Happiness is as simple as “a
glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the
sea.” The Buddha is not required for
arriving at enlightenment. In fact, the
kind of enlightenment brought by the Buddha can be anti-life. The Buddha can be a demon within.
Zorba is the antithesis of
the Buddha. Zorba is the protagonist of Nikos
Kazantzakis’s classical novel, Zorba the
Greek. The narrator of the novel is
a young intellectual who has decided to bid goodbye to books for a while and
take up active life. He wants to be with
people. Zorba, an elderly man with boundless
and unconstrained passion for life, becomes the narrator’s companion. No, not just companion but his Buddha.
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| A scene from the movie Zorba the Greek |
However, the kind of
enlightenment that Zorba brings differs totally from what the Buddha had
brought. If life was “sorrow” for the
Buddha, it is “trouble” for Zorba. The
highest point you can arrive at in life is not knowledge or virtue or goodness
or victory but Sacred Awe. The intellect
does not take us to that Awe. You need
some madness for that, says Zorba. Life
is not to be understood intellectually; it is to be lived passionately.
Zorba the Greek does not have a traditional plot that grows to a
climax. It is a book of meditation
rather than a novel. You need to put it
down again and again in order to contemplate the wisdom that each page
contains.
“No. I don't believe in anything,”
Zorba tells the narrator. “How many times must I tell you that? I don't believe
in anything or anyone; only in Zorba. Not because Zorba is better than the
others; not at all, not a little bit! He's a brute like the rest! But I believe
in Zorba because he's the only being I have in my power, the only one I know.
All the rest are guts. All the rest are ghosts, I tell you. When I die,
everything'll die. The whole Zorbatic world will go to the bottom!”
The novel is an eloquent
illustration of that Zorbatic world. A
fascinating world. A bewitching
world. An enlightening world.
PS. Written
for Indispire Edition 114: #MyFavouriteFictionWriter
Nice review. Loved reading it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that. The novel is one of my favourite ones as is the author.
Delete' If life is sorrow for the Buddha...' is not the depiction of Buddha. He went beyond sorrow to find a solution - bliss.
ReplyDeleteYes, he found a solution. But life was perceived as sorrow caused by desire.
DeleteI love the novel 'Zorba the greek '! .. and I agree that it is more of a book of meditation than a novel ...not seen the movie though....
ReplyDeleteThe author, Kazantzakis, underwent certain spiritual tribulations and Zorba is a result. The novel comes from some deep understanding of life.
Delete