Does anyone feel that this film offends the Buddhist religion? This pop star who claims to be a Buddhist is up there shaking her a**, flaunting her body, and using a statue of the Buddha as a stage decoration. I am a Buddhist, and I understand that this film was just supposed to highlight the rediculousness of the singer, but I couldn't help feeling uneasy, seeing her appear out of a Buddhist monument. I liked the film, but I do feel a little offended.
shareSuck it up. Christians get it twice as bad as you do.
shareIf you honestly claim to be Buddhist (if it's even possible to be such a thing...) then why would you be getting offended in the first place. You should know by now that things in themselves have no inherent nature of being offensive - there is only the way in which your mind perceives them. So, really, you're only offending yourself, nothing outside of you can hop into your thoughts and start rewiring things completely beyond your control. If you're offended, take solace in the fact that it is of your own doing.
shareendersclarity ... what a great post. It's clear that you've done your Buddhist homework. Thanks!!
Bambi
Endersclarity,
it is possible to be Buddhist and because you seem to think that it does not truly exist, please do some research before you try to tell us Buddhists what to think.
I'm a Buddhist and I don't think it tries to offend the Buddhist religion - like many others, I believe that it is making fun of those stars who think that they are part of a religion if they have all the paraphernalia and make abstract meaningless comments about things like karma. Frankly, if I came face to face with a real-life Cora, I'd probably laugh in her face. I think this was borne by one line by Alex where he says something to the nature that even with this Buddhist philosophy, she is in it for the business. However, I like Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and I sat down to enjoy the film, and I must admit that like you, the use of the Buddhist statues and the use of people dressed in saffron robes undulating against Cora did make me uneasy and sad in a way, along with the lyrics of the first song Cora sings. This, to answer another's person's post, went something like "I want my Buddha's delight" which is kind of stupid, because Buddhism is about the erasing of desire anyway. I just wish they had made the point in an abstract way without specifically using Buddhism, because even though we may see the point, this kind of depiction and abuse of Buddhist rituals and images is actually happening in real life (and not always by misunderstood popstars), and doesn't really need to be echoed by Hollywood.
Just my opinion - and I'm sorry if anyone thinks I'm whining.
I agree, they were just trying to make fun of Madonna, anyway, what does shanti shanti means?
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'Shanti', in Sanskrit, means 'Peace' or 'Tranquility', depending on the context.
shareI remember when the RAY OF LIGHT album came out and was getting rave reviews Rose O'Donnel - who IS friends with MADONNA - was even making fun of that whole MADONNA saying "Shanti Shanti" like itw as some spiritual phrase. It loosely translates into "Quiet - Quiet". Oh yeah, thats REALLY deep, MADONNA!
The whole point of "Cora" was all these phoney balogna stars who say they are soooo spiritual and then they are onstage next to naked shaking their ass in everybodys face and acting as lewd and offensive as possible. I think "Cora" was a combination of MADONNA, SHAKIRA and BRITNEY SPEARS.
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I am a little offended, but it's just like Madonna on the cross .... so I would say its not a cool thing to do something like that but the bottom line is its just a film, a portrayal of one brainless pop star....
shareHi krapong cud,
You wrote "I am a little offended, but it's just like Madonna on the cross ....
so I would say its not a cool thing to do something like that but the bottom line is its just a film, a portrayal of one brainless pop star...."
I wrote another message about Christianity & Madonna. Why do you find it fake?
Seeing an Afro-American as Jesus in one of her videos says a lot about Christianity to me as opposed to lots of other things.
i hope that you understand what I am aiming at.
Andrea
I really can't say that I am 100% BUDDHIST but I will say that That would not offend me!! And just for the record BUDDHISM is NOT a RELIGION!!! READ....READ...and then READ SOME MORE!!!!
shareikarusprojekt
Thats becuz ur not 100%
It is a religion, u just wanna think it is nor
SaintDragoN^
Yes it is; Buddhism is a religion and the only reason you believe that it's not one is because you're not 100% Buddhist. If you were, you definitely would not say something like this!
shareI'm a long time Buddhist. Neither attachment nor aversion ... one of the Buddhist teachings. I'm not offended. Just like everyone else, there are all kinds of people, white, red, black, buddhist, muslim, christian, jewish, pagan ... crystal thumpers. Buddhists get to be as human as anyone else.
Celine Dion is Christian ... wonder how many Christians are offended. Hmmm, then there's Daniel Baldwin as a born again christian.
Plus, this is only a movie.
Bambi
Buddhism isn't a religion, but a philosophy.
Buddha isn't the name of a man, but a title.
A Buddhist, a real one, wouldn't be offended by much of anything because they are supposed to be very objective in nature. To expect certain things in life is to get tied to certain aspects of life and that's not objective.
Thankfully, their ideas make them not inclined to kill people.
I enjoyed the movie, but it did bother me -- and I'm not a 100% card carrying Buddhist or Christian or Kabbalist ... But I am interested in them, and appreciate all of them.
It particularly didn't make fun of Buddhism, but it did make it seem that Buddhists are flaky and shallow, without providing any contradicting evidence to the contrary. Especially considering the fact that most audience people aren't really exposed to positive knowledge of Buddhism anyway.
In particular, it seemed to give off the impression that pop stars who believe in Buddhism are jokes, while the main protagonist played by Hugh Grant (who conspicuously wore a cross in his first meeting with Buddhist Cora) seemed to have a little more emotional depth, despite his own extremely charming shallowness.
Buddhism was probably used for parody by Hollywood because it was probably the easiest to get away with, with the least controversy.
In this light-hearted comedy:
Making fun of Islam, and there might be death threats, really.
Making fun of Christianity, and it would be risky to turn off a huge segment of potential movie goers, especially since Mel "MadMouth" Gibson showed Hollywood, the box-office might of Christian movie goers.
If the analogy of making fun of Britney Spears and Madonna was followed through by writing in celebrity Kabbalists as the joke, and there could also be controversy and perhaps a call from the ADL.
So Hollywood probably thought that making fun of people who follow an Eastern religion was the safest bet. It's either that or Scientology, but it'd be too involving and hard to concisely explain Xenu, Thetans and all that other stuff.
Heck, Hollywood and the mainstream media has been dissing & belittling foreign looking people and their beliefs all the time. Surprised? No. Dissappointed. -- yes, but so used to it, that it seems to be a fact of life, and seems impossible to access the same air-time & audience, to counter-speech the juggernaut, as well as deal with the right-wing/fascist mob-gobs who go ballistic about "PC-ness" and their priviledge to enjoy bigotry.
(sorry for that slight tangent...)
[deleted]
Buddha is a little fat guy sold at head shops to burn incense in and your offended by this movie????
Why didn't you just stay Jewish then?
I'm Buddhist and I'm not offended.
Been a long time, comrade.