Miyazaki Hayao’s Princess Mononke implies Buddhist ideas such as Karma, duhkha, enlightenment and rebirth, answering the conflicts between good and evil, nature and human, and the solution to end the sorrowful world. Miyazaki materializes old Japanese values specially Buddhism and his personal experiences either in the characters or in scenarios. (Zoelen & Audric, 2012) Princess Mononoke (1997) is a crucial icon of late twentieth century Japanese popular culture and animation, which has its setting in the sacred forest and iron town, illustrating the wars between gods and human. Ashitaka, the protagonist, left the village for the asceticism, pursuing the truth and the way to cure his cursed arm.
Karma resulted in suffering
Princess Mononke illustrates that human experiences suffering from their bad karma. What the Gautama Buddha has said, ‘I observed living beings die and be born…following the results of their karma.’ (Mitchell, 2002) The Emishi was defeated by the Yamato and secluded from the world more than 500 years, therefore the Emishi elder believed that the prince Ashitaka left the Emishi village due to their cowardice in the war. Moreover, there was a group of incurable patients who had never see the sun, making the deadly weapons for Lady Eboshi. The weapons they made were used to kill god and defeat the enemy, so they became half-dead and endured enormous pain owing to their bad karma. Obviously, human suffers from what they have done, the action which is bad towards other beings.
What is more, Miyazaki implies that bad karma will convert into constant hatred by revenges. Ashitaki’s arm became incredibly powerful and self-conscious because of the curse. He shot an arrow towards samurai and samurai’s head was cut off, also he pushed the town gate weight hundred tons with one hand. While he went mad with Lady Eboshi because she designed to make more deadly weapons, his arm came into uncontrollable that was self-consciousness having a thought to kill Lady Eboshi. If the curse arm killed Lady Eboshi, hatred of the town people will breed with countless wars.
Impermanent happiness and duhkha
The film is full of desires and hatred, that dominate human’s mind even the god’s where cultivate the devil. The iron ball shot by Lady Eboshi from iron town hurt the boar god, hence it turned into demon. ‘Soon all of you will feel my hatred and suffer what I have suffered.’ The boar demon body then rotted away. Either sacred animal’s gods were spreading hatred by wars. In fact, nonduality of good and evil reveals that there is no binary boundary between god and demon. For Buddhism, evil has no essence or substance of its own; it is a product of impermanent causes and conditions. (Loy, 2002) Lady Eboshi and young Mononoke representing human also expressed lots of greed, ill-wills and delusion in the film. The reasons why they experience suffering or dissatisfactoriness (duhkha) are physical phenomena producing suffering and humanity’s search for impermanent happiness, such as natural disasters and wars. Everything will decay and change over time[1]. The truth Miyazaki revealed is that impermanent pleasures could not provide a permanent happiness[2]. Dissatisfactory condition of ordinary that we contain no permanent inner substance or “self”. (Mitchell, 2002) It is a cycle that human pursuits impermanent happiness and suffers duhkha, non-stop.
Strive towards enlightenment
The story of Princess Mononoke starts with the concept of asceticism and Awakening mentioned in Buddhism. Ashitaka was cursed by a dying boar god, the wise woman from Emishi told him, ‘You cannot alter your fate…If you have faith to go there (the Yamato) and see what you see with eyes unclouded by hate, you may find to way to live the curse.’ Ashitaka left the Emishi village for the asceticism, facing a brunch of challenges and danger, in order to purse the truth that is what turns the dying boar god into demon. Complete Awakening means the end of duhkha. Awakening is said to entail knowing the truths with penetrating insight[3]. (Mitchell, 2002) Ascetic experiences helped Ashitaka to attain enlightenment — the answer to deal with conflicts between nature and civilization, in another word, the end of sorrowful world.
In the latter part of the film, Jiki-bo, a Buddhist monk who guiding Ashitaka to visit iron town, told him that “land teems with the twittering of bitter ghosts dead from war…This world is a curse.”[4] (Fielding, 2008) Both the wise woman and the monk has mentioned about the fate. Because the world is a curse, neither human nor gods can alter the fate. Therefore, enlightenment is the only way to attain to nirvana, where the duhkha ends.
Rebirth of the sorrowful world
It is implied that the world can attain to rebirth in the film. Miyazaki places the emphasis on Buddhism, meant to provide a spiritual worldview. (Tucker, 2003) The human world, or iron town is crowded with pollution, materialism, greed and hatred. Human was snatching at the natural resources such iron mine or timber for pursuing properties and high level of life. Lady Eboshi cut off the Shishigami’s (kami of the forest) head then it turned into giant monster. Accordingly, Shishigami was searching its head and destroying everything. However, it eventually endowed the world with rebirth, that the forest was again restored.
In the film, Ashitaka was always asking a question, ‘Can human and nature co-exist?’. Miyazaki gives his answer in the end of the film apparently. For Ashitaka, is neither beast nor human, forest nor town, but one world that must learn to live in harmony in order to avoid destruction. (Kraemer, 2016). Miyazaki implies a spiritual worldview that eliminates society’s boundaries and dichotomies, that nature and humans co-exist in the one world. For Buddhism, co-dependent ordination means that nothing exists by itself. Everything is relational and exists depend on relationships with other beings. Metaphorically, humans and the kami have a reciprocal relationship. (Fielding, 2008) Miyazaki illustrates a world view with co-dependent ordination between nature and human in Princess Mononke.
Conclusion
Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke presents Buddhism thoughts that advocates a spiritual world view with harmony between nature and human, races as well as the kami and human. Human suffers pain because of their actions, or the bad karma since dissatisfactoriness such as greed, delusion is breeded owing to pursuit of impermanent happiness. Ashitaki, the protagonist in the film, who was eventually saved Shishigami and the world, is the symbol of enlightenment. Last but not least, Miyazaki comes to the conclusion that create a world where nature and human co-exist in harmony.
[1] Mitchell, D. W. (2002). Introducing the Buddhist experience. New York: Oxford University Press, chapter 2, p.36.
[2] Mitchell, D. W. (2002). Introducing the Buddhist experience. New York: Oxford University Press, chapter 1, p.15.
[3] Mitchell, D. W. (2002). Introducing the Buddhist experience. New York: Oxford University Press, chapter 2, p.53.
[4] Fielding, J. R. (2008). Discovering World Religions at 24 Frames Per Second. Scarecrow Press, p.331.
