Maleficent – Both a Vilian and Hero

Yup as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m writing about Disney movies for a bit before switching to other movies. If there is any violent objection, please comment. Haha :D

This time I’m writing on a fairly recent movie that just came out last month – Maleficent, yup the remake of Sleeping Beauty from the antagonist’s point of view with a few twists. As usual, there will be spoilers in this post.

Forget everything you know about the fairy tale – this story is a much needed adaptation of the original classic. Set in the magical kingdom of Moors, the beautiful fairy Maleficent falls in love with a human, Stefan, but is betrayed by him so that he can become king. Deeply hurt and enraged by the betrayal, she places a curse on his daughter Aurora that she will fall into a deep sleep at the age of 16. Frightened, the king sends his daughter away to prevent the curse from happening, but Maleficent is determined to pursue her to see through her revenge. Will the princess be able to find her true prince to rescue her from the clutches of the evil fairy? 

HINT: Not a typical fairy tale. This should give you a hint about where the story is headed!(Synopsis by Wei Xing)

King Stefan’s greedy and immoral nature that surfaced in his childhood stealing incident escalated and ultimately led to his great fear and demise. By cheating Maleficent’s romantic feelings to cut off her wings out of his greed to be crowned king, he created a cause for her to take revenge by cursing his baby girl. This caused him to live in fear. His desire to go all out to kill Maleficent caused him to not even realise when Aurora’s curse had been broken. Maleficent had decided to walk away instead of killing him despite the great suffering he inflicted on her, and it was his own desire to kill her that led to the fight that ended in his death.

The moral of the story that would be told to children is that selfishness and greed will eventually bring one down. King Stefan is indeed an extreme example. In a more general and relatable sense, this relates to our bad habits and tendencies, which are all rooted in greed, hatred and delusion, the roots of suffering. We may start off with them since we are young, and this movie is a warning that they may snowball in adulthood if not corrected. Thus now is the best time for us to start identifying and correcting them.

Maleficent had great courage because she was in the position to kill Stefan, but decided to walk away. Her action shows that she has let go of the past; she was now very different from how she was when she cursed Aurora. This is a reminder to us that we have a choice in any situation even if it can be very difficult. Revenge does not equate justice. I’ll let you guys contemplate about this quote:

The movie shows that there are underlying reasons why people do things. We often do not have the full picture and should try to judge less and be more forgiving as our judgment is usually not fair. In the original story of Sleeping Beauty, we only hear how the fairy who cursed Sleeping Beauty was “evil” and Sleeping Beauty was victimised by her. However, by telling the story from the antagonist’s point of view, we can completely empathise with Maleficent and understand why she did what she did. Being the unenlightened beings we are, which of us wouldn’t be blinded by hate and revenge if we were as hurt as deeply as she was by Stefan? Having said that, this also shows how when we are angry or hurt, our perception is also twisted. Maleficent took years to realise how innocent and loveable Aurora was unlike her father, to the point that she decided to revoke her curse and was desperate to help Aurora when she realised she could not do so.

You guys may have thought of the last point – that romantic love may not be true love and vice versa. Stefan turned out to be merely using Maleficent and did not love her. True love is to really care for and be there for another; Maleficent was the one who broke her own curse because she genuinely cared for Aurora. This idea can be applied to anyone, especially in relationships. It is a pity that some couples go into a relationship in a hurry for their own self image, excitement, being completely infatuated with the person etc. I feel that partners should really stand by and help each other through the ups and downs, and have to recognise each other’s strengths as well as weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Pfft, stop chuckling :/

Ok it’s the end of this post. For subsequent posts I shall be writing on some more recent stuff including Disney movies.

- Pei Si

Saturday Youth Service Talk – The Grateful Beasts

The talk by Venerable Pandit was on the fairy tale of the same title.

Before he went into the story, he gave us an insight into Buddhist psychology and the power of stories.

