Bond of Buddha
text size

Bond of Buddha

A composer reflects on the universality of human life and the latest episode of his 10-part opera

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A scene from Dasjati — Bhuridat, an opera based on Prince Vessantara's lives.
A scene from Dasjati — Bhuridat, an opera based on Prince Vessantara's lives.

With the release of Suwana Sama -- The Faithful Son on Father's Day, I've crossed one of the thresholds in this journey towards creating a 10-part music drama based on the "Ten Lives of the Buddha": the series of stories told throughout the Buddhist world. The Faithful Son will be the fourth part of the series.

"Iconic" is a word used frequently about the tales, but one of the reasons I've embarked on this project is that I discovered that the lives aren't really as well known as I thought, that they aren't taught in school that much -- any more than the exploits of Zeus and Hercules are taught in schools in the West -- and that therefore people today are losing touch with their cultural origins, with the very framework of their lives. Most Thais know the story of Prince Vessantara, the 10th of the lives, and Mahajanaka, the second life, which was popularised by His Majesty's adaptation that came out almost two decades ago. The others, while depicted on the walls of almost every temple in Thailand, tend to draw a blank.

The third Jataka in the series is Phra Suwana Sama (it's the fourth production in the cycle however). The most intimate of the 10 stories, the tale takes place almost entirely in the magical forest of the Himavant, but it's particularly appropriate for Father's Day because its subject matter is filial piety, which is a big deal in Thai culture and also among Confucians and in other civilisations in the region. Oddly enough its plot mirrors the Christian narrative in a way that might be more than coincidence.

What story, after all, deals with a messenger from heaven, a virgin birth, a gentle child whose goodness is beyond all measure, who places service to others above himself, whose life is plagued by a vengeful serpent, who miraculously causes the blind to see, who is slain by a thoughtless tyrant, then resurrected from the dead? Jesus, for sure, but oddly enough, also the third incarnation of Buddha in the celebrated Ten Lives. 

Did the Jesus narrative travel Wast? (We know that many of the Jataka tales are not contemporaneous with the Buddha, but were absorbed into the canon from all sorts of sources, including folk tales and legends from many countries). Or did the Jataka story travel West? Or are these stories all manifestations of a single greater consciousness?

When I analysed the story in order to extract an opera from it, it made me think of what people around the world have in common, not about what makes them different from each other. Set in a magical forest with a protagonist who talks to animals (a sort of Buddhist version of St. Francis) Suwana Sama is the most lyrical of the Dasjati stories, and it has an amazingly happy ending -- even the murderous King Piliyakka is made to learn compassion to stop treating people as collectable objects.

The original Jataka tale contains a deus ex machina in the person of the Yakhini Bahusodari, who was the Bodhisattva's mother in a previous life. Her spirit watches over him from a distant mountain, and she materialises at the climax of the story to teach King Pilyakka a moral lesson. In my opera I've placed her on the stage all the way through the opera in the form of a statue that comes to life, providing a challenging role for dramatic soprano Cassandra Black, who has to be a statue for over 70 minutes. But the magical moment when she speaks allows us to hark back to operatic ancestors like Don Giovanni, and also to the climax of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, where cold stone also receives a voice. King Piliyakka treats the living as though they were already dead, and in my adaptation is rebuked by something dead that he discovers to be living. 

Something many members of the audience may comment on is that fact that this opera uses two orchestras. The original is about two villages on opposite sides of a river that seek to become united in the marriage of the children of their headmen. The marriage is interrupted because of a vow of chastity, yet the couple must conceive a son because that child is destined to be a Bodhisattva. Gods intervene to make the impossible possible.

And the child's goodness conquers even death. The two orchestras -- with one conductor juggling them -- represent the two villages, but also two worlds -- gods and men -- life and death -- the simple beauty of the forest and the urbane beauty of the court of the King of Benares. But what divides the sound world of the opera is also what makes it one. 

Though Suwana Sama is a profoundly Buddhist story, it resonates powerfully with the message of Christmas and in fact the cast includes a larger number of committed Christians than we usually have in the local cast of our opera productions. The beauty of the story and its moral lesson, speaks to them as well.

In a world where there's increasing tension between people of different faiths and philosophies, I would hope that Suwana Sama -- The Faithful Son brings people together, and helps spread a message of compassion and forgiveness.


Suwana Sama - The Faithful Son

premieres on Saturday in celebration of the King's birthday, at Suryadhep Music Sala in Rangsit. There is an international cast and the Siam Philharmonic is conducted by Trisdee Na Patalung.

The Dasjati opera.

The Dasjati opera.

Do you like the content of this article?
75 26
COMMENT

By continuing to use our site you consent to the use of cookies as described in our privacy policy and terms

Accept and close