Fiction with Buddhist influences

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MiphamFan
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Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by MiphamFan »

I don't mean in some vague way there are themes that resonate with Buddhism but more prominent features such as it being part of the world-building etc.

The Japanese science fiction novel Shinsekai Yori is a good example of what I'm talking about. It is set 1,000 years in the future; humanity has developed psychic powers but use of technology has scaled back greatly. The surviving humans in Japan base their society on conditioning using various techniques, including rituals based on esoteric Buddhism (fire ritual, mantras etc).

There is also an anime based on the novel.
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Könchok Thrinley
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

One of my most favourite books I read it at the beginning of my journey to buddhism and I still have very fond memories of it. Shame I lost my copy. :/ :)

https://www.amazon.com/Mipam-First-Tibe ... 094338933X
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

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Natan
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Natan »

Not a book, but the sci fi movie, “Arrival,” has a very interesting theme about language that I think applies very well to build a better understanding of Buddha’s intent about mantras and mandalas. It’s very deep. One of the best sci fi movies of all time easily. Another movie I thought was really good for mistaken perceptions was “Atonement.” “Shutter Island” was recommended to me by a lama. He said, “all samsara people are this way.”
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passel
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by passel »

Lincoln in the Bardo
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Rick
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Rick »

Crazywisdom wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:33 am Not a book, but the sci fi movie, “Arrival,” has a very interesting theme about language that I think applies very well to build a better understanding of Buddha’s intent about mantras and mandalas. It’s very deep. One of the best sci fi movies of all time easily. Another movie I thought was really good for mistaken perceptions was “Atonement.” “Shutter Island” was recommended to me by a lama. He said, “all samsara people are this way.”
Groundhog Day IS pretty much the Buddhist path.

The first season of Westworld deals with rebirth.

Just re-saw Shutter Island ... yep. ;-)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ...
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Natan »

Rick wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:02 pm
Crazywisdom wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:33 am Not a book, but the sci fi movie, “Arrival,” has a very interesting theme about language that I think applies very well to build a better understanding of Buddha’s intent about mantras and mandalas. It’s very deep. One of the best sci fi movies of all time easily. Another movie I thought was really good for mistaken perceptions was “Atonement.” “Shutter Island” was recommended to me by a lama. He said, “all samsara people are this way.”
Groundhog Day IS pretty much the Buddhist path.

The first season of Westworld deals with rebirth.

Just re-saw Shutter Island ... yep. ;-)
Good call West World. Love that show. Groundhog Day. Awesome.

A.I. Was pretty great
Vajra fangs deliver vajra venom to your Mara body.
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Könchok Thrinley
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

Not sure if something you are looking for but I have always enjoyed Avatar the Last Airbender
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

- Arya Sanghata Sutra
Motova
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Motova »

Star Wars
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passel
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by passel »

From about 6th-12th grade I was infatuated with Lone Wolf and Cub comic books, translated into English, and at the time not easy to come by. Lots of explicit dharma in there tho I didn’t realize it at the time. The main character’s path was ‘Meifumado- the Dark Road to Hell’! The idea was that as the shogun’s executioner and later an assassin, he had built up so much black karma that hell was a certainty, but that he could and did still act with nobility, dignity, and kindness. Even when assassinating a ‘living buddha’, for example. He did zazen sometimes. Then fought wolves with his bare hands. I loved it, though I realize now that the translation and ‘explanatory’ comments were pretty terrible
"I have made a heap of all that I have met"- Svetonious
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by passel »

Jim Harrison. I like The Beast God Forgot to Invent, Brown Dog Chronicles, and Dalva especially. He was a student of Kobun Chino’s. They did an incense and chanting service at DH Lawrence’s grave.
"I have made a heap of all that I have met"- Svetonious
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justsit
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by justsit »

Cloud Atlas
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Kamshan »

I really liked the book "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson. It takes place in an alternate history where the Black Plague wipes out 99% of Europe. The book is heavily influenced by Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism. For example, characters reincarnate, have conversations in the bardo, and make explicit reference to different realms of samsara.
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Queequeg
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Queequeg »

justsit wrote: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:44 pmCloud Atlas
Was just trying to remember the name of this one. Didn't read the book, just saw the movie. When I walked out of that movie (which got a standing ovation) had to look up the writer and sure enough he spent time in Japan.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Queequeg
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Queequeg »

Dharma Bums by Kerouac
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Yavana
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Yavana »

Queequeg wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 3:27 am Dharma Bums by Kerouac
Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond.

:jedi:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Zelazny's Lord of Light is a hybrid fantasy-SF novel which centres on a character who is often assumed to be a Buddha but the layers of "truth", even in the book's own terms, are complicated. The short discussion here - https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questio ... d-of-light - may help.
But it's a great book anyway, and should be easy to get because it was republished not too long ago.

All of Ursula Le Guin's work is founded on Taoist perspectives - so not quite Buddhist but close, and always good.

:reading:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Googling [ buddhist fiction ] got me more results than I could read in a month. One of the most useful is this survey - https://www.uuworld.org/articles/good-buddhist-novel.

The search also reminded me of Peter Matthiessen, whose In Paradise https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186 ... n-paradise is challenging but well worth the commitment.

:reading:
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justsit
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by justsit »

Eliot Pattison's Inspector Shan series of murder mysteries is set in Tibet and is really well done. Very enjoyable if you like the genre. http://www.eliotpattison.com/inspector.html
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Kim O'Hara »

justsit wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 2:14 pm Eliot Pattison's Inspector Shan series of murder mysteries is set in Tibet and is really well done. Very enjoyable if you like the genre. http://www.eliotpattison.com/inspector.html
I have just read one of this series and liked it very much.
There's an Afterword in which he discusses the accuracy of the novel's political and social background and basically says, "Yes, it is as bad as this for Tibetans under the Chinese," and one of his reasons for writing is to put those facts in front of an audience who might not otherwise have known anything much about Tibet.

:reading:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Fiction with Buddhist influences

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Emma Larkin’s Comrade Aeon’s Field Guide to Bangkok

Here's one which qualifies for the thread mostly by being set in Bangkok - Buddhism as such is mainly in the background - but it's well written, approachable and evocative. (I could just about smell the locations! :smile: )

Longish review which I agree with - https://www.thaienquirer.com/29304/revi ... o-bangkok/ - except to note that the complicated layers of narrative never get in the way of the story.

:reading:
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