People go through these 2 phases:

Id Phase (from Freudian psychology)

- Actions based on getting pleasure and getting rid of pain – liking and disliking (e.g. a baby cries when hungry)

- Irrational

Delayed gratification

- Willing to go through some discomfort/ dissatisfaction in order to get something better e.g. have a smoother life

- Rational. Linked to ego (good) – wisdom that should be developed

Storytelling was one of the ways that was used to record wisdom before people started writing. Stories are powerful because they are easy to remember and can contain metaphors for ideas. Stories are used in the suttas as well. The books are about storytelling for business if anyone’s interested: “My Life in Advertising” by Claude Hopkins, “Made to Stick” by the Heath Brothers and “Tell to Win” by Peter Guber.

“The Grateful Beasts” is available at the following linkhttp://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/146/the-yellow-fairy-book/4780/the-grateful-beasts/. These are the metaphors in the story as Venerable explained:

- The young weak one (Fergo in this case) is always the one who ends up succeeding in fairy tales
o When you try something, you’ll do it wrong the first time

- Setting out from home into the unknown
o Withdrawing from the comforts of home and mundane life to embark on a spiritual journey (especially for monastics)

- Fergo’s eyes were taken out and his legs broken
o In meditation, people cross their legs and close their eyes. Closing eyes represents letting go of one’s previous knowledge. Losing one’s legs symbolises how one ventures into darkness in meditation and previous abilities can’t be of help there

- Fergo persisted in fasting
o We need patience to go through the difficulty of the practice to reach the spiritual goal

- Fergo’s blindness and the raven asking what’s remarkable in the land
o Being in the dark represents how a meditator is willing to feel emptiness in meditation which clarifies his/ her vison, while a normal person will question what’s remarkable about that

- Healing lake
o Meditation starts to heal one after he/she has been through difficulty

- Fergo gives the healing water to other beings
o When one becomes a beautiful person internally to some degree, they can help and influence others positively

- Wolf
o Desire. When desire is on one’s side as in this case of spiritual desire, it’s to their advantage. If it’s not then it’s to their disadvantage

- Mouse
o Mice live in fields which represent cultivation and control of environment. A more civilised form of desire than the wolf. A hard worker and helper who does duty without much thought or wisdom

- Mouse at Fergo’s feet
o Work

- Queen bee
o Worker. Bees have a honey and a sting. Likewise, when one has a spiritual aspiration and lives up to it one experiences joy. When one does not then one gets stung

- Bee’s wing torn by a cruel bird
o Like when one follows the wrong teaching, it only brings one down. The true teaching is delicate

- Bee rests on shoulder
o Dhamma enters through the ear

- Fergo could rest while the beasts did the work for him
o The spiritual qualities we develop will fix things for us in difficult times

- Princess (with prince)
o Wholeness of self. When either party is lacking there is a lack of wholeness. When the princess was locked in a tower, it is like how as we purify our minds the impurities surface making enlightenment seem further and further away until we practise till we overcome all defilements. When one is enlightened everything comes together as a whole

- Palace of flowers
o Developing our character and ego into something beautiful

- Fergo got on the wolf’s back leading all the wolves
o He is in control of desire and the pack makes him unstoppable in killing the egotistical, unkind and unfair king, like killing those parts in ourselves and destroying greed, hatred and delusion

- Wolves went peacefully back to their own home
o When desire doesn’t control you, it disappears when you no longer need to do something

June 13 – Brother Tan’s Talk About Practising Buddhism

Hi there! This week, we’ll be sharing more about the previous talk held by Tan Chede Meng, one of Google’s Jolly good fellows. It was held at Vimalakirti Buddhist Centre on the 13 of June. In this post, I’ll like to share about our sharings and experience from the talk itself, as well as after-thoughts about it.

So on a hot sunny morning, we sat down to listen to Brother Tan’s talk. Among us were other Buddhist youths from other organizations such as Singapore Buddhist Mission (SBM), Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF), and the NUS Buddhist society. It’s good to see so many of our compatriots joining in this activity!

During the talk, Bro Tan mentioned several key pointers in the practice in the Dhamma. It is true that in today’s hectic world, it is extremely difficult to maintain a strong dedication towards meditation and practising it. However, keeping to a basic few minutes of practice can do wonders for your concentration, as seen from his quick demonstration with us throughout the talk. For example, a single breath exercise practiced for 8 times is actually sufficient for a day’s practice (of course, the more the merrier!)

