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Reader comments on Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring
Subject: Re: burning oneself alive
Date: Jun 27, 2004
Thank you for taking the time to explain some of the Buddhist/symbolic elements behind the Old Monk's self-immolation. It helped me to better understand both the scene itself and how it fit into the film as a whole. I loved the film and felt a bit frustrated that I don't have the cultural context to appreciate it fully, so I'm grateful for your filling in a little of that context for western viewers.
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Response to this comment:
Re: burning oneself alive
Seong-nim immolated himself to fulfill the dharma of samsara. He had sealed off delusion when he pasted the character "bi" (i.e., 'shut' or 'closed') to his eyes, ears and mouth, a possible reference to the lines "Kwanum (Korean for "Avalokiteshvaro Bodhisattvah")saw that the five bundles (the senses) were empty of characteristic... Perceived form is emptiness, thus emptiness is perceived form." from the "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Maka Kannya Haramita Shin Gyung" in Korean, "Heart of Profound Illumination Sutra" or simply "Heart Sutra" in English), which is what he had his protege carve into the deck, and the lyrics to the song heard at the beginning of the film. Also, in Buddhist art, fire ("agni" - the fire that consumes all, or a funeral pyre)is the background as a symbol of purity, for the Buddha or a bodhisattva who is sitting on a lotus blossom that is floating on water, just like the boat that Seong-nim was sitting on. He was not ending his life, so much as going into another stage. He also was in a state of samadhi, or "profound illumination and awareness of his buddha-nature", as evidenced by his assuming a lotus position and arranging his hands into a mudra representing his entrance into samyak bodhi, or "supreme enlightenment". He was not so much committing suicide as entering into another stage of enlightenment in the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
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Comment index:
» Re: burning oneself alive « from Nancy, Jun 27, 2004
all from Erik, Aug 11, 2005
» Re: burning oneself alive « from Nancy, Jun 27, 2004
all from Erik, Aug 11, 2005
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