tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post4176621653032763592..comments2024-03-04T22:54:13.447+05:30Comments on Remains of the Day: Samsara by Pan NalinUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-89928383673742875152018-07-28T20:29:11.859+05:302018-07-28T20:29:11.859+05:30I am surprise that no one has noticed this. There ...I am surprise that no one has noticed this. There were a bird at the end of the last scene, just after he found out the answer of "How can one prevent a drop of water from ever drying up?" This bird was meant the dead of the monk (by dropping a rock in his head, as in the beginning of the movie). Then, you avoid a human soul to be dried (meaning suffering, troubles, and unhappiness) by killing the consciousness, so to say by killing the person.egdynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-82520647195031361272015-04-05T22:53:12.691+05:302015-04-05T22:53:12.691+05:30the drop in the ocean is individuals living asceti...the drop in the ocean is individuals living ascetic lifes, the drop is ketp from drying only by re integrating to normal social life with other human beings, nirvana and social life can be together tashi doesnt need to be a monk to be enlightened he can do it if he understands this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-74934382063925248952013-11-12T18:35:29.759+05:302013-11-12T18:35:29.759+05:30@ Harmanjit: I understood many of your superb anal...@ Harmanjit: I understood many of your superb analyses - especially your thought about unmindful Tashi, and the idea to freely make choices with maturity and clear understanding. However, your view on the director's bias towards monastic life appears a bit confusing and paradoxical. Because, If he could suggest one droplet (a life) to merge into the the ocean of drops (a collection of lives), how can he be bias favouring asceticism ? To me the happy playful child lama displays the property of innocence which is frequently emphasised throughout the first part of the movie with a view to portray the intensity of the free choice of will. Even the depiction of the superficial entertainment of city life doesn't indicate a bias against social life. May be, all he tries to say is about a principled social life (middle path) by incorporating parts from both the extremes of samsara and nirvana. Hence, to me, Sian Kerr's view seems more appropriate.Manasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-37089652180045711012013-05-25T05:12:49.531+05:302013-05-25T05:12:49.531+05:30Hi!
Personally I've really appreciated the fem...Hi!<br />Personally I've really appreciated the feminist speech of Tashi's woman, which for me means the old saying: "Behind every great man, there's a great woman".<br />I agree with your ideas on this movie. Thanks for sharing them.Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06416847470670570124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-57459494817208902013-04-29T18:03:58.013+05:302013-04-29T18:03:58.013+05:30Agreed with Sean.... That is the message of the m...Agreed with Sean.... That is the message of the movie...<br />BabuBabuDChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10433746196737168483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-89792733677899217762013-02-05T13:31:33.657+05:302013-02-05T13:31:33.657+05:30(cont.)
It's at that point, while contemplati...(cont.)<br /><br />It's at that point, while contemplating the two apparently opposite paths - the one leading on to the mountain monastery and a life of intentional deprivation, "the conquering of one desire", and the other leading back to the valley home and a life of unrestrained indulgence, "the satisfying of a thousand desires" - that he discovers a third alternative. Both paths are seen as they are: part and parcel of the same samsāra with its endless back and forth. And now something amazing happens - panning steeply upward, the camera veers from a horizontal to a vertical axis, putting everything in new perspective. Here is the middle path and the way out of this suffering: recognizing one's own delusion that is its cause and coming out of it - through understanding.<br /> <br />So this reframing of the key axis of tension from the diverging paths of the final scene (the valley home, the householder's life, desire and sex, and Tashi's wife Pema - all aligned with samsāra - on the one hand, and the monastery, monkhood, celibacy, and the teacher-monk, all aligned with nirvāṇa, on the other) to a more fruitful dichotomy between vacillation, indecision, and inner torment - the real saṃsāra - and freedom and relief from all that - a genuine liberation - seems to capture the film's key transformation.