📿 Buddhism! Tsunami! Piper Noooo!
A few (Buddhism) Thoughts While Watching The White Lotus Season 3
Hello you — Adreanna here for this week’s dispatch of The Laundry,
I’m taking a sideways approach to our usual format this week (which is a sharing of how practice seeps into the cracks of our daily lives) to celebrate the impending finale of The White Lotus Season 3. It’s been my little comfort show in the midst of the larger catastrophe. At 8:55pm on a Sunday night, you can find me in bed, on a heating pad with a cup of ginger tea, remote control in hand, ready to turn on HBO. Appointment viewing! (As they say on the internet.)
Meditation does a stellar job of revealing how the mind soaks up our daily influences — and the fictional guests of The White Lotus in Koh Samui have been living rent free in my head. Buddhism also plays a central role in this season, which I’ve found extra fun, for obvious reasons. How will their story wrap this weekend? I’m on the edge of my heating pad! In the meantime, here are some Buddhist-y thoughts I’ve had while watching.
I tried to keep this somewhat spoiler-neutral, but if you haven’t been watching (and plan to), plot points are revealed, so proceed with caution!
Buddhism is fun to say.
After hearing Victoria Ratliff drawl “Boooodisuuuum” for eight straight weeks, will I ever be able to hear (much less say) that word with neutral inflection again? She plays each syllable like an instrument and it’s just too much fun. I was taught that this is why we recite the sutras in a beat by beat monotone — as to not attach any preferential flourish to the words themselves. THIS is just the opposite and I’m loving it. Feels like a rollercoaster in my mouth. Booooodisuuuuum.
Piper is a Buddhist, Chelsea is a Buddha.
I don’t know if I’ve seen these two gals at the White Lotus interact in a single scene, so it just recently occurred to me that they are likely the same age (in their early to mid 20s) and carbon reflections of each other. While Piper came to Thailand to study Buddhism and Chelsea fluttered in behind her (hitman?) boyfriend — Chelsea appears more as the embodied action of Buddhist teachings, which throws our one aspiring Buddhist character into sharp relief.
Take for instance that our girl Piper (who likely has a good conceptual grasp on Buddhism) convinced her whole family to travel to Thailand under false pretenses in order to get what she wants. Chelsea on the other hand is entirely transparent and playfully honest, rolling with whatever situation comes her way. Which means that she also has really firm boundaries. Whereas Piper (in contrast) spends the whole time seeking permission. Piper appears to retreat from people and from life while Chelsea moves openly toward it. Even Piper’s mother pointed out that she was the most judgmental member of their clan, whereas Chelsea listens to every bonkers admission and revelation the other characters offer her with genuine wide eyed acceptance. Weird stuff! And also — nothing is condemned and no one is irredeemable!
I don’t want to bash our girl Piper. I relate to her on a gut level and support her journey. And also, it’s interesting to watch these two move through the world in juxtaposition. I’m reminded of the classic Ram Das quote that “my family hates when I’m a Buddhist, they love when I’m a Buddha”.
Embodied action > Conceptual understanding.
I am/was Piper Ratliff
What’s it called when you experience a strong emotional connection to a fictional character who mirrors your life experience? There has to be a word for that. Anyhow, this is how I feel about little baby Piper, the youngest of the Ratliff clan.
I ALSO travelled to Koh Samui, Thailand with a strong interest in studying Buddhism albeit a few years younger when I was 18, the summer after graduating high-school. Just without the posh resort and wealthy parents. That’s how my whole walk on this path started. The scenes outside of the resort bring me right back to Thailand, and now that I’m in my 40s, I’m absolutely gobsmacked by what a kid I was. Perspective!
It’s nice when something gives us access to a younger part of ourselves. I feel so tender towards my teenage self reflected through Piper — naïve and desperately seeking. Similarly closed off and judgmental, though stretching to understand a different way of thinking and of being as I stared down the barrel of adulthood. Sweet baby girl. Keep going. You’re on to something.
Buddhism isn’t a monolith
The White Lotus 3 takes place in Thailand, which is a largely Buddhist country with upwards of 90% of the population practicing Theravada Buddhism. Theravada emphasizes the original teachings of the Buddha — “the doctrine of the elders” — which has largely flourished in Southeast Asia. Think: The Four Noble Truths. The Eightfold Path. The Three Marks of Existence. I often think of this body of teachings as the bedrock, the foundational teachings that most (if not all) of Buddhism shares. Common ground! Though from here, it deviates wildly.
As Buddhism spread through the East, it soaked up the cultures it was planted in and spouted into a diverse perennial garden. There’s a wide array of traditions, lineages, and schools of Buddhism which emphasize different teachings, and have spouted unique offshoots of their own. We’ve got Zen Buddhism in Japan. Chan Buddhism in China. Won Buddhism in Korea. Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet (which in itself has four distinct schools and the esoteric teachings of Vajrayana). This is a very incomplete headcount.
Consider the Asteraceae family of flowering plants, with over 32,000 known species. Daisies, asters, and sunflowers all belong to this family. Not only are these three different in form, they all have their own unique varietals. Nature loves a panoply! Buddhism is no different. It’s vast! A rich and wild ecology of teachings and practice!
