...follow the kid to land at the start of the film? When he's watching the kid tie animals to rocks, and then later as he unties and buries them. They only have 1 boat and the master is dry so he didn't swim....
shareDid you watch the whole movie?
Because later on it shows us that the Old Monk possessed telekinetic abilities.
"The Last Dream of Robert Harem"
Could that mean astral projection?
shareI think that The Master simply thought it was not time to reveal his power to his young disciple. He was still developing at that stage, plus he had to overcome his lust before taking the next step.
shareFrom what I understood , the floating house was placed perfectly on the lake. Right after the officers take the monk away , the doors shut tight , like the wind closed them or something like that. You dont see the officers pushing the boat back , it just floats back to the little house as if it was taken by the stream.
Also when the young monk and the girl are having sex they clearly stop the boat below the tree near the gate , as morning is rising you can see boat is almost reaching the house again , so my best guess would be the stream always moves floating objects towards the house.
Thats my opinion.
The movie clearly demonstrates the Monk is attuned to Nature and so possesses an ability to call upon the aid of Nature beings. He does not want to abuse his privilege so as long as he can physically do things he will do them himself. I think the movie was great and conveyed a lot of meaningful messages.
shareAnd at the beginning, when the child monk is doing the stones stuff, he got there by boat. Then how is supposed that the master could have followed him? And his clothes are dry. A goof maybe?
shareDo you really believe that the monk has telekinetic abilities? :/
I guess the lake's current always made the boat return.
YES, besides such an ability being commonly remarked that monks have a higher chance of performing-- the movie definitely suggests he does have such powers..
Watch again-- Not only his ability to return the boat at will, but also note the end.. when the young monk is being taken to prison the monk clearly, stops the boat. What Killersnakes said below..
( by - Killersnakes -I think that The Master simply thought it was not time to reveal his power to his young disciple. He was still developing at that stage, plus he had to overcome his lust before taking the next step.)
... was touching on why he didn't always use it. Look at the young monks face when he realizes (unlike the detectives) exactly, why they were unable to row the boat. It was evidently concealed by the older monk, from his awareness. It no doubt left a lasting impression for the young monk. Not only had he learned from his mistakes how valuable & truthful his life lessons were there, he no doubt appreciated even more the great power & strength that came with his master's philosophies. Especially as the monk waved goodbye..
He was leaving behind freedom and an elevated way of living in a place without complexity & entered confinement. A state of powerlessness. One lacking in all ways.. simplicity & clarity. The door was not sealed by the wind, but was competently closed-as if- by two strong arms, through his Master's ability. Reinforcing this concept all the more.
Deeper than etching in the wood he carved was the 'final lesson' he taught his pupil.. and knowingly he waved. "Goodbye." Only, did he stop the boat, to teach, which was true of all his actions.
His work as a mentor was complete.
The young monk clearly fully realized the strength that came with his training & after atoning for his error returned FINALLY suited to "really" train for his life's commission.
No, it is not the current, it is the master that has some kind of ability to move other objects by will. He also holds the boat when the 2 policeofficers are going to sail away with the young munk, because he could not let go of him and perhaps knew it was the last time he would see him. Maybe he just flew over the lake when the child was small and tied the animals, but you could see clearly that it was not just the current bringing the boat back, think about it, that fast and direct and he also closed the doors with his abilities? It was the master and if he has those kind of abilities why shouldn't he be able to fly over the lake and watch the young munk, I'm just saying.
shareI think the correct term for this kind of ability was clairvoyance... as in, he could see pretty much everything that was happening without needing to be physically there to witness it.
This is an ability usually attributed to highly-realized masters, ones who are close to enlightenment or who are enlightened but choose to come back in the world to help other sentient beings. There are other "powers" as well, which are not necessarily clearly defined (the movie definitely depicts "telekinesy"), because the master is never supposed to use those powers to "show off" and if asked, he will always deny having those special powers.
In the movie they chose to portray the clairvoyance by showing the master watching his student, even though he wasn't physically there. I guess that's also why he gets so close without his student noticing him.
Also, in the latter part of the movie, when the master dies, later when the adult monk goes back, he breaks the ice and finds little pearls, which are called relics. According to buddhist doctrine, when highly realized masters die and get incinerated, they leave behind relics (a belief also common in Tibetan Buddhism). That also went to show that he was a highly realized master.
On a little off-topic side note, I found it really interesting, because when I watched the movie, I was aware that Tibetan Buddhism had those beliefs of clairvoyance and relics (I even had the chance to see some real relics myself). However, even if I'm buddhist, I'm still a little skeptical on those aspects of the religion. Especially since most of those mystical aspects are almost only found in tibetan buddhism. However, when I saw that it was the same thing in Korea (whose buddhism developed quite separately from tibet, even though it came from the same place it changed quite heavily in china, where it became zen buddhism, and then spread to korea and japan), I was impressed, because it probably means that they too have witnessed little pearls "falling" off deceased masters.
Sorry for getting off-topic, it just really struck me when I saw it, because it does add more weight to the veracity of the phenomenon. When I saw the real-life relics, of course nobody had made any DNA or scientifical tests to see if they were actually part of the body that got incinerated, or even if they were organic matter...
Anyway, interesting stuff. Good movie !
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