(no subject)

[twincityhacker]

I'm merrily clicking along thinking of reincarnation, Buddhism, and the Whoverse, and I'm comparing charecters to various aspects, and I wander to the idea of the bodhisattva.

I get as far as Bo- and then I'm *facepalming*.

Bodhisattvas are beings that put off the end of their reincarnation cycles - constant rebirth is suffering, after all - in order to help others on the way to enlightenment. Of course, the being is supposed to chose do this out of compassion, but I cannot believe that Bad Wolf changed Jack without his consent, even if he doesn't remember it.

Okay, right now it's odd to describe Jack helping people realize there's a greater world. ( Hello, Retcon! ) But at the same time, he's awakening his team to the greater universe. He's not protylizing in the streets, he's aiding those who have already taken steps to realize that they are not alone.

And it takes baby steps to love the entire universe, after all. But he gets there.

This seemingly does not deal with the completely expected Christianity symbolism. Since Buddhism attempts to solve one spiritual problem, Christianity a completely diffrent spiritual problem, I see no problem using both in this context. Especially when the knowledge of one informs the knowledge of another, like the Fransician monk who supplements his theology with Tibetan Buddhism that gave I lecture I went to.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Wonderful stuff, isn't it? Took me a while to make the connections - not just Boddhisattva but Buddha and the bo tree. The Christian symbolism is so easily obvious - the rest, not necessarily so much so.

I love it all, because in the middle of it, Jack is still Jack.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

Bo trees. I'm going to have to look that up.

With the Christain symbols so anvily at times, it's hard to imagine that they would stuff in more religious symbols. I'm still not entirely sure it's on purpose, but I enjoy looking for it all the same.

Much like the Celtic ( and others ) tradition of burring people under important places so there would be someone there to look after the place. Or how Owen wandered into Zen after he died.

It took me a long time to understand aspects of deities, and while this is not exactly whats going on here, it is a bit similar. Jack is Jack, whether he's The Captain, or The Face of Boe. Loving and protecting his people, who ever they are.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Bo trees. I'm going to have to look that up.

Here's the wikipedia link. And the relevant bit:

This plant is considered sacred by the followers of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, and hence the name 'Sacred Fig' was given to it. Siddhartha Gautama is referred to have been sitting underneath a Bo Tree when he was enlightened (Bodhi), or "awakened" (Buddha). Thus, Bo Tree is well-known symbol for happiness, prosperity, longevity and good luck.

Much like the Celtic ( and others ) tradition of burring people under important places so there would be someone there to look after the place.

Fascinating. I love the way tossed-off bits of plot turn out to have so many resonances. Given the intelligence of the people writing (even if the plots don't always reflect that intelligence), I am not surprised. I think a lot of it is 'on purpose' and some of it is sort of... ben trovato. Things that fit in better than anyone would expect.

Jack is Jack, whether he's The Captain, or The Face of Boe. Loving and protecting his people, who ever they are.

Yes. Aspects such as nurturing and protecting and compassion turn out to be the important things - and ironically (given his polyamorous nature), loyalty and steadfastness. (He spent more than a century just waiting for the Doctor.) I loved it when he told Toshiko that his plan to protect people of Earth was a 'work in progress'.

[smithy161.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a way around the Doctor's thirteen-regenerations problem.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

True. But the way it works, he could be more like John Smith than the Doctor.

And there's a pretty good chance that he'd be a she, partly depending on what kind of reincarnation you're talking about. Though I'm personally all for Lady!Doctor. = )