざる、聞かざる、言わざる”

見ざる (romanized: mizaru) literal translation: see not

聞かざる(romanized: kikazaru) literal translation: hear not

言わざる (romanized: iwazaru) literal translation: speak not.

‘zaru’ which is present in all 3 words: mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru— is an archaic suffix used to negate a verb. it sounds very similar to the Japanese for monkey, which is ‘saru’ (猿).

while the literal translation is “see not, hear not, speak not” the Buddhist concept behind the phrase is “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” which emphasizes the Buddhist ethics and teachings on mindfulness, right speech, right action and right livelihood.

the Three Wise Monkeys— iwazaru, covers its mouth, speaking no evil; mizaru covers its eyes, seeing no evil; kikazaru, covers its ears, hearing no evil;

Geto’s take on this—

Geto takes the literal meaning of the proverb and applies it on non shamans. non sorcerers are unable to see curses (mizaru— see not), unable to hear curses (kikazaru— hear not) and naturally, you can’t speak accurately of what you can’t see or hear, so they speak not (iwazaru.)

he uses ‘monkey’ as a term that references the Wise Three Monkeys, to refer to non shamans’ ignorance about their world.

the monkey who’s covering its ears in the panel, is haunted by a cursed spirit but it’s ignorant of what that is because it can’t hear or see it (can also be seen as a sign of fear since naturally, people tend to be scared of the unknown.)

in JJK0 he says “those monkeys want to avert their eyes from the existence of those who are better than them” which can be a direct reference to the ‘mizaru’ monkey.

Toji’s take on this—

it’s worth pointing out that Toji was the first to refer to himself as a ‘monkey’ and Geto got it from him.

Toji here was pointing out the irony of defeating the “strongest duo” even while being unable to see or hear curses (he was able to “sense” them thanks to his HR but not “see” them like a regular jujutsu sorcerer, which was the reason he was rejected from the jujutsu society.)

now this is how i personally see it, i think Toji parallels “Sun Wukong” from the classic Chinese novel “Journey To The West”.

Sun Wukong was known as the “Monkey King”

[note: Journey To The West is a classic Chinese novel, it’s significant in the context of Buddhism but its importance is more cultural than doctrinal.]

the story of Sun Wukong:

Sun Wukong possessed many abilities, he had supernatural strength and was incredibly fast. he was a skilled fighter and was capable of defeating the best warriors of heaven.

Wukong was seen as lesser than a monkey but he was still stronger than most gods. the heavens gave him the lowest position just in order to keep an eye on him and monitor his activities.

when Sun Wukong found out about that he wanted to surpass the heaven and rebel against them. and he succeeded in doing so, he was stronger than them all but despite all of that they continued to look down upon him.

no one was able to stop him, except the Buddha.

doesn’t all of this sound familiar?

due to Toji lacking CE, the Zenin clan and the whole jujutsu society looked down upon him. even though with his HR, he was stronger than most sorcerers, and was able to defeat Gojo and Geto, the strongest sorcerers at the time. he acknowledged this by referring to himself as a “monkey.”

Gojo was able to gain a new understanding of CE, to reach enlightenment because of his “first” death.

“throughout heaven and earth, only i am the honored one” is a direct quote from the Buddha that Gege gave to Gojo.

Gojo was the Buddha who defeated the Monkey King, aka Toji.