It struck me that the Hannya mask (left picture) I bought in Japan resembles Batman’s mask (right picture: DVD box of ‘The Dark Knight’). That said, the Hannya mask is essentially not a mask. It’s supposed to be the terribly anguished (more than horrifying) face of Hannya. Likewise, when Batman wears his cape and cowl, the mask is supposed to amplify his emotions towards the baddies he battle, though it serves to hide his identity too. Note the deeply wrathful and disapproving scowl. It’s easy to imagine Bruce Wayne wearing the same expression beneath the mask when he takes on the persona of the dark knight.
Though we tend to see Hannya as monstrous, and Batman as heroic, they nevertheless both wear weary expressions of Dukkha – of existential dissatisfaction. Hannya was driven ‘mad’ by her attachment to love, while Batman is driven by his aversion towards the ‘phantom’ killer of his parents. These two masks are now decorative pieces on my bookshelves – one a traditional and the other a pop-cultural reminder not to wear their expressions on my face. Out of unmindfulness, we don them on our faces at times, though in less dramatic forms. They become the unseen masks of our tranquil Buddha-nature – unless someone tells us about them, or when we catch ourselves in a mirror.
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