It’s probably not the best combo to attend a Heart Sutra lesson and watch a rom-com movie (Cape No. 7) later. I was unable to relate to the story, which would usually stir up feelings of yearning and forlornness. I found myself sitting in the dark cinema, predicting the ending and waiting for it to come. Thank goodness, the ticket price was not all wasted. 
At least the soundtrack was good.
Do humans like to complicate love or is love really that complicated? Is communicating one’s feelings really that hard or are feelings really that hard to communicate? Do we like drama or are we already dramatic by nature? One thing for sure is that we make the choices we do and have no one to blame but ourselves.
If feelings are illusionary and thus empty (of lasting or substantial nature), why are we enjoying its fleeting presence, and not letting go of the suffering it causes (when we become attached to them)? It’s probably not so much because we fancy suffering but because the impermanent nature of things had become an addictive stimulus for us unmindfully. Ups and downs have become so much a way of life for us that we have forgotten how to maintain equanimity.
Love is not dramatic in itself, though we dramatise it. It is humbly the way it is… even the greatest of love. It is a great gift one being can give to another. Worldly love in comparison with the universal love of the Buddhas is pretty ‘amateurish’ and shallow, it is still better than hate… although worldly feelings tend to swing between love and hate! May we love one another without attachment. And may we always maintain equanimity and realise Nirvana swiftly.
The female lead’s bad acting makes me cringe
Yes, the soundtrack is the film’s saving grace =]
Like what Aga said in the movie when asked why he did not respond to Tomoko’s outburst… “她的国è¯ä½ å¬å¾—懂å—？“
The small town charm saved the show too
The ‘representative’ mayor-like guy asked a good question… Why is it that the young leave for the cities when there is such beauty in the rural areas? Made me reflect on why I’m not settled contently in some small town
That is a theme explored in Travellers & Magicians too; of the young hankering after city life and wanting to break free from a rural existence. I guess it’s normal to feel that way sometimes, to see the “other” side as greener pastures and yearning to experience new stimuli.
Such longings in our hearts tend to blind us to the beauty around us, as we project our mind into the more “exciting” unknown and miss the good qualities of our familiar surroundings.
This underlying sense of unsatisfactoriness that comes with our Samsaric package will bug us time and again until we reach complete enlightenment. Let us all continue to strive towards attaining greater peace of the heart
What irony… that urbanites seek the countryside for solace while the the ‘ruralites’ seek the ‘big bad city’ for adventure. The trip elsewhere is still needed though… as part of the process, leading to the realisation that happiness is not in any one place, but in how we position our minds.
I guess contentment is the key to curb the urges of unsatisfactoriness. Like 代表 (the ‘representative’ in the story), he saw the beauty of the town without even needing to leave it. Thus was he already happy where he was… though he had other woes – from wanting citybound youngsters to recognise the beauty of the place!
We tend to want more than we need and by comparing what we want versus what we really need. We feel that we deserve more than our needs, that the wants can make us happier. Well, without dualistic comparison, what would be amiss? ^_^