Cooper always had Buddhist leanings. And I wonder if approaching Twin Peaks from that framework helps open it up. The ideas of karma, a more cyclical view of time, samsara, reincarnation... one thought I had was perhaps Cooper is a bodhisattva (?), (do I have that term right?), someone who reaches enlightenment but chooses to come back again to try to help others find the way of the dharma and ease suffering.
?
I think that is the central point of it all. Dreamer living in the dream they dream is kind of the way the universe was formed, an endless cycle of cause and effect. No prime cause ever. Coop told us way back in S1 what this is going to be all about.
Cooper always had Buddhist leanings. And I wonder if approaching Twin Peaks from that framework helps open it up. The ideas of karma, a more cyclical view of time, samsara, reincarnation... one thought I had was perhaps Cooper is a bodhisattva (?), (do I have that term right?), someone who reaches enlightenment but chooses to come back again to try to help others find the way of the dharma and ease suffering.
?
Only guessed the naido part is connected with Tibetan Buddhism. I copied a reply I posted under another topic.
"As "Tulpa" is a thoughtform, is originated from Tibetan mythology, an extra body created from one person's spiritual or mental powers.
We never saw Diane in the first two seasons, but this season she is in East Asian styles constantly, maybe spiritually she is partially Asian, which is why she was in the Asian human form. "
Ooh, thank you for this. Exactly the kind of touchpoint I'm looking for.
The more I think about The Return, the more convinced I am it's about the cycle of suffering, samsara, and about Cooper waking up / reaching enlightenment and wilingly reentering the cycle of reincarnation to help free others from suffering.
I think it's a great idea to look at this through a Buddhist lens. Buddhism of course is vast with many variations but the general ideas of karma, reincarnation, life is suffering, Samsara certainly seem to be a part of this.
I am a Mahayana Buddhist, and I do see some philosophical connections. I'll give it some more thought and reply later. I'm really still digesting the finale episodes, and I need to rewatch.
In Zen Buddhism, a koan is a paradoxical question that has no logical answer. For example, "what is the sound of one hand clapping." The koan becomes the focus of meditation and can lead to enlightenment. There are no right or wrong interpretations of the koan; the release from limited logical thinking is the goal.
Lynch is not a Zen Buddhist, to my knowledge, but I've often thought The Return is an 18-hour koan. Considering it only from a traditional logical mindset will be frustrating and dissatisfying.
I am currently something of a lapsed Buddhist, after having been a dedicated Zen Buddhist practitioner for a number of years. I am also familiar with a lot of the ideas, symbolism, and archetypes of Tibetan Buddhism and my interpretation of this entire season, especially the last few episodes, is filtered through this lens.
First, I think it's important to emphasize not just the theme of the "dream," but its complement: "awakening." All schools of Buddhism emphasize waking up from the illusions that bind us to suffering and cyclic existence. The theme of the last few episodes is people waking up from illusions/dreams and realizing who, where, and what they really are.
"Tulpa Diane" wakes herself and others up to the fact she is a created being with no corporeal existence. Jane-E, after having accepted Doug-E as being the person she's always known all season, despite his having been reduced to a pure, infantile, mindless state (note by 'mindless' I see a Buddhist idea here, too--that he has achieved a desirable state in Buddhism, in which he experiences life purely, as it is, simply reflecting back phenomena as they rise and fall, without desire or grasping), finally realizes that this man isn't Doug-E. Audrey, who somehow to me, seemed to have the most surreal, unbelievable existence on the show--everything about her life felt "wrong"--wakes up from her dream (into what, we don't find out). Nadine Hurley has her own sort of awakening, in which she relinquishes selfishness and grasping and seeks liberation instead, liberating both herself and her husband. Cooper wakes up "Naido" into recognition of who she really is--Diane.
And, of course, Cooper's awakening is the most dramatic and literal. And I believe he is the only one who stays awake throughout.
I see Cooper's journey through Episode 18 as a journey through the bardo--the realm Tibetan Buddhists see as existing between life and death. It is the realm where souls are either liberated from cyclic existence or reborn. Tibetan Buddhists chant and engage in rituals to help the souls of the recently departed move through the bardo; the purpose of these is to help the soul remember its true nature and not succumb to illusion. The process of passing through the bardo lasts 49 days.
