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Question about Rising sun/Setting Sun
Hello!
I am doing a show in which my character is a Buddhist. There is a line where she says, "I ask myself if I am a rising sun or a setting sun." Can someone give me some insight on what exactly she is referring to?. She also claims that the character she is speaking to is a "total eclipse". I felt like that was more of a jab than an actual prediction....?
Any info or direction would be greatly appreciated. Also, how would a Buddhist approach Cancer? Do people believe that they can "detox" someone through meditation/positive thinking? I ask because she also claims that she can clense him/detox.
I realize that these questions may be out of the ordinary, but I haven't a clue about where to start.
Thank you,
Devon
I am doing a show in which my character is a Buddhist. There is a line where she says, "I ask myself if I am a rising sun or a setting sun." Can someone give me some insight on what exactly she is referring to?. She also claims that the character she is speaking to is a "total eclipse". I felt like that was more of a jab than an actual prediction....?
Any info or direction would be greatly appreciated. Also, how would a Buddhist approach Cancer? Do people believe that they can "detox" someone through meditation/positive thinking? I ask because she also claims that she can clense him/detox.
I realize that these questions may be out of the ordinary, but I haven't a clue about where to start.
Thank you,
Devon
0
Comments
Nice to meet you!
Who wrote the script?
Ask the scriptwriter to clarify.
Otherwise it seems very odd....
Rising sun - optimist
Setting sun - pessimist....maybe?
A Buddhist would be neither one nor the other....
If that is what is intended....
Meditation is a tool to do many things, but the best description I have read is one that describes it as "Bringing the Mind home".
It may well have beneficial medical effects but that's not the primary objective, with regards to Buddhism.
A Buddhist would never claim to 'cleanse' anyone.
So what show is this, please?
Could we come and see it?
:eek:!!
OK, reading further, the whole "de-toxing through meditation" stuff is just New-Age Foo-Foo. If you have any say in this, please discourage this sort of misrepresentation of Buddhism in this endeavor, as it has nothing whatsoever to do with Buddhism and the teachings of the Buddha.
If you are to portray a New-Age foo-foo type, fine, but please, please, please, do not portray such a character as anything having to do with Buddhism, Buddhists, or the teachings of the man we call "the Buddha."
You can learn more about Buddhism here if you are curious, and I would encourage you to do so. There is much misunderstanding about Buddhism and the teachings of the Buddha, even among many Buddhists.
But it seems that to portray Buddhists in the way this show seems to promote from the little bit you have provided here, especially without any kind of understanding of Buddhism and of what these lines you are supposed to say mean, seems almost reckless. To take it to an extreme, it's like asking you to paint on blackface and play Little Black Sambo -- "Yais, Massa, Yais!".
Please understand that I don't say any of this as any sort of indictment against you personally: It is highly admirable and commendable that you came here and asked first. You have asked our opinions. There is absolutely no sort of notion of "I can de-tox through meditation" in the teachings of the Buddha.
In short, it appears to me that the author is attempting to put a sort of "Zen statement" (or "Zen-sounding" statement) in the mouth of your assigned character, seemingly without any kind of understanding of Zen, and (from what information you have given here) clearly without any understanding of Buddhism, Buddhists, or the Buddha's teachings.
If you can provide a link to the script, we could provide a much more thorough and well-considered, and less off-the-cuff, answer.
Thank you so much for your reply. It is very difficult to find information on this topic, because I think she's simply trying to "sound Buddhist". The character is a 20 year old film student, who went "Buddhist" once her mother passed away from Cancer. My theory is that she leaned toward this belief to aid in her grieving process. So thank you for at least mentioning something I can relate the words to...
The show is called "Hitchcock Blonde" by Terry Johnson. It is rarely done and the rights are difficult to come by, so I imagine Mr. Johnson will not be answering my questions anytime soon :0)
If you find yourself in the Hattiesburg, Ms area in early October, you're more than welcome to come!
* If you dont mind, I would like to print your response for my character research. It's only to site sources.
I just read your response and I completely understand where you're coming from. The other character that she is speaking to, in no way believes that she is Buddhist. The audience should and will probably feel the same. Especially since I'm realizing that she is full-of it- it is now my job to allow the audience to see that.
It is only my intention to make sure that the gibberish coming from her mouth is in FACT nonsense and not something that has specific meaning or inflection. As the actor playing this role, I needed to see just how much truth was coming from her mouth and so the research began...
Hopefully this will comfort you. I don't think that Terry Johnson wanted to imply that Buddhism shouldn't be taken seriously, only that this particular character has issues with death.
Thank you all for your time and patience ~Devon
Perhaps some discussion of whether it is relevance and/or important to the story of whether your character really needs to be portrayed and identified as "a Buddhist", especially in this context, should be attempted.
Sadly enough, there are folks who do fit the stereotype, though it's really, as I say, a "New-Agey" thing, rather than any sort of real understanding of the Buddha's teachings. You are having to walk a fine line here. And from what I see of the context of the play, there doesn't seem to be any opportunity to clarify the truth of things.
Perhaps you could reference meditation without a specific reference to Buddhism?
I do very much echo What Stuka said with regard to the misconception People in general have about Buddhists.....
Can we really afford to get 'precious' about inaccurate images? Each time I visit garden centres, I am met by Buddha statues as ornaments; there are Buddha-themed restaurants; and we have Hollywood stars who parade Buddhism like a piece of costume jewelry. I am reminded that, on pilgrimage to the tomb of John the Evangelist at Ephesus, our guide pointed out a Turkish baths called "Jesus Hammam".
And we all know what the general Buddhist opinion of the hollywood starlets, is.....
The character in this play is projecting an inaccurate image of Buddhists - if indeed the viewing public is being led to believe that this is a portrayal of someone following Buddhism.
Just as novices (or 'newbuddhists') are 'corrected' about certain misconceptions they might have, through their questions, because of some misinformation they might have encountered, so are we also directing Devon in her quest to understand things better...
She did after all, ask us for clarification, for that very reason.....
The whole "Shambhala Warrior Training" business is so obtuse and far-removed from the teachings of the Buddha as to bear only superficial resemblance at all to "Buddhism". This from the link jinzang provided: