One idea that is at the core of Buddhist philosophy is that what we think of the self is more of an emerging of properties within the world. “But there is only the interacting and interconnected series. This metaphysical concern, of course, had deep practical implications for the Buddha. It points toward the answer to human suffering, which ultimately stems from a concern for the existence and pleasures and pains of the kind of self that never existed in the first place.”(Wong) This is a core aspect of Buddhism’s metaphysical ideas. The idea of Anatman or ‘no self’ allows us to step outside of our preconceived notion that we are a fixed entity. Midnight Gospel captures this idea when the Bird speaks about their own experience studying Buddhism and notes he now understands: “The fundamental nature of everything is change and is impermanent and is emptiness” (“Annihilation of joy” 13:15) Although slightly simplified these two quotes essentially amount to the same idea about Buddhist philosophy–impermanence. In Buddhism
Another way in which Midnight Gospel does well in representing Buddhism is its correct use of Buddhist terms. When the character says “The addiction to Maya is to not feel your inherent suffering.” (“Annihilation of joy” 8:52)Here the dialogue basically hits the definition of Maya head on. Further, while Buddhism and Hinduism both actually use the term, the Buddhist definition is more of a pretence or deceit of some kind, while in Hinduism it refers to illusion. In a modern setting, this sentence actually makes a lot of sense. Every day we are trapped; attached to our screens and other distractions from the real world. Because of this addiction to not “feeling suffering” we tend to not live life to the fullest and instead end up falling back into suffering. Part of Buddhism is understanding these deceits and illusions within our own lives. This level of self-understanding can be achieved many ways, but most commonly through meditation.
Another key aspect of Buddhism is meditation and this is actually described in the podcast on the show. The Bird character states that: “Buddhist meditation is you’re not trying to get anywhere. You’re just sitting with yourself. You’re just sitting with the feeling. The feeling that you try to get away from all day long.” (“Annihilation of joy” 14:26) I actually have a personal anecdote regarding my own experience with meditation. The one time I actually tried Buddhist meditation that was my experience–just sitting there with all the thoughts and emotions. Trying to separate yourself from that is very difficult and I wasn’t anywhere close to the true experience, but that is to be expected with no practice. The main point being is, that is what Buddhism is about, sitting and being able to simply exist without being overwhelmed by all these thoughts that constantly burden us. This idea of trying to escape from this feeling actually links back to the Buddhist idea of Maya and how humans try to deal with their suffering. This closely relates to the idea of Pi-Kuan or “wall gazing” which was a form of monastic meditation that was very simply about staring at a wall. That said, there are many forms of Buddhist meditation and different methods to achieve the state of being able to sit in your own head for long periods of time.
Midnight Gospel isn’t perfect of course. When the Bird character first introduces the idea of Anatman he seems to describe a web of consciousness that is more similar to Hindu ideas of Brahman and Atman. Which refers to the “self” being part of a more interconnected version of the self we are all a part of which is the Brahman. Of course it’s also important to understand that a lot of ideas in Buddhism do in fact come from originally Hinduism, but this specific aspect displayed by the show is a bit of a stretch. Buddhism’s idea of the self lies more in the idea of anatman or ‘no self.’ It’s also important to note that the idea of anatman is not a nihilist concept. One can still go and do things in the world, but Buddhism still stresses it’s important to understand the impermanent nature of our reality. This is the idea of non essentialism, non that things don’t exist, but that they are not of an inherent substance. Everything is constantly shifting and changing.