"Speak Without Talking"

The Darjeeling Limited, 2007 

Part 9 from the movie

           

           The video clip I have chosen to visualize a stereotype for a Buddhist practitioner, nun, is from the movie The Darjeeling Limited directed by Wes Anderson.  The movie portrays three brothers who haven’t spoken since their father died a year earlier.  The three brothers decide to come together for a “spiritual journey” on the Darjeeling Limited train throughout India.  The two younger brothers, Peter and Jack, aren’t aware of the oldest brothers, Francis, intentions of meeting their mother at the end of the trip at a convent in the Himalayan Mountains. Their mother is the stereotype I’m going to explain, though throughout the movie there are frequent examples of Buddhist traditions.  In the clip that I have posted (it’s a long clip but the stereotype starts at 4:15), their mother comes running out of the nunnery and is immediately surprised that the sons have shown up but asks that they stay.  I think throughout this whole scene their mother is portrayed as very spiritual, wholehearted, and uses many metaphors to put things into perspective for her sons about why she is now living at this convent and why she missed their father’s funeral a year earlier.  The 4 are sitting around reminiscing about their father’s funeral while the mother says “maybe we could express ourselves more fully if we say it without words.”  I think that quote alone develops a very spiritual grounding for the clip, and after she says that it seems the movie takes a turn for an almost “enlightenment feel” for the brothers state of affairs.  This creates a stereotype of what a Buddhist nun may be like, and what a Buddhist nun may offer with regards to moving on and letting the past go. I think though this stereotype is a positive one it may not be the most relevant, when comparing to Brad Warner’s writings.

            In Brad Warner’s book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, he speaks much about stereotypes in relation to the real things he has experienced and observed.  Brad explains that many people label studies of "Zen [as] hippie stuff"(p. 25).  In the chapter titled “Does Real Buddhism Exist in the West?” Brad speaks about instant enlightenment.  He explains that one of the people he came across pushed that, with his teachings, “you will have your [instant enlightenment] before lunchtime,” basically just like Buddha gained his enlightenment sitting under the Bodhi tree for many lifetimes (p. 27).  In The Darjeeling Limited, it seems that almost right after the mother introduces the “speak without talking” option in regards to their current situation, that the brothers are almost immediately enlightened about their circumstance.  This being said, Warner clearly states that "there is no way to get it (it being enlightenment) without years of practice [and] that's just the way it is"(p. 29).  Though this is a movie, one of which can't play for centuries to depict what Brad Warner would label a true enlightenment period, it does give the stereotype of “instant enlightenment” that Brad  also speaks about in his book.  Now, though the movie does not depict the brothers enlightenment as one that "you [...] file away with all your other cool experiences," it does fast-forward the situation slightly (p. 28).

          With comparisons of the stereotype in The Darjeeling Limited with Brad Warner's writings, I think that it is relevant to point out that the nun portrayed is not a negative typecast, but does hold some characteristics that Brad would claim are stereotypes.  Brad leaves us with a good message that because the "general public" doesn't hold a clear understanding of what exactly “enlightenment” funds, that they can turn just about anything into a type of enlightenment sensation and that a broad selection of the “general public” will consider it due to not only the popularity of pop-culture, but also the lack of those who haven’t studied the Buddhist belief themselves.

(649wc)