I believe that Cooper's time in the Black Lodge has given him the wisdom and power to remain awake and remember who he is while moving through the bardo. He is a bodhisattva in his course of action--a being in Tibetan and other branches of Mahayana Buddhism understood to forgo his/her own enlightenment for the sake of liberating others. I believe Cooper's purpose is not trying to undo events, but to liberate Laura's soul, which has become trapped in the bardo.
Laura has forgotten who she is, which in some ways is a relief, but also painful, because it prevents her from being reborn or liberated into a better existence. Her dream-life in the bardo is shaped by karmic traces from her life. She's trapped in a job at a bleak diner where men feel free to grope and abuse the waitresses. I suspect the dead man in her apartment was an abuser she retaliated against. Cooper's purpose is to help her remember who she really is so she can be liberated from this existence. The final scene--the final scream--reflects Laura waking up and remembering her life, and death. In a way, it's both a good and bad ending--she has to relive those painful memories of a fate no one could save her from, but she can also be freed from living out a life unconsciously shaped by those memories.
Another part of this episode that made me think of Buddhist teaching/iconography is the "love scene" with Cooper and Diane. It's an awkward scene devoid of joy or love. I immediately sensed it as a ritual act. In Tibetan Buddhism, deities and bodhisattvas are often depicted in yab yum, or sexual embrace. This symbolizes the union of wisdom and compassion and also symbolizes enlightenment as transcending the illusion of duality.
I get the sense that Cooper and Diane's sexual union is done as a ritual to empower them in their journey through the bardo and help them remember who they are. Diane covering Cooper's face and eyes could be seen as a rejection of him or as reflecting her experiencing of trauma from the memory of being raped by bad Cooper, or it could show that this act is about blurring the sense of the 'other'.
It is interesting that after the act, Diane disappears. The obvious interpretation is that she left, and left that note behind. But I wonder about another possibility--that she and Cooper truly did 'become one'--Diane was always a part of him, his inner wisdom, and he is now free of the illusion he is separate from her. This ritual is what empowers Cooper to remember his purpose, read the signs, and not be fooled by the illusion of the 'wrathful deities' he encounters in the diner.
Where I get lost is the meaning of a lot of things that may fall outside of this lens. Tibetan Buddhism teaches that evil does not truly exist 'from its own side,' but is only illusion, and that what appears to us as demons are actually 'wrathful deities' whose job is to wake us up. However, in Twin Peaks, evil forces seem very real. And we know that one of them is "Judy." It is clear that "Judy's Diner" is not a good place to be stuck, especially if you're a vulnerable woman like Laura. And it seems that Judy has infected Laura's mother just as Bob infected Laura's father.
Tibetan Buddhism strongly connects the experiences/ideas of awakening and remembering. In meditation, the first step is to 'remember the instructions'; in the bardo, the key to avoiding a bad rebirth is remembering enough not to fall victim to the forces of illusion. The "straight Buddhist" interpretation for me is that by seeing her mother, Laura would remember who she is. But I think here, there is something more going on--that perhaps, in the confrontation, it would somehow strike a fatal blow to Judy--Sarah would be healed by the sight of her daughter and this would 'exorcise' Judy. It seems that making something like this happen was part of Cooper's intention.
So what does it mean that when they finally arrive, it's not Sarah Palmer's house? Cooper does seem to start to forget by this point, that they are not in the realm/history in which Sarah lives. But there is some sort of veil or access point between worlds. Here's where I get lost almost completely as to the import of the Chalfonts/Tremonds. Fan theories I've read indicate that they are lodge entities or at least appear where lodge activities have been occurring.
I'm also aware of the likely symbolism in the name "Carrie Page" given that the encounter with the Chalfonts/Tremonds in the original show occurred in the context of the discovery of a missing page from Laura's diary. Is this "bardo Laura," Carrie, the final missing page? It seems she finally wakes up in response to hearing her mother's cries, but what is the vehicle that allowed the veil to drop between this realm and the one in which that is the Palmer's house?
