Conquering Just One: Samsara

Samsara is a spiritual and at the same time, a sensual film which centers on the desire and destiny of a man of sacred mental disciplines who is struggling to attain enlightenment by renouncing mundane aspirations and yearning. What’s striking about this movie is that, the viewers focus more on Tashi’s trials on giving up everything around him to reach Nirvana, forgetting about what sacrifices her wife, Pema, might have to do just to keep her love and life with him and their son.

As stated in the documentary The Life of the Buddha, one key cause of painfulness is our demanding desire. When Tashi began to experience profound sexual awakening because of a girl named, Pema, he also went through some distressing and unpleasant moments. Because of his unrelenting desire to have a sexual affair with Pema, he decided to forsake the restrictions of being a celibate by leaving his spiritual life behind. His pet dog even left him the moment he chose to come in contact with the world. He also lived through some sufferings like toiling for his family. His patience was even tested by people who wanted to afflict his life.

In the latter part of the story, Apo sent a letter for Tashi. One memorable and stirring hypothetical question he raised was, “What is more important: satisfying one thousand desires, or conquering just one?” If I were to answer this, I would say I would want to satisfy one thousand desires, for honesty’s sake. But of course, I know it’s always best to think deeply and seriously on what desire among those one thousand is more important. It’s not good to have all those desires satisfied, but still you know that deep down you are not contented with what you have. We must know what one thing really makes us feel complete and blissful, that even without any other things, we are still unfathomably delighted.

Samsara has a lot of metaphors that made our mind ponder. One of the metaphors that I like the most was the one written in a stone tablet in the desert, which says: How can you prevent a drop of water from ever drying up? The answer is to put it in the sea. I never thought of it. Another riddle says: What will happen to a twig if it’s thrown to the river? The answer is it will go with the flow until it gets to the ocean. Those are just simple questions that require simple answers. And yet, we think too hard that we tend to forget the little details that might help us figure things out.

If I were to choose for the continuation of the story, I would want Tashi to return to Pema. He shouldn’t just leave his wife and his son just for his selfish reason of being enlightened. He left them without a trace of where he will be, and an explanation of why he had to do it. That’s not acceptable. It’s not right to shift from one desire to another just because you feel like going back again. Tashi should not be egocentric. He must bear in mind that he should also be mindful of what others might feel towards his decisions, not just being aware of what his body wants to do.

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