What images come to mind
when you hear the word Buddhism? For many, they are images popularized by
Hollywood as a mystical world, quaint and rustic; a temple of photogenically
peeling paint, romantically overgrown courtyard, and a picaresque Buddha image
suitably ancient and ornate. If we add a saffron-robed monk with an inscrutable
expression who speaks in riddles and proverbs, then the picture is nearly
perfect. Lights, camera, action! Into this scene enters a protagonist who is
obsessed with wealth or status but whose soul, despite himself, longs for
something “more”; and by seeing the simplicity of the monk’s life, a life of no
wealth, property, or even modern appliances, the protagonist learns about the
important things in life. Does this all sound familiar and even cliché? That’s
because it is.
This course of
story-telling uses the literary trope of the “noble savage,” which has existed
for hundreds of years. In the 14th through 19th century, as the Europeans were
colonizing the Americas and Africa, the noble savage often took the form of
Native Americans and Africans because writers, for various reasons, wanted to
portray outsiders who were un-corrupted by modern European society. They often
lived communally and shared their resources, unlike the selfish and competitive
“modern” man. And they possessed a wisdom which transcended school-bound
education. In contemporary books and movies, we can see the noble savage trope
in works such as Brave
New World by Aldous Huxley to Eat, Pray, Love starring
Julia Roberts. But as it became less fashionable to portray ethnic or racial
groups in this way, the new figure in this trope is the Buddhist monk.