The final piece from Buddhism that I think of, that doesn't necessarily answer all of these questions, but puts them in context, is this idea that everyone is "the dreamer." Every person's narrative is their dream of separation, the events of which are driven by their karma. It isn't just that Laura is dreaming, or that Audrey is dreaming, but that everyone is dreaming. I believe Cooper is the only one who remains awake. But as Buddhism teaches, awakening is not a sudden act of transcendence that pulls you out of the dream world--you become awake in the dream. Perhaps the idea is that the boundaries between these different worlds are always tenuous, but Cooper is the only one who can see or sense them.
Ooh, thank you for this. Exactly the kind of touchpoint I'm looking for.
The more I think about The Return, the more convinced I am it's about the cycle of suffering, samsara, and about Cooper waking up / reaching enlightenment and wilingly reentering the cycle of reincarnation to help free others from suffering.
yes
it's all about the awakening of the souls--and the creation/recreation of a world soul, I think
Or does Cooper have to be reincarnated over and over until he gets whatever it is he was supposed to get right?
I am currently something of a lapsed Buddhist, after having been a dedicated Zen Buddhist practitioner for a number of years. I am also familiar with a lot of the ideas, symbolism, and archetypes of Tibetan Buddhism and my interpretation of this entire season, especially the last few episodes, is filtered through this lens.
First, I think it's important to emphasize not just the theme of the "dream," but its complement: "awakening." All schools of Buddhism emphasize waking up from the illusions that bind us to suffering and cyclic existence. The theme of the last few episodes is people waking up from illusions/dreams and realizing who, where, and what they really are.
"Tulpa Diane" wakes herself and others up to the fact she is a created being with no corporeal existence. Jane-E, after having accepted Doug-E as being the person she's always known all season, despite his having been reduced to a pure, infantile, mindless state (note by 'mindless' I see a Buddhist idea here, too--that he has achieved a desirable state in Buddhism, in which he experiences life purely, as it is, simply reflecting back phenomena as they rise and fall, without desire or grasping), finally realizes that this man isn't Doug-E. Audrey, who somehow to me, seemed to have the most surreal, unbelievable existence on the show--everything about her life felt "wrong"--wakes up from her dream (into what, we don't find out). Nadine Hurley has her own sort of awakening, in which she relinquishes selfishness and grasping and seeks liberation instead, liberating both herself and her husband. Cooper wakes up "Naido" into recognition of who she really is--Diane.
And, of course, Cooper's awakening is the most dramatic and literal. And I believe he is the only one who stays awake throughout.
I see Cooper's journey through Episode 18 as a journey through the bardo--the realm Tibetan Buddhists see as existing between life and death. It is the realm where souls are either liberated from cyclic existence or reborn. Tibetan Buddhists chant and engage in rituals to help the souls of the recently departed move through the bardo; the purpose of these is to help the soul remember its true nature and not succumb to illusion. The process of passing through the bardo lasts 49 days.
I believe that Cooper's time in the Black Lodge has given him the wisdom and power to remain awake and remember who he is while moving through the bardo. He is a bodhisattva in his course of action--a being in Tibetan and other branches of Mahayana Buddhism understood to forgo his/her own enlightenment for the sake of liberating others. I believe Cooper's purpose is not trying to undo events, but to liberate Laura's soul, which has become trapped in the bardo.
Laura has forgotten who she is, which in some ways is a relief, but also painful, because it prevents her from being reborn or liberated into a better existence. Her dream-life in the bardo is shaped by karmic traces from her life. She's trapped in a job at a bleak diner where men feel free to grope and abuse the waitresses. I suspect the dead man in her apartment was an abuser she retaliated against. Cooper's purpose is to help her remember who she really is so she can be liberated from this existence. The final scene--the final scream--reflects Laura waking up and remembering her life, and death. In a way, it's both a good and bad ending--she has to relive those painful memories of a fate no one could save her from, but she can also be freed from living out a life unconsciously shaped by those memories.
Another part of this episode that made me think of Buddhist teaching/iconography is the "love scene" with Cooper and Diane. It's an awkward scene devoid of joy or love. I immediately sensed it as a ritual act. In Tibetan Buddhism, deities and bodhisattvas are often depicted in yab yum, or sexual embrace. This symbolizes the union of wisdom and compassion and also symbolizes enlightenment as transcending the illusion of duality.
I get the sense that Cooper and Diane's sexual union is done as a ritual to empower them in their journey through the bardo and help them remember who they are. Diane covering Cooper's face and eyes could be seen as a rejection of him or as reflecting her experiencing of trauma from the memory of being raped by bad Cooper, or it could show that this act is about blurring the sense of the 'other'.
