A Quick Acknowledgement

I think it's important to first acknowledge before anything else Houseki no Kuni's deep ties to Buddhism. At its core Buddhism teaches to let go of earthly attachments, to go against the instinct to grasp after things and hold onto them tight. You must let go at the deepest level to reach enlightenment and do so through compassion. "Perfect compassion" is reached through meditation, having a deep empathy and love for all living things but knowing that in the end you must not become attached for all earthly things come and go. Also relevant is the Bodhisattva's vow, the aspiration to achieve enlightenment not for the self, but for the sake of all other beings, even if this means staying in the cycle of death and birth so that all others can be liberated from the cycle.

 

Houseki no Kuni has many parallels to the Bodhisattva's journey and other aspects of Buddhist ideologies and imagery incorporated into the story. This page "Thoughts from the moon" seeks to explore some themes and characters through a deeper lense (for the most part). If you feel you have something important to add to any of these conversations, feel free to contact me and I will credit you and add it in if it feels relevant.