MOTM is a calming read just like Buddhism concepts.
The introduction by the author SS is very rich with information on Buddha and Buddhism-related literature.
The below images are the books I was able to find from our home library.
The books are as follows,
(01) Women under primitive Buddhism
(02) Psalms of Buddhists
(03) Theri gee - Martin Wickramasinghe
I bought the book from SLBOOKS.lk in 2023 but read it in 2024 due to a suggestion by a friend (Ms. Yasho Keerthisena) who suggested a book reading club called 'Tuesday Book Reading Club' located in Colombo under Lakmahal Community Library.
Though I watched SS's film of his debut novel 'Funny Boy' in 2021, I have never read any of his books. But I purchased most of his books due to his fame in Sri Lanka.
By depicting an honest Yasodara the book feels sad and heart-touching.
The novel references ''Theri gee'' old Buddhist texts and also there is a touch of feminism.
The novel feels a bit bland but the world-building is great
This book is mainly about rethinking Buddhism and an analysis of how to relate it to our personal lives in the contemporary context in my opinion by giving contemporary family dynamics to the story if you take it positively.
The primitive and primary nature of the story intertwined with contemporary family discussions gives the story a life that keeps moving.
With the rise of chat GPT since 2022 besides these new books, I'll stick to classics due to authenticity-related factors.
Films that came to my mind when reading this book
(01) Little Buddha (1993) - Siddhartha and Buddha: Keenue Reeves Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
(02) Siddhartha (1972) Directed by Conrad Rookes / Based on Herman Hesse's novel starring Shashi Kapoor as Siddhartha
(03) Bimba dewi hewath Yasodara (2018) Directed by Sunil Ariyarathna / Yashodara played by Pallavi Subhash Shirke and Siddhartha by Arpit Chaudhary
(04) Avatar: The Last Airbender ( TV Series )
We are dealing with fiction authored by an independent non-Buddhist and non-sinhalese author who is trying to dissect Buddhism with a new perspective by combining myths and challenging the current Buddhist traditions which are in my opinion something good for Buddhist readers because it will unlock new paradigms of a religious leader who lived 2500 years ago.
This is for me magical realism because this is not Siddhartha I knew as a Buddhist. But I read this with an open mind. This is like a Siddhartha from a parallel universe.
This book in nature is controversial and revolutionary. My mind started exploding and exploring because of the conflict between the Non-fiction and fiction meta-awareness of Buddha's life created by SS. I used Google to find out about the past.
The book would have been banned in Sri Lanka for manipulating Siddhartha's story but due to being written in English, it might have gone under the supervision of Sri Lankan readers and critics.
Highlighted mythical rituals of the story are as follows which makes the story colourful,
(01) Pamitha's funeral
(02) Yasodara and Siddhartha's wedding
(03) Birth of Rahula
Navigating life as imperfect humans in search of meaning is a counter-cultural point of view for the traditional Buddhist texts.
Caste and Social Dynamics in this novel is a fresh take for Sri Lankan and Buddhist following readers since it takes us to a bygone era.
'Mansions of the moon' or 'Lunar station' or 'Lunar house' or 'Lunar mansion' were a part of the calendrical system used by the ancients.
SS and his book is a long intimidating read but is worthwhile since I'm a very bad Buddhist but try to calm myself down by reading and the fact that I get to read about my religion's founder with a different narrative altogether is a very valuable reading experience.
With all these AI tools that produce literature and art, smartphones with games and Kindle, pornography and YouTube and tiktok and Instagram and endless internet and politicians and artists together betraying their value systems and all these Buddhist monks doing these betrayals related to literature this book going against the actual Siddhartha and Buddha story doesn't feel like a big error to me personally. It actually feels like a 1984-themed apple advert kind of vibe trying to take a shot at Buddhism by actually shaking its fundamentals in a different way.
MOTM does have superficiality in family dynamics and how it represents characters. But overall it's calming.
The use of Sinhalese, Pali, Hindu, and English altogether was a great move for the Sri Lankan English literature fans. But it does create a confusion.
When you are reading this novel you have to put yourself within certain ground rules which are that you are reading fiction and non-fiction both at the same time so it is built as a world within a world. The author has got out of the bounded rationality and created a world within Buddhists to question ancient Buddhist texts as well as literary traditions.
When you keep on reading the book with its length and its manipulation of information it feels like whether he is making fun of Buddha and Buddhism.
MOTM and TSMOMA (The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida) both published in 2022 are a counter-cultural attack on the Buddhist and the religious aspects of Sri Lanka by being manipulative and independent in both history and concepts.
One of the key highlighted aspects of this novel is it being having Exotic language and descriptions.
Some of the key takeaways during the book discussion that day of the book club.
According to the participants of the book reading event...
(01) This is a rare instance where Eastern philosophies and religions are fictionalized.
(02) Authors and thinkers who are not born Buddhists who are interested in the relevant philosophy are more unbiased and open-minded.
(03) Sometimes Buddhist concepts like "Dukkha" were not grasped fully with the actual depth Buddhism gives in ancient texts.
(04) The learnings of the philosophy of Buddhism are given as an experience, not through a solitary follow-up.
(05) Referencing 'Bridgerton' and social dynamics of the Regency era and the era of Siddhartha
(06) Compared to 'Funny Boy' this is very weak according to many.
(07) The confusion caused by mixing many languages in the novel's text was highlighted.
(08) If someone is not a Buddhist and has not studied original Buddhist history and texts this novel might be misleading making this novel very controversial in nature.
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Mansions of the moon - Shyam Selvadurai
Contents
Introduction
Dukkha 1
Froth on the river
1 Beginnings
2 Siddhartha and the Nigantha
3 Dark clouds
4 A woman's lot
5 The Acacia tree
6 Yama's Noose
7 Siddhartha and the truth of truths
8 The empire of faith
9 Gnats
10 The Python
Dukkha II
A woman eaten and eaten
1 In the realm of ghosts
2 Siddhartha and his mentors
3 The lotus
4 Netted Birds
5 Alara kalama
6 Siddhartha and the sage
7 Crocodiles in Puddles
8 Robe, Razor and Begging Bowl
Dukkha III : The three fires
1 Osprey
2 Changes
3 All is burning
4 Fathers and sons
5 The price of water
6 A handful of mustard seed
7 The women walk
8 Me-and-mine
9 Seedpods
10 Power and Possibility
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