Where There's Magic, There's Buddha

From The Japan Times Online.

I dunno about this.

Two scholars, David R. Loy & Linda Goodhew, have written a book called The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, whihc attempts to find Buddhist messages in modern fantasy stories, including Tolkien and Pullman.

Tolkien, for example, was a devout Catholic and, as Loy and Goodhew note, his "fantasy world is built on a radical and quite un-Buddhist dualism between unredeemable evil (Sauron, Saruman) and uncompromising goodness (Gandalf, Frodo)." He created, though, a modern myth, and, as the authors point out, "myths have a way of growing beyond their creator's intentions."

Tolkien might have been surprised to learn, for example, that "in Buddhist terms, [Frodo and Sam] become bodhisattvas," but when one considers, with Loy and Goodhew, that Frodo does not choose to have his adventure, but rather that the journey he embarks upon in order to destroy the ring is inescapable, one sees that the authors' argument is plausible.

As wedded to dualism as "The Lord of the Rings" is, the selflessness of Frodo's response to the needs of the world can be read as an example of how one acts when one understands that one is not "other" than the world. Frodo and Sam, having let go of the dualism that separates self from world, become exemplars of socially engaged Buddhism. Readers may have thought they picked up Tolkien solely for the sense of wonder his work can inspire, but even as they are entertained they can learn, from Frodo and Sam, a lesson about how to be in a world often less than wonderful.

This analysis is as convoluted and improbable as the Lorax bit. It reminds me of the way that many, especially new, Pagans will go through their favorite novels, CDs, comics, RPGs, etc. to find the secret Pagan message, blithely ignoring any contrary evidence. For that matter, it's as flawed an analysis as seeing LOTR as purely Christian.

Miyazaki is the only artist considered whose cultural background suggests he may actually be a Buddhist, but religion, Buddhist or otherwise, plays little overt role in his work. Rather, Loy and Goodhew explain, "his deepest spiritual concerns are assimilated into the plots as central themes," and these themes are never simple. His films avoid, for example, the sort of dualities that provide the conflicts that drive so many narratives.

This is an interesting point. Since Buddhism tends to eschew duality, it follows that those from a strongly Buddhist-inflected culture will not be as likely to see the world in purely dualistic ways. But, on the other hand, any great art is going to defy simple, pat dualism in favor of more sophisticated systems. And it isn't as if there aren't Chinese and Japanese stories that don't contain stark duality.

I haven't read Pullman, for whatever reason. I've read more about him, mostly in the form of arguments between online friends over the way he treats religion. So it comes as no surprise that Pullman's works would be problematic for Loy and Goodhew.

Those of us who are not convinced that "generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom" must necessarily be linked with spirituality will find Philip Pullman's secular and humanistic vision in his "Dark Materials" more congenial than Loy and Goodhew, who worry that Pullman may be "throwing the spiritual baby out along with the dogmatic authoritarian bath water of monotheism."

That disposing of the spiritual baby may be the right move is not a lesson they choose to highlight. As it is not their brief to find secular, materialist lessons in the works they are explicating, this omission is neither surprising nor, in the end, damaging.

It's an interesting idea, all around ... the idea of Western fantasy lit informed by Eastern worldviews. Ursula LeGuin's works often qualify, for example; while the Japan Times article doesn't mention this, the book's catalog entry notes that LeGuin is treated. Since fantasy often treats in issues of spirituality, I think it's interesting to contemplate a fantasy work by a Westerner which is informed by Buddhist ethics and worldview, yet isn't an Orientalist pastiche.