Buddhism in Fight Club


The interesting part about the film Fight Club, in relation to Buddhism is that it is more of modern twist on the beliefs of Buddhism. One of the pieces of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths. In this, it says that human life has a lot of suffering. The interesting piece about this is that the narrator and Tyler have a connection that is based on a representation of the four noble truths of Buddhism. Tyler basically encompasses the whole meaning of the connection when he says: “It’s only after you’ve lost everything, that you’re free to do anything.” This is basically saying that suffering is a part of life, but that in order to go on the “eightfold path” one must embrace the suffering and let it happen, so that they can move on and be free.

Another interesting aspect of Buddhism is something called the Dharma Kaya. This basically means that there is a constant, enlightened presence in the world and this can lead one to other parts of the Buddha. In the film, the narrator is one of the constant characters who is continuously sustained throughout the film. For most, this may go unnoticed, but one can look at this and see the impact that the narrator has on every other character in the film yet he stays the same.

The last aspect of Buddhism that I wanted to focus on that is present in Fight Club once again has to do with the narrator. A key concept in Buddhism is the idea of rebirth and nirvana. In the film, the narrator mentions that he dies and is born again at every group meeting. With this being said this is a great example of rebirth. As for nirvana, in Buddhism, the belief is that one must go through a cycle of death and rebirth to escape samsara and get to nirvana. In the film, it takes various pieces for the narrator to go from nothing to something. In other words, the beginning of the film the narrator has nothing and at the end the narrator is free and confident reaching the “nirvana.”

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