It is interesting that after the act, Diane disappears. The obvious interpretation is that she left, and left that note behind. But I wonder about another possibility--that she and Cooper truly did 'become one'--Diane was always a part of him, his inner wisdom, and he is now free of the illusion he is separate from her. This ritual is what empowers Cooper to remember his purpose, read the signs, and not be fooled by the illusion of the 'wrathful deities' he encounters in the diner.
Where I get lost is the meaning of a lot of things that may fall outside of this lens. Tibetan Buddhism teaches that evil does not truly exist 'from its own side,' but is only illusion, and that what appears to us as demons are actually 'wrathful deities' whose job is to wake us up. However, in Twin Peaks, evil forces seem very real. And we know that one of them is "Judy." It is clear that "Judy's Diner" is not a good place to be stuck, especially if you're a vulnerable woman like Laura. And it seems that Judy has infected Laura's mother just as Bob infected Laura's father.
Tibetan Buddhism strongly connects the experiences/ideas of awakening and remembering. In meditation, the first step is to 'remember the instructions'; in the bardo, the key to avoiding a bad rebirth is remembering enough not to fall victim to the forces of illusion. The "straight Buddhist" interpretation for me is that by seeing her mother, Laura would remember who she is. But I think here, there is something more going on--that perhaps, in the confrontation, it would somehow strike a fatal blow to Judy--Sarah would be healed by the sight of her daughter and this would 'exorcise' Judy. It seems that making something like this happen was part of Cooper's intention.
So what does it mean that when they finally arrive, it's not Sarah Palmer's house? Cooper does seem to start to forget by this point, that they are not in the realm/history in which Sarah lives. But there is some sort of veil or access point between worlds. Here's where I get lost almost completely as to the import of the Chalfonts/Tremonds. Fan theories I've read indicate that they are lodge entities or at least appear where lodge activities have been occurring.
I'm also aware of the likely symbolism in the name "Carrie Page" given that the encounter with the Chalfonts/Tremonds in the original show occurred in the context of the discovery of a missing page from Laura's diary. Is this "bardo Laura," Carrie, the final missing page? It seems she finally wakes up in response to hearing her mother's cries, but what is the vehicle that allowed the veil to drop between this realm and the one in which that is the Palmer's house?
The final piece from Buddhism that I think of, that doesn't necessarily answer all of these questions, but puts them in context, is this idea that everyone is "the dreamer." Every person's narrative is their dream of separation, the events of which are driven by their karma. It isn't just that Laura is dreaming, or that Audrey is dreaming, but that everyone is dreaming. I believe Cooper is the only one who remains awake. But as Buddhism teaches, awakening is not a sudden act of transcendence that pulls you out of the dream world--you become awake in the dream. Perhaps the idea is that the boundaries between these different worlds are always tenuous, but Cooper is the only one who can see or sense them.
My dear, I believe that you have come closer than anyone to unlocking the mysteries of the show.
I'm also a lapsed Buddhist. I think there are multiple ways to get to this but your knowledge of Buddhism offers one of the most lucid readings I have seen of the "whole" of Twin Peaks.
The sex between Cooper/Diane is ritualistic but not hostile. What I think it does is wake her up to remember the rape perhaps. What you see is her remembering it, from another "timeline" or instance of the dreamworld. I think that Naido (Diane in another form) is key in this somehow--that Naido had no eyes because Naido had seen something too awful and didn't want to see again, but she was paying the price for that by being cut off from Cooper, who seems to be her soul mate. Diane and Cooper are soul mates, I think (although I'm not sure if that fits into a Buddhist reading). It did seem like tantric sex perhaps? That would be ritualistic intercourse which has its place in certain sects of Buddhism. Maybe in bed Diane did not want Cooper to see her sorrow at remembering the rape. Maybe Cooper doesn't know, in his Agent Coop form, that he raped people in another form--people he loves. That would be a tough one. I assumed he knew, but maybe not and maybe that is why there is a dissociation (in which Diane transitions to Linda and forgets being Diane). The giant, though, wants Cooper to remember as we see in the first scene of the season.
