All part of the package

I just finished re-watching one of my favorite films, the Korean masterpiece, “Why has Bodhidharma left for the East?” by director Bae Yong-kyun. It is a tough film to understand, but after years of watching it, thinking about it and, at one point using it in the classroom, it is starting to make sense.

Bae worked for eight years on it, waiting for the right moments to film – there is a scene in which there are floodwaters rushing through ancient trees – and then cutting and editing it himself.

It is a long film, but for some reason this time it seemed short. Parts I hadn’t understood before seemed obvious. Flashbacks and dreams, which I had not been able to place, suddenly all fit together.

As I say, it is a tough film, but it is a wonderful insight and meditation on Buddhist thought. If you can imagine dipping your hands into a large bowl of pearls, that’s how many pearls of wisdom are there for the taking.

So all the years of thinking about it, researching the material, connecting the dots, my way of working on the koan, is paying off. I had to figure certain things out. I mean, where does that ox come from and why is it suddenly there? Oh, the Ox-herding pictures. The film is filled with images, words and actions that have deep meanings, but if one is not aware of the cultural references, you miss every single one of them. Plus, who knows about the translation? It is different on various versions, but there is a new one just released. It’s on my list.

Of the many pearls, the one that jumps out at me and seems to be the crux of the most intense moment in the film, is that one must accept the world for what it is and embrace it. In one translation they use the word “shit” and in another, “garbage.” No matter what you call it, it is a part of life, no news to anyone.

But for one of the characters it is an epiphany. He has left his hardscrabble life, his family, job, everything to find “enlightenment” in a remote temple, but is racked with guilt and doubt. So he realizes that his family, job, life are all a part of his “enlightenment” and he returns to them.

And that’s the gist of this one – shootings, pandemics, corruption, injustice, poverty, insanity – compassion, kindness, children, music, talent, generosity, wisdom – all part of the same ball of wax, indivisible. To accept the one, you must accept all the others.