Berserk and Buddhism

I was reading an essay on Buddhism and its relation to a different anime when I came upon a passage that was a dead ringer for Berserk.

First, they describe how Buddhism emphasizes the emptiness of each individual object and how this is necessary for the meaning and connection of the whole. Once the emptiness of the individual object is truly recognized, an enlightened man can manipulate his surroundings to his will.

Through intense study and meditation, a bodhisattva comes to such a deep understanding of the processes of karma (causality as momentum and action) and illusion that constitute the world that s/he can manipulate these forces to change how reality manifests. As Strong explains, “At this point…adepts are ready to develop so-called supernatural, or “magical,” powers such as walking through walls, diving into the earth, walking on water, or flying through the air”. Buddhist mythology is also full of stories of Buddhas and bodhisattvas who manifest entire worlds, even cause people to live whole lives, for the sake of leading others to enlightenment. As Eckel states, these stories “show that the most powerful sages are not the ones who flee the structures of illusion but are those who posess the knowledge to manipulate it and bring it under their control”.

With this in mind, God Hand seem to be represented as a set of 'dark bodhisattvas' that control human fate. The Idea itself certainly did have people live whole lives in order to lead Griffith to his position in God Hand and to his current form.

The comment on manifesting entire worlds also reminds me of the egg Apostle (er... you know, the guy who was all nose) who wanted to create his ideal world.

The existence of the Idea also ties in to Buddhism, with the idea that all the pieces of human emotion are connected to form a single entity. Heck, even the unearthly power of the Apostles coincides with with the supernatural abilities attributed to the enlightened. The idea of Berserk as a sort of dark reflection of the ideals of Buddhism is intriguing, at any rate.

Sorry for posting so soon after my last ramble, but this was so interesting that I couldn't pass it up, and I'm pretty damn sure it's new.

There are several links between buddhism and Berserk, but I don't think that was the entire focal point on the idea of evil or God Hand. In fact, the primary mechanic (not purpose) of the beherit and God Hand share an obvious basis from the Hellraiser series, but share very little in actual purpose relations. I'd even say Christianity itself has an impact on many things in Berserk (I'm sure one could and probably do allude many such as "Apostles" and the Hawk-like religious symbols, "savior", resurrection etc), but there are several possible reasons Miura decided to mix and blend things like the above and Causality, and there are several aspects of bodhissatvas.

One could even interpret the fact the Beherit grants a "Wish" of sorts yet delivers it in a "literal" fashion could be an allusion to the corrupted nature of the Jinn, but again, there's no concrete connections to any specific religious belief or foundation in Berserk imo that makes it indistinguishable from any other apparently present.

None the less, that comparison is pretty interesting.

I have to agree I do think that there are many connections between Berserk and Buddism. The conntection with Buddism is very pronounced. A very obvious fact is that Gashinki was based of an actual emperor who would take Buddist figurines and demonize them. I agree about the godhand part too Relmneiko. It really does seem like that. Though I've always thought that the Beherit was an egg that showed how someone could be born a new and "greater".

But I also think that Greek Myths and Norse mythology as well are weaved in. This is just my opinon but here we go:

For example to me Schierke's name and place in the manga is significant to the Odyssey. Just the fact that Schierke's name reminds me of Circe the witch who despised men but ends up falling for Odysseus and adding him through his epic journey. And Berserk is an epic, it even starts medias res! Medias res for those who don't know is when a greek or roman epic starts from the middle of the story or so and continues telling the beginning then over the middle once more so we know what was going on and then the ending. Of course there are other seemingly invisible possiblities and connections to Greek myth. An example of Norse though is that Guts "sacrfices" his arm to save Casca which actually relates back to Thor. The norse gods were battling a giant wolf (which in my opinon symbolizes Guts very well now) that could annihilate them all, Thor though after a deal offers to sacrfice his arm to save his comrades.