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04109045303576265489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-41518088437070274962013-02-05T13:21:59.619+05:302013-02-05T13:21:59.619+05:30I think the touch of resentment in how she gave hi...I think the touch of resentment in how she gave him the blessings-for-a-safe-journey satchel was due to the readiness with which he renounced his intention. He had just said, "Alright, I'll come back with you where I belong," and it was then that her attitude hardened, as if to say, "I came here to give you my blessings, and here you are giving up your decision so easily?" Like an insult. "So lightly you abandoned me?" And she leaves then, somewhat disgusted, saying, "Alright. You figure out what you want. You can come or go." Then, realizing that she was stronger than he, that she had in fact come ready to accept his callous abandonment of them and even then give him her support and blessings, he really wept, realizing the depth of his weakness and indecisiveness. Pema's lesson was "What will happen to the stick if nothing catches it or holds it back? - It will reach the sea." The only thing holding Tashi back was his own indecision about what he wanted. "If your thoughts toward the dharma were of the same intensity as the passion and love you have shown me, you would have become a Buddha in this very body, in this very life." It's simply a matter of determination, of decision. <br /> <br />So "throw the drop in the sea" becomes "just let the drop reach the sea" ie stop holding it up, preventing it with your prevarication...<br /> <br />But I think that there's also a suggestion that samsāra is such, the human predicament is such, that we vacillate, we waver, we're pulled this way and that by our conflicting desires, and this is the essence of our turning round and round in misery, never reaching the real consummation of any desire... <br /> <br />There's the tragedy of it.<br /><br />I suppose that seeing the tragedy of it is also the potential to learn (from saṃsāra) by observing it. Which relates to her "How do we know he didn't owe his enlightenment to her?" as well as the Chinese scroll phrase "Every place is the path" ie every situation can teach us. It's understanding of the predicament that leads to liberation from it... Pema is his samsāra, and his teacher, right to the end.<br /><br />to be more precise, from his *confused* point of view she represents samsāra, and the monastery represents nirvāṇa, but really saṃsāra is the never-ending back and forth vacillation between these two imagined poles. She shows him this, points out that the problem is not her or his passion even, but the vicious circle of indecision that he is stuck in. "Can you come out of THAT?" Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04109045303576265489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-81708952351176169672012-11-07T08:16:13.321+05:302012-11-07T08:16:13.321+05:30I do not know why it is so easy for others to acce...I do not know why it is so easy for others to accept the "drop of water" as a "soul" when the film is about "Buddhist" philosophy which posits a no-soul (anatta) as central to this philosophy.<br /><br />The better interpretation it seems is to link the letter at end of the film to the words etched on the rock. Such linking makes "drop of water" a "single desire" and the "sea" to be "thousands of desires".<br /><br />This is more consistent with the Buddha's "crossing over" (desires) discourses in which "staying pat" on the near shore is disfavored to experiencing the temporal nature of the satisfaction received from gratifying desires by being totally immersed in them.<br /><br />Tashi seemed to at last realize this fact after being lectured by his wife at the temple's outer wall, that as a monk he was simply insulating himself from desire, whereas a husband he fully engaged desire and found it not to be permanently satisfying.<br /><br />So "satisfying a thousand desires" leads to the same place as "conquering one desire", as the true nature of desire and its temporal satisfaction is realized.Metteyya Brahmanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08088426114846343969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-15918198026660603662010-11-12T16:58:06.901+05:302010-11-12T16:58:06.901+05:30Hi,
Have you watched Valley of Flowers by the sam...Hi,<br /><br />Have you watched Valley of Flowers by the same filmmaker? Its a 2006 film starring Milind Soman, Naseeruddin Shah and a French-Chinese actress who married Soman that same year. I'd be interested to know what other people think about that movie.Deepti Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09462873637851411701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-17400248888987852532010-04-20T02:15:00.712+05:302010-04-20T02:15:00.712+05:30While going through 'Aphormisms on intellect&#...While going through 'Aphormisms on intellect' I was going to suggest this movie to you but then i found this reviw on your blog. The very reason that i thought this movie links to the discussion happening out there is actually summed up by you in this review itself.<br /><br />"In the flow of life, one can struggle against circumstances, or one can flow with them and evolve inwardly, by an insightful examination of all that is happening within and around oneself."<br /><br />"If one flows without needless restlessness, life provides enough opportunities to grow, and to reach the natural destination, the understanding of one's existence as a self-aware drop in the infinite material ocean that is this universe."<br /><br />While you have talked ( a couple of years earlier) about evolution by the insightful examination and the natural destination of underatnding of one's existense as a self-aware drop, why such negativity now and so much about suffering?itsmenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-39673373677696297852009-07-05T16:37:15.838+05:302009-07-05T16:37:15.838+05:30I knew the theme of the movie and the message it g...I knew the theme of the movie and the message it gives (What is more important....). But i was only able to watch the 1st part of the movie till the marriage. After 3yrs when i got to see it again, with a curious desire to see how renunciation comes to Tashi, i watched it till end, but got nothing except 1 more question...