"I am the Walrus" ~Donny

[skepticalshely]

When people see the Lenin/Lennon scene
They think of this Lennon - I am the Walrus
But what the Coen Bros. are referring to through the "confused" Donny is the Walrus and the Carpenter cartoon from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) or the Lewis Carroll novel if you prefer to read.

Because Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter is what John Lennon is referring to also and it is actually a fable about being wary of religion. Donny keeps repeating "I am the Walrus." The Walrus is Lewis Carroll's story symbolizes the Buddha and Eastern religion while the Carpenter symbolizes Jesus of Nazareth and Western religion.

Donny is the Coen bros. symbol for the Buddha. Like Sidharta he is aesthetically thin and unassuming. He's a pacifist. He lets others do the talking without endorsing what they say. Donny is Buddha.

Who else in the movie directly tells us who they are? We can say the Dude is Christ, but what other parallels are there? What Jewish figure is Walter? Is Sam Elliot God? Maude Lebowski makes references to destiny and karma, is she a Hindi goddess? What about the Big Lebowski? Bunny? The nihilists? Treehorn?

[meekon5]

As I said elsewhere

Why draw a comparison to biblical stories at all. Why make comparison with the bible at all. Why make comparison with any religious (including Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Jain, Tiki, Norse Pagan) story or figures.

The story stands alone as an item in itself.

Why can't the Dude just be the Dude?

Why can't Donny just be Donny?

And Walter just be Walter?

Making  Dudeism a religion is not making Dudeism christianity, or islam, or any other religion.

Dudeism like the Dude just is Dudeism, not other religions.

Making Dudeism a religion it has its own symbolism it does not need to borrow from other religions.

Sorry but I find this whole process vacuous and pointless.

[DigitalBuddha]

skepticalshely dude, a most dude-like welcome to our little beach community and bowling alley gathering. Nice to have you here. Grab a place on the rug and abide. And as always, bars' over there, mang.

[meekon5]

Sorry skepticalshely not having a go at you just your point of view, welcome to the forum, rugs to the left, oat soda's to the right.

[milnie]

I think if you are seeing all these religious parallels you are just identifying your own predisposition. I watch tbl and see an entertaining movie made by talented people with some great acting and that's all. At most I thought having a peado called Jesus might cause complaints.
It's like this nonsense from gays complaining the lassie in frozen is "clearly" referring to her sexuality and not the troublesome issue of everything turning to ice that she touches.
And, welcome to the community dude. Take any rug in the place.

[BikerDude]

When people see the Lenin/Lennon scene
They think of this Lennon - I am the Walrus
But what the Coen Bros. are referring to through the "confused" Donny is the Walrus and the Carpenter cartoon from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) or the Lewis Carroll novel if you prefer to read.

Because Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter is what John Lennon is referring to also and it is actually a fable about being wary of religion. Donny keeps repeating "I am the Walrus." The Walrus is Lewis Carroll's story symbolizes the Buddha and Eastern religion while the Carpenter symbolizes Jesus of Nazareth and Western religion.

Donny is the Coen bros. symbol for the Buddha. Like Sidharta he is aesthetically thin and unassuming. He's a pacifist. He lets others do the talking without endorsing what they say. Donny is Buddha.

Who else in the movie directly tells us who they are? We can say the Dude is Christ, but what other parallels are there? What Jewish figure is Walter? Is Sam Elliot God? Maude Lebowski makes references to destiny and karma, is she a Hindi goddess? What about the Big Lebowski? Bunny? The nihilists? Treehorn?

Budda is thin?
I did read Heman Hess but don't actually remember the details. I'll need to revisit.
I for one think all of this is reading way to much into it.
The Donnie character wouldn't know Buddha from an in and out burger but he would know the Beatles.
Maybe he's just a guy on the bowling team. All evidence points that way.

[skepticalshely]

Prince Siddharta, the original buddha, gave up royal life to beg on the street. He went without food for weeks. Yes, he was thin. The "Buddha" statues with the big belly you rub are actually a Chinese king. The real Buddhist art, not the novelty shop crap, depicts the Buddha as being skeletal, relaxed and with cartoonishly long earlobes which are symbolic of his wisdom.

[meekon5]

Prince Siddharta, the original buddha, gave up royal life to beg on the street. He went without food for weeks. Yes, he was thin. The "Buddha" statues with the big belly you rub are actually a Chinese king. The real Buddhist art, not the novelty shop crap, depicts the Buddha as being skeletal, relaxed and with cartoonishly long earlobes which are symbolic of his wisdom.

Small confusion here the word Buddha does not work like Jesus, there are many Buddhas.

So Siddhartha Gautama is the guy sitting under the Bodhi tree who then became "enlightened", the thin guy.

The fat guy is Hotei or Pu-Tai from the japanese/chinese zen/ch'an Buddhist tradition:

The statue represents a sagely Zen monk who appeared in China around 850 CE and died in 916 CE. He said his name was "Knowing This" (ChiChe). No one knew where he came from, he carried a big fat bag and was famous for his fat belly. When asked how to obtain nirvana he would lay down the bag, not saying a word. When asked about what happened after reaching nirvana, he would pick up the bag and walk away, still not uttering a word. It is pretty much accepted that such a monk existed. He is probably the inspiration for Fat Buddha, as the statues began appearing in the late 9th century, 1200 years after the Gautama's death.

But there are lots of other variants on the Laughing Buddha origin.

They are both Buddhas.

[BikerDude]