Was Walt Disney a Buddha? ;-)

vinlyn

Okay, my title here is facetious, poking fun at a few threads a couple of weeks ago. But this does relate to Walt Disney and Buddhism.

I just got home from seeing "Saving Mr. Banks", the story about what Disney went through to gets the rights to make "Mary Poppins".

When we first see the authoress' London home, there's a statue of Buddha, which she takes with her when she travels to LA to meet with Disney. And there are a few subtle references to living a spartan life (though her London flat is hardly spartan).

Unfortunately, the woman is a cold bitch virtually no one would like...but of course, Disney ultimately melts her.

It's really quite a good movie, and hardly what I expected. Just thought you'd like to know of another flick with passing references to Buddhism.

ThailandTom

Never heard of the movie and I don't really go to the cinema anymore, sounds kind of interesting though.

Going back to your attempt at being factious, if Walt was a Buddha, he has created some negative karma if you read through this..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Disneyland_Resort

vinlyn

Gee, is it really fair to assess bad karma to Disney for incidents almost all of which occurred 30-40 years after his death?

ThailandTom

vinlyn said:

Gee, is it really fair to assess bad karma to Disney for incidents almost all of which occurred 30-40 years after his death?

Of course, karma can carry on through many lives as I'm sure you are aware of. Yes he was no directly responsible for those events, but think about the ripples of karma and the people involved, they would not have died or suffered if it were not for his actions. Anyway, off topic just a fun thought to play with.

vinlyn

Tom, you may appreciate this -- the first time I ever visited Wat Phra Keow in Bangkok, I remember actually thinking, "My goodness, this is like a Buddhist Disneyland!"

poptart

I wonder how much bad karma Disney incurred for Dick Van Dyke's appalling cockney accent.

lobster

P. L. Travers who wrote the Poppins books briefly studied Zen in Japan. Though she was probably more influenced by Gurdjieff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff

:wave:

vinlyn

Thanks for the info, lobster.

Hamsaka

Seems like Gurdjieff and Buddhism appear together in many spiritual resume's. I tried to understand Gurdjieff back in my 20's. It went right over my head, well most of it, and the rest of it didn't appear useful.

lobster

. . . As for the caste and gender based Walt Buddha . . .
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/16/abigail-disney-meryl-streep-racism-sexism

vinlyn

Apparently a recent biography (that I hope to read soon) counteracts those charges.

Citta

Hamsaka said:

Seems like Gurdjieff and Buddhism appear together in many spiritual resume's. I tried to understand Gurdjieff back in my 20's. It went right over my head, well most of it, and the rest of it didn't appear useful.

It was all bogus.
The Sufi teacher Idris Shah says that Gurdjieff pinched enough from the Sufis to impress westerners, but decontextualised and incomplete..he saw part of his mission as providing a service to damaged followers of Gurdjieff.

Vastmind

lobster said:

. . . As for the caste and gender based Walt Buddha . . .
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/16/abigail-disney-meryl-streep-racism-sexism

Everyone here knows my favorite movie is Mary Poppins....that being said....
I made a choice not to see the recent movie out of protest...and I told the kids
so, hahaha. I got tired of explaining why 'most' princesses looked the same and
how all that crap is make-believe...I liked how the niece explained her position
about her uncle....well said, I thought.