Int he movie ‘Marie Antionette’, she quotes Rousseau in the open fields to her friends, after ‘breaking free’ of the palace:
If we assume man has been corrupted by an artificial civilization,
what’s the natural state.
The state of nature from which he was removed?
Imagine wandering up and down the forest without industry,
without speech and without home.
These were words subtly lamenting of the contrived rites and rituals of royalty, which she found to be stifling and even suffocating. In Buddhism, our truly natural state would be that after removing our absolutely needless defilements. With our Buddha-nature in full bloom, we will be free to wander the universe uninhibited, with no fixed home, free, to illuminate the lives of others with enlightened speech and deeds.
There are two sides of every story. In my opinion, she meant no harm to the people. Revolutionaries at her time were the result of gossip and twisted stories about her. In fact, her love for the arts, family and charity is remarkable (according to credible researches). Her notable wisdom and liberation was just unacceptable to the conservative society at that time… Thanks for posting this!!! ; )
Indeed, she was heavily persecuted based on distorted “truth”. Which brings to light how important Right Speech is and what seems like past-time gossip can ruin another’s reputation that might lead to death.