Ultimately, the key thing in many of these practices would be the consistency in maintaining them. Momentum plays a really big part in this, since it can be really difficult to work on something which is not integral to our daily lives. The benefits can be quite substantial, such as calming down the mind and concentrating on the task ahead.

Another key idea which he talked about was Buddhism’s future with respect to both the Western and Eastern community. Nowadays, we do see a trend where Buddhism is increasing in popularity in the west, but not so much in the East. Why is this the case?

According to Brother Tan, it seems that in the west, there is a stronger application of Buddhist practices (the meditation aspect) with respect to scientific knowledge which we are aware of in today’s society. Buddhist concepts are seen as directly applicable in the face of current scientific knowledge and has been a positive influence in helping people maintain a healthy mind and awareness in the front of many things which could distract one.

In wrapping up, I have to say that this was a rather inspiring and enlightening talk regarding the way we practise Buddhism and how we can and should make active moves to achieve it. It was also really great how we were able to interact with him regarding some of his thoughts about certain terms and Buddhist practices. It is really important to join these talks in order to further improve your understanding as well as clarify certain questions which you may have.

- Wei Xing

Tangled – More Than Just the Hair :P

Hi everyone! This is the Disney season for I’m writing about another Disney movie, Tangled! This is because I find that Disney movies usually have really nice meanings behind them, and they are easy to follow and entertaining. Well if you have any movie or genre requests, feel free to type a comment under the post.

If you haven’t watched it, here’s a short synopsis.

After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower’s magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Rider scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life. (Taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398286/plotsummary)

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

In this movie, there are three main takeaway points. They are our fear of death, acceptance of the way things are and that people have inherent good in them.

The fear of death was the driving force for Gothel. She used the golden flower, and later kidnapped Rapunzel due to her fear of dying; her desire to live forever. We can see how unrealistic and poisonous her desire was; especially when she eventually died. However, her fear of death is something we can see in ourselves; the prospect of not existing is terrifying because we are so attached to things in this life. Thus we should reflect on this reality in order to come to terms with it and not deny it. One way which we can do this is by reflecting everyday if we were to die now, do we have any regrets? What have we done well and have not? One method that Ajahn Brahm uses is during walking meditation, with one step think “I will die” and the next, “that’s for sure” and repeat. You can refer to the post on “Gravity” for more insights on death. This video also offers some thought-provoking reflections on death.

Because Gothel desired so much to live, the King and Queen lost their daughter for 18 years while Rapunzel lived a lie being estranged from them. This highlights how when we become obsessed with a certain desire, in this case the desire to be immortal, we can end up using any means to fulfill it even at others’ expense. Hence we have to be mindful of our desires, and learn to let go of them when they are unrealistic. In life we cannot always get what we want; holding on to the desire as we wait for the things we want to happen or when we can’t get what we want causes suffering. The Third Noble Truth is that the cause of suffering is craving. Craving is like a black hole; there is no end to it. By recognizing that clinging onto it causes suffering we can slowly let go bit by bit.

Flynn was a wanted criminal, and he was to be sentenced to death. However his love for Rapunzel drove him to do much good. He fulfilled her wish to see the city lights, later chose to sacrifice himself when he was stabbed by cutting off her hair with healing qualities so that she would be freed from Gothel, and because of him she was reunited with her parents. It is touching how from seeing him as a criminal they wanted dead, the good in him turned them around to accept him as a son-in-law, and that the royal horse Maximus who initially went all out to arrest him decided to help him escape when he was brought to to the gallows in the castle. This shows how people may make mistakes due to circumstances and they go down the wrong path, but they have goodness in them. By just looking at their mistakes and bad points we are not making a fair judgment. When they do good, we may be so focused on their bad points we dismiss it, but it’s indeed something worth recognizing. By recognizing that people are not perfect but have their own goodness, even if we don’t see it now, we can be more forgiving towards them. Holding onto hate only brings ourselves suffering instead of solving problems, therefore forgiveness paves the way for more peace and goodwill among people.

These things are really not easy to do but by taking things step by step, we can slowly learn to see and accept things as they are, let go of our desires and forgive more easily. I still have a lot more to go, but can already see my progress in these areas. All the best to all of you too in cultivating peace and happiness :D

- Pei Si