Stephanie Hairston: Of all the theories and speculations that I've read about Twin Peaks, yours resonates very highly with me. There have been hints of Buddhism playing out in the series from the very first episodes. I think this is a very eloquent, interesting perspective. Would you mind if I shared this on Facebook with some of my other Peaky friends?
Cyndee and Brittany, thank you so much for the positive feedback! It's gratifying to know that my interpretation resonates with others. This show has a way of making you feel like you're always out of your depth! And Brittany - I wouldn't mind at all! I'd love to know what they think.
The sex between Cooper/Diane is ritualistic but not hostile.
Yes, this is exactly how I would put it! "ritualistic but not hostile."
What I think it does is wake her up to remember the rape perhaps. What you see is her remembering it, from another "timeline" or instance of the dreamworld. I think that Naido (Diane in another form) is key in this somehow--that Naido had no eyes because Naido had seen something too awful and didn't want to see again, but she was paying the price for that by being cut off from Cooper, who seems to be her soul mate. Diane and Cooper are soul mates, I think (although I'm not sure if that fits into a Buddhist reading). It did seem like tantric sex perhaps? That would be ritualistic intercourse which has its place in certain sects of Buddhism. Maybe in bed Diane did not want Cooper to see her sorrow at remembering the rape. Maybe Cooper doesn't know, in his Agent Coop form, that he raped people in another form--people he loves. That would be a tough one. I assumed he knew, but maybe not and maybe that is why there is a dissociation (in which Diane transitions to Linda and forgets being Diane). The giant, though, wants Cooper to remember as we see in the first scene of the season.
Interesting idea! I hadn't thought of it, but it makes sense that Naido's eyelessness and Diane's struggle with looking directly at Cooper are connected.
And while Buddhism doesn't really have the same idea of "soul mates" as the pop culture idea, there's definitely a belief in karmic connections between people that has similar resonances. That could fit with Diane and Cooper--but I also get this strange sense that Diane doesn't really exist separately from Cooper. That she is a part of Cooper that became split off. We never see her in the original series. His communication with her could be seen as a communication with his higher wisdom mind. It's not really explained (unless I missed it) how she got into the Black Lodge and came out as Naido. It would make sense that she became split off from Cooper in the process of him going in and coming out of the Black Lodge, which would also explain the connection Evil Cooper has with Tulpa Diane.
So perhaps "real Diane" isn't remembering her rape in that scene, but is aware that her existence is about to come to an end--something that evokes pain and fear, as she is still experiencing herself as a separate entity. Or perhaps her covering Cooper's face is part of the ritual. She could be looking toward the ceiling in anticipation of some sort of ascendance / sublimation.
Even if in the TP universe, Diane is a distinct entity, symbolically, she and Cooper seem to be linked in a way that transcends normal relationships. In the case she is indeed a separate person, who was raped by Bad Cooper, I definitely think her behavior in the sex scene could be seen as a remembering of trauma and an attempt to dissociate/separate herself from that memory.
Thanks for the detailed response. Karmic connection is the important takeaway here for sure. Soul mates is an idea that gets pop culture currency but it's also very old--going back to Plato and probably older than that. (Link is below.) The idea is that souls get split and then need to find their parts to join up again and become whole. Cooper could have a very old soul that got split off from his anima (mixing theories again, that's Jungian--but split off from a feminine fragment of himself anyway). In the case of Bad Cooper, the entity is so removed from parts of his own soul that the only way he can connect is through force.
https://humanities.byu.edu/plato-and-soul-mates/
I love this concept and joined to add a question mixing mystisism with energy.
So, I feel like a major conceptual element of Twin Peaks that has been discussed in depth many times is the relevance of nuclear weapons. I think the "little girl down the street" may have been Sarah Palmer, infected with the bug, which was brought about by nuclear weapons testing, which threw off the tao of "joo-dah" and the negative side became stronger. Also suggested by bar scene. Out of that, Laura was "the one", the light, the rebalancing of her mother's negative energy with positive energy.
That's an aside to my actual theory that Diane/Naido is "ground", that's why Dale must have her with him to pass at whim through wormholes as in 18. She neutralizes "joo-dah" by grounding it.
I think that's why in episode 2 when Naido flipped the switch, the outlet showed three: positive, negative, and ground.
Fire walk with