Buddhist Philosophy in Pixar’s ‘Soul’
Being in a world of doing.
Pixar’s Soul was released on Christmas Day, 2020, exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service. It’s a masterpiece. The visuals are stunning, the music was soothing, and the story felt actually meaningful. IMBD describes the plot of Soul in this way:
A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself.
This is a film equally focused on death and life, metaphysics, and the spiritual. Instead of focusing on the classic dualistic model that pits ‘good’ and ‘evil’ against one another, Soul is more concerned with understanding oneself and practicing compassion than almost any other film I’ve seen this year.
The film has fingerprints of Eastern Philosophical traditions all over it, namely Buddhism, but also Taoism. This article will be examining a handful of such examples, but by no means will it be an exhaustive list. I will mostly be focused on the character of Joe.
Warning! Spoilers ahead. Don’t bother reading if you haven’t seen the film yet.
The Three Unwholesome Roots
The most negative actions one can take in Buddhism are greed (passionate attachment or lust)…