After the Ocean — the Rebirth
When Timothy Ratliff is contemplating taking his own life, he asks Luang Por Teera — the monk that Piper intends to study with — what happens after we die. The imagery that Luang Por Teera paints is that we are but droplets of water suspended apart from the ocean. We appear momentarily as individuals; death is a rejoining of the ocean.
I love this analogy. I really do. And it makes sense, as a plot point, how it’s meant to put Timothy’s mind at ease as he contemplates death. And also — it’s somewhat incomplete in that it doesn’t touch on karma and rebirth, which would probably be a real bummer for Timothy Ratliff. Hypothetically speaking (because how does one prove such a thing?), after our droplets of self rejoin the ocean, we take a rebirth — unless we achieve enlightenment (nirvana, cessation) in our lifetime. Our rebirth is largely based on our karma or habit energy, which is to say that we take all of our “stuff” with us.
After the ocean, the rebirth. Our karmic tendencies towards greed, grasping, aversion, aggression, and bias carry over with us like a residue — sorry Timothy! I imagine the best of who we are carries over, too. The wisdom bits. My mom once told me that she believes in reincarnation just based on having four children. Each of us “came in” to this life with the core template of our little personalities already intact. I see this in our kiddo, too. No blank slates. Where does that personality template come from? I don’t know! But from a Buddhist perspective one might say: (hypothetically) karma and rebirth.
THAT Monologue on Identity, Non-Self and Desire
When Chelsea’s boyfriend Rick reunites with his old (also hitman?) colleague Frank, we are gifted with one of the most memorable TV dharma talks I’ve seen in a while. It’s the jaw-dropper scene of the season and there’s so much to unpack! Let’s see if I can do it while keeping both the word count and the spoiler count on the low end!
Frank opens the scene by ordering a tea (he’s sober now) and questioning the very nature of desire. Why is it that we want what we want? What is the itch we’re attempting to scratch through the endless pursuit of pleasure? And what happens if we go all the way with it? If we take the pursuit of pleasure to the umpteenth degree?
Well, based on Frank’s experience, there’s a good chance that we find out that the craving never ends. It’s bottomless! And the endless accumulation of what we want never truly satisfies. It’s a mirage! The horizon of desire is always shifting backwards. So what do we do with this information after we’ve learned it first hand?
Well, maybe you would have a nervous breakdown and question all your life choices. Maybe you would seek out meditation and Buddhist teachings. I would bet many in this position do. If you’re Frank, you have a flash of insight into the emptiness of self. Non-self is one of the aforementioned Three Marks of Existence! If you’re Frank, you might realize first hand how this “self” that is “me”and all of the trappings that “I” consider to be so concrete, so absolute, are not as separate, solid, and static as “I” tend to think they are. And maybe… just maybe… the endless pursuit of desire is just a way of feeling more real. If “I” can get what “I” want, even temporarily, then I can verify my self existence first and foremost to myself.
I see you White Lotus! You’re serving very heady stuff! Booooodisuuuuum.
While Frank’s revelation is an apex of the season, the question of identity is a connective thread throughout. Who are we beyond the conditions that we’ve come to identify with? What are the constructs that we consider to be an integral part of our “selves”?
Timothy Ratliff’s unraveling is an example of what can happen when the conditions we identify with are unexpectedly swept out from under our feet. Piper is seeking something beyond the identity that she’s been groomed to inherit. Victoria admits that her identity is so calcified around her conditions that she’d rather be dead than have it compromised. Saxon admits that his whole identity is tied to his father’s (and thus his) success.
We’re watching the trio of friends slip right back into (and then reinforce) the identities that solidified in their dynamic decades ago. Laurie (of the friend group) laments that “It’s like nobody ever changes. We're still the same people we were in the 10th grade!” Whereas Rick is newly liberated from the vendetta that he’s self identified with since childhood. (Is he a hitman, though?!?) I can’t wait to see what opens up for him if this long-standing resentment no longer shapes his sense of “self”.
Identity death can be a freedom! A window to the infinite unknowable self that is non-self!
See you at The White Lotus, friends!
🍿 Are you watching The White Lotus also? Have you also picked up on some sneaky Buddhism threads? What are your theories and thoughts? Indulge me!
🎧 White Lotus (Dance Remix)("Tsunami, Buddhism, Piper No!" feat. Parker Posey)
Okay — this remix of the The White Lotus theme song (featuring Parker Posey’s Victoria Ratliff) is a little unhinged but it made me laugh, and can we all agree that humor is medicinal? Thanks for reading this week’s deviation into my TV mind! We’ll be back to our regular format of The Laundry next week!
Maybe. Let’s see how the finale goes. This might just be a TV dharma talk Substack now. Identity isn’t fixed!
This is my 1st season watching the show. We were in Koh Samui for our daughter’s wedding on 2000. Such a beautiful place. I love your analysis of the show and the characters, perfect! Can’t wait for the final episode.
Oh, this is perfect. Thank you!