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PT Om mani padme hum - The jewel is in the lotus

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by yodaman_reborn, Jul 5, 2018.

  1. yodaman_reborn

    yodaman_reborn Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    “Om mani padme hum” is the mantra for the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Literally it translates to “the jewel is in the lotus.” The lotus is the symbol of compassion and padme is Tibetan word of lotus. It is therefore obvious that Lucas intended Padme to be the symbol of compassion.
    Of course passion literally means “to suffer” and “co-“ means “with” and therefore compassion means “to suffer with.”

    During the saga, Padme makes choices of compassion. She chooses to suffer with her people in TPM. She chooses to suffer with Anakin and ultimately dies for it. But her suffering was one of choice. Her compassion may be seen by some as weakness. I disagree. She is the moral center of the entire saga. She is the jewel.
     
  2. yodaman_reborn

    yodaman_reborn Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    I'll revive this just this once and see if maybe people don't understand what I'm trying to say. Padme has been criticized in the past for her choices, particularly in her relationship with Anakin and all the way to how she died. I think many want to see Padme as this strong and independent person, which she is. However it is her compassionate side, the core of who she is, that people often misunderstand. It is the concept that she is willing to suffer with others. This is clearly juxtaposed to her husband Anakin who chooses to avoid suffering at all costs. Anakin dies and loses his soul to avoid suffering and loss. Padme walks the alternate path and gives her soul for the suffering of others. Despite their love for each other, their two views clash in their confrontation on Mustafar. They sacrifice for each other, but in ways that could not differ more. In the end, Padme is proven right in the form of their children who both show the way of compassion. Luke in particularly demonstrates his compassion for Anakin when he chooses to suffer with his father. I believe that in his son, he saw his wife. Maybe only then, did he really understand her. George Lucas named her Padme for a reason. That reason was to be the center of morality of which all the characters revolved around.
     
  3. ss640

    ss640 Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 28, 2017
    Great observation! Padme's compassion is central to the saga and is such a beautiful and inspiring strength.
     
  4. PadawanGussin

    PadawanGussin Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2017
    Within Tibetan Buddhism a Lotus flower is often seen as an expression of each sentient Beings profound inner nature.

    A Lotus begins its existence at the bottom of a swamp and must rise thru many layers of mud and dirt before blossoming as a beautiful flower at the surface. The stormy sea of pain that our profound mis understanding of reality creates , called Samsara, is the swamp and our inner goodness , our Buddha Nature, is the Lotus.

    Padme never lost her faith that Anakin had goodness inside him even at the very end when he became Vader and caused terrible suffering.

    In Buddhism every single being you meet has exactly the same potential for enlightenment. Charles Manson, Hitler, Stalin etc , etc have this potential. The only difference between them and anyone else is their level of confusion and Karmic circumstance.

    This is how Luke was able to reach his father and why Kylo is so very conflicted.
     
  5. yodaman_reborn

    yodaman_reborn Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    Those are excellent observations. I think when you look at Samsara, as being the unsatisfactory cycle of life and death due to ones own fixations of ones own experiences, it is exemplified in Anakin and his suffering in the world. He has the choices for both good and evil and his poor choices lead to karma continuing him in the endless Samsara cycle. One actually wonders if he has reincarnated as Anakin many times in the past, each with failure. By ROTJ he has learned from his mistakes and finally understands the Lotus, the symbol of his wife, thereby finally reaching Nirvana. She of all things, remained pure despite the mud that surrounded her, from Palpatine, the Trade Federation, and even her own husband. She learns to accept herself and therefore accept others even through their faults. Whereas Anakin was doomed to suffer because he resisted it, Padme chose to be a part of the suffering of the world.
     
    Lulu Mars likes this.
  6. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Amazingly insightful. I love it!

    I get the feeling that Padmé dying is her taking on the death that should have been Anakin’s. Out of compassion, she’s paying the ultimate price for his evil deeds in his stead, because she believes in his inner goodness and knows that he has work left to do before he leaves the galaxy behind and becomes one with the Force.
    On some level, I think she understands that it all depends on him.

    That may not make practical sense, as Vader would’ve lived on with or without her, but I think it makes spiritual sense. Anakin and Padmé were spiritually linked. They were two halves of one whole. Maybe, if Padmé had survived, Anakin would’ve been lost to the dark side for all eternity.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
  7. yodaman_reborn

    yodaman_reborn Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    It's interesting that you say this. I remember before ROTS came out people often speculated on how Padme would die. Either Anakin would kill her or she would pass away later in life after hiding with Leia on Alderaan. Lucas could have killed her in so many ways, but he chose both for her to die and also the way she dies with some sort of purpose.

    First, I don't subscribe to the "broken heart" or "depressed" standpoint that she passed away. I believe that it was a calm, peaceful and deliberate decision to move on from the world that she lived in. I think that had so lived, Vader would have been so obsessed and deranged to continually try to find her and hunt her down. I think there was an importance of her dying, him believing that he killed her and the infamous "Nooooo!!!" scene. I think that after his turn to Vader he had become somewhat inhuman. The death of Padme broke him out of his obsession and, strangely enough, returned him to a state of humanity, though trapped in despair, hate and regret.

    Anakin's life was for the relationship, for their marriage. He would have died for her and yet somehow it is hard to believe she would die for him. He killed Anakin to become Vader and to save her life. She killed Padme in order to save Vader and bring Anakin back.
     
    Lulu Mars likes this.
  8. PadawanGussin

    PadawanGussin Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 6, 2017
    I am going to jump out on a limb here -

    While I can understand how many people did not react well to the portrayal of Luke in TLJ , for me there were many Buddhist / Spiritual themes that appealed to me.

    Luke had gotten caught in the wheel of samsara, the endless cycle of suffering , that most beings are subject to. Ben fell to the Darkside, his Temple burned and his students dead or turned to follow Ben as he became Kylo. Luke wrongly blames both his own failures and the failures of the Jedi Order on the Teachings as opposed to the people who allowed these Teachings to become dogmatic and mis understood. Thus he became disillusioned with his path and retreated from the galaxy. In a hope to rekindle his connection he isolated himself with the original core Jedi texts but found them not to be page turners without the guidance of a qualified Master. He fell deeper and deeper into depression until Rey appeared, the student who would help reignite Lukes connection to the teachings, the Jedi, The Force and those he loved and who loved him back.

    Only after he had been primed by the actions of Rey was Luke ready for the final and most profound lesion from Yoda about embracing failure as an integral and indispensable part of the path to Enlightenment.

    Luke was finally able to transcend beyond the purely physical world and become a fully awakened Being. To me, his encounter with Kylo was one of the most profound moments in Star Wars as he both ignited hope in a time of great despair and taught Kylo how limited and self defeating he had become. Luke showed the true nature of he Force in that moment. Not with a flashy lightsaber duel but by choosing the middle ground.

    And in the end Luke moved to a higher realm and received a rainbow body.

    IMO - in time TLJ will be recognized as a very good movie by more and more people because of these themes
     
    Jedi Princess likes this.