In the film “Tokyo!”, the middle story is called “Merde”. (“Merde” is French for “shit”, which is strangely synonymous with “good luck”, as wished before a performance in show business.) A bizarre crazy-eyed man dressed in green (dubbed a “creature from the sewers”) arises from the sewers. With an equally crazy gait, he roams the streets of Tokyo. He knocks into passers-by, grabs flowers for food and is basically rude and disruptive. At the same time, he evokes great curiosity. Who is this eccentric and seemingly irrational person? (Some say this story is a new humanised take on Japan’s greatest “terrorist” – Godzilla.)
When arrested and interrogated, he doesn’t answers properly (as least, not to me!). He continues to provoke his audience in an unrepentant manner even when in court, spouting harshly anti-social racist remarks and such. Probably due to popular demand, he is judged and sentenced to death by hanging. As the witnesses watch with both fascination and disgust, he suddenly disappears into thin air. The camera pans to a grilled and intact air duct.
As the witnesses look around in wonderment and repulsion at the inexplicable great escape, my guess is that the director was hinting of the “creature” being the personification or embodiment of contempt itself, that he had simply dissipated into the air, that was possibly breathed back in by the world itself. In other words, contempt, which is irrational, re-manifests time and again in society, which seeks to condemn more than understand. Contempt for contempt does not end or kill contempt. As the Buddha put it, “Hatred can never be ceased by hatred; hatred can only be ceased by love [or loving-kindness and compassion].”
But the “creature” has his supporters too, who fervently held demonstrations against his imprisonment and death sentence. But the irony is that the the supporters were themselves nursing and expressing great contempt. They too probably did not understand why the others could not stand the “creature’s” contempt. They too returned contempt for contempt. In this way, the “creature” of contempt brought out the contempt of the people. He was an ugly looking person, who never looked at himself, but he was also a mirror for others to reflect upon themselves.
If you have contempt for the contemptuous,
why do you not have contempt for yourself too,
since having contempt is contemptuous?
– Stonepeace
What one sees in others reflect one’s own mind. This reminds me of the Zen story – Like a Pile of Bullsh*t By Ven Master Hsing Yun, from Merit Times.
“Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty went to meditate with Chan Master Foyin at Golden Mountain Temple. After Su Dongpo had experienced a total relaxation of body and mind, he asked Chan Master Foyin, “Chan Master, what do you think of my sitting posture?”
“Very magnificent. Like a Buddha!”
Su Dongpo was very delighted to hear that. Chan Master Foyin then asked him, “Scholar, what do you think of my sitting posture then?”
Su Dongpo, never giving up any chance to tease and jeer at Chan Master Foyin, immediately replied, “Like a pile of bullsh**.” Chan Master Foyin was very delighted to hear the answer and did not utter another word.
Su Dongpo thought he had beaten Chan Master Foyin because the Chan Master was wordless while being compared to a pile of bullsh**. He was so proud of himself that he told everyone he met, “Today I won.”
This news soon reached Su’s sister Su Xiaomei. She asked him, “Brother, how was it that you beat Chan Master today?” Su repeated the whole story vividly to his sister. Su Xiaomei, talented and smart as she was, told Su Dongpo straight to his face, “Brother, you actually lost. It is because Chan Master’s mind is actually that of a Buddha that he could see you as a Buddha. As your mind is like a pile of bullsh**, you, of course, saw him as a pile of bullsh**.” Su Dongpo, realizing his Chan practice was far inferior to Chan Master Foyin’s, was speechless.
Moral: Chan does not depend on knowledge but upon the capacity to awake. Chan is not about eloquent debate but intuitive wisdom. Don’t think all Chan masters handle encounters with sharp words. Sometimes, when they are silent and don’t communicate via words and language, they can still utter the same deafening Dharma sounds.”
Hmm, I wonder whether there will be any karmic effect of Su Dongpo “refering a Venerable to something not pleasant” as disrespect to Sangha or the religion other than reflecting his inferiority in Chan practice in moment of jeer… 😮
Well, that would depend on his intention – as karma is created by whether the intention is good :love: or evil 👿