<br /><br />How can one prevent a drop of water from ever drying up ? <br />--By throwing it into the ocean.<br /><br />At 1st i interpreted that, the drop of ocean is no doubt the human soul which actually does dry up here. The only way we can prevent it from drying up is if we throw it into the Ocean which is nothing but innumerable drops summed up. So, i thought the ocean to be the Supreme soul, our Lord. <br />i.e a soul can be prevented from drying up only by surrendering to the supreme soul.<br /><br />But, after reading the analysis here, i found it to be more accurate for the following reasons:<br /><br />1.<i> While Pema is talking to Tashi in the end, at a point she says to Tashi, " You could have attained the Dharma here in this very life(social life), if you would have shown the passion and love for it as u showed for me." <br />--> Here emphasis is not given on attaining Dharma by renouncing the world(social life), but by staying within the world with a devotion and passion for it.<br />So at the end, the water drop analogy best supports the dialogue by Pema, if we interpret it in the way that, a soul will dry up alone, but it finds a purpose (if the soul tries to) and begins to live in the world which is nothing but an ocean of souls.</i><br /><br />2.<i> Well, my interpretation of the ocean to be the supreme soul feels a bit odd for the word "throwing into" . Well, if ocean had been used to refer the Supreme Soul, then a word such as "putting into" could have been used. i.e. How can one..... drying up ? --By putting it into the ocean.</i><br /><br /><br />Well, that's only what i thought. Still this life is a mystery to be solved (at least for me).<br /><br /><b>~Hare Krushna </b>Nullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14000516932102400262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-21839968629322725402009-04-06T09:46:00.000+05:302009-04-06T09:46:00.000+05:30Hi Harman ,Very well written! As others I do have ...Hi Harman ,<BR/><BR/>Very well written! <BR/><BR/>As others I do have query regarding water drop analogy.<BR/><BR/>can I take this way: Water drop is individual soul, when it follows spiritual path, finally it reaches to the Ocean - which is nothing but state where no desires and attachments..only supreme bliss.<BR/><BR/>So, if one who doesn't want to get dried up should practice and get one with Ocean.Dr. Ankushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09939524307483763367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-28263824109169745712008-11-22T12:55:00.000+05:302008-11-22T12:55:00.000+05:30I saw this movie last night. I interpreted the wat...I saw this movie last night. I interpreted the water drop analogy to the following:<BR/><BR/>a) ocean is the big mind, the whole. Recognizing that the one drop is part of the bigger whole itself prevents it from drying up.<BR/>To stretch it, the water drop is anyway part of the bigger ocean, has always been.<BR/><BR/>b) if the drop represents the single desire, simply dropping it (surrendering it) into the whole and seeing it as simply a small, little part of everything makes one conquer it/ overcome it.<BR/><BR/>c) the drop and the ocean are the same. recognizing that and seeing the non-duality saves the drop. <BR/><BR/>I didn't necessarily see the ocean as all material existence.<BR/><BR/>I found the Korean movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring to be a much tighter movie dealing with similar questions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring,_Summer,_Autumn,_Winter..._and_Springpravshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15837836253135401929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-74002023584518301352008-01-02T12:16:00.000+05:302008-01-02T12:16:00.000+05:30Well, I disclose all the elements of the story, wh...Well, I disclose all the elements of the story, which might diminish the element of surprise in the narrative.Harmanjit Singhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14714797381673153973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-39510155483969717522008-01-01T16:04:00.000+05:302008-01-01T16:04:00.000+05:30Good read. Educative. Where are the 'spoilers' tha...Good read. Educative. Where are the 'spoilers' that you cautioned about in the beginning? If they were there, I missed them.Sriram Naganathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02103728755562734503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7037385.post-87988003507115012062007-12-31T09:54:00.000+05:302007-12-31T09:54:00.000+05:30The 'drop of water' analogy is often interpreted (...The 'drop of water' analogy is often interpreted (on contrary to the Buddha's teaching) by the Zen Buddhists to be Oneness -- where the illusion of seperation [of desires and desire-free; of happiness and unhappiness; of bond and freedom] is dispelled; and one continues to be <A HREF="http://users.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/enlightened.html" REL="nofollow">as miserable as ever</A>.<BR/><BR/>Good analysis!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com