Writer/creator Mike White said that the first season of his HBO TV series White Lotus, set in Maui, Hawaii, was about privilege, like an Upstairs/Downstairs situation between the employees and the guests. In season two, shot in Taormina, Sicily, the theme was about sexual relationships and the dynamic between men and women. Season three, mostly filmed in Ko Samui, Thailand, is dealing with religion, spirituality and God, and there were some Buddhist concepts that he wanted to explore.
I quote some of the dialogue, as an inspiration for all of us in these troubled times for the world.
Sarah Catherine Hook, playing Piper Ratliff, wishes to spend a year after college at a Buddhist retreat in Ko Samui. In episode 2 she talks to her younger brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola) as they swing from hammocks over the water: Piper: “Did you meditate?” Lochlan: “I did try a pray.” “How did it go?” “I felt like I was just talking to myself.” “You never felt like a presence or anything?” “No.” “I do.” “Maybe it could just be like wishful thinking, you want to feel something, so you do.” “It’s real.”
In episode 5 Piper talks to her mother Victoria (Parker Posey). Victoria: “I’m just trying to understand why you have become so extreme.” Piper: “From my point of view it’s not extreme.” “You’ll be dropping out of society.” “It’s just a year, mom.” “In a year you could end up with a completely different set of values.” “Different than what?” “From the ones we gave you.” “Yeah, that’s kind of the idea.”
In episode 6 Piper visits the Buddhist monastery with her family, speaks with senior monk Lung Por (Suthichai Yoon). Piper: “I’m so honored to meet you. I’m coming back this summer for the intensive. I’ve been feeling a little lost lately, like everything is pointless, and the things my family cares about, I just don’t care about. And your books have really helped me through some really bad days, so thank you for that. Anyway, they’re here, my parents, and it would be better if you talked to them, otherwise they’re not going to let me come here. I could still come, I’m an adult, obviously, but they could make it so difficult that it would be bad.” Lung Por: “Bring in your parents. I can answer their questions.”
Piper’s dad Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) goes to talk to the monk. Dad: “My daughter wants to join your… whatever this is.” Luang Por: “And you want to understand why?” “Yeah.” “Many young people come here from your country, because maybe spiritual malaise, lost connection with nature, with the family, lost connection with the spirit. What is left? The self, identity. Chasing money, pleasure. Everyone run from pain towards the pleasure, but when they get there, only to find more pain. You cannot outrun pain.”
Dad: “Can I ask you one more question? What do you think happens when we die?” “Great question. When you are born, you are like a single drop of water flying upward, separated from the one giant consciousness. You get older, you descend back down, you die, you land back into the water, become one with the ocean again. No more separated, no more suffer, one consciousness. Death is a happy return, like coming home.”
The young girl’s search for a spiritual life is touching. More surprising is the conversion of Frank (Sam Rockwell). In episode 5 he explains: “I realized I had to stop the drugs, the girls, trying to be a girl. I got into Buddhism, which is all about spirit versus form, detaching from self, getting off the never ending carousel of lust and suffering.”
Lung Por summarized the Buddhist philosophy of acceptance in episode 8: ““What is in store for me? So many questions. We want resolution, solid earth under our feet, so we take life into our own hands, action. There is no resolution to life’s questions. It is easier to be patient, once we finally accept there is no resolution.”
But the most relevant message for today is delivered by the wise monk in episode 7: “Remember this, everyone of us has the capacity to kill. Buddhist scripture condemns violence in every form. Violence, aggression, anger stem from same source: fear. The only good fear response is to sit with your feelings. Violence does spiritual harm to victim and to perpetrator. Buddhists believe always non-violence.”
Being raised Catholic in Italy, I remember the 6th commandment: “Thou shall not kill.” And I don’t have to remind anyone how many wars have been fought through the centuries, with every army claiming that some God was on their side. So I would like to quote what Michael Moore, in his podcast of June 2024, claimed that the Old Testament God told him: “Killing has to end, especially the organized crime when a nation-state commits acts of war, that’s a mortal sin. That means you, America. And you too British Empire and Russia and Israel and Saudi Arabia. You have to stop funding wars, sending arms to other countries, invading countries.”