This is a film review published from the perspective of ordinary people who are not Buddhists: Buddha has ten disciples. Believers of Han Buddhism are probably most familiar with the two venerable figures around the Buddha in Han Buddhism statues: Ananda and Mahayana.
However, in Thailand, Sri Lanka and other regions, Buddha honorees are often Buddhist relics and big eyes. Even if you are not a believer, you know a lot about the Heart Sutra. The "Buddhist relic" who talked with Guan Zi in Heart Sutra is the first disciple of the Buddha, and his wisdom comes first. In many Buddhist scriptures, he is regarded as a master, showing his wisdom.
But in this TV series, the disciples did not focus on portraying this wise last disciple, but on Ananda.
Ananda was a cousin of Buddha, and later became a waiter of Buddha. He has an excellent memory and never forgets anything. It is said that he can recite the Buddha's teachings accurately. However, Ananda's enlightenment was very late, after the Buddha's nirvana, so he hardly attended the meeting to conclude the Buddhist scriptures.
Without enlightenment, Ananda is probably the closest disciple of the Buddha to us ordinary people, compared with other senior brothers such as Buddhist relics, Omura and Sakyamuni.
I think the reason why the TV series chose Ananda may be to build a bridge between the Buddha and other ordinary people.
Ananda in the play has the temperament of ordinary people. Faced with the temptation of "self-nature", he almost fell down. Seeing Tiada's strange expression, Ananda will doubt without evidence. After the nirvana of the Buddhist relics, Ananda told the Buddha that the nirvana of the Buddhist relics made him seem to fall into darkness and lose his feelings.
When I heard that the Buddha was going to nirvana, my shock could not be expressed in words. I thought I heard wrong. When the Buddha was dying, Ananda couldn't bear to see it and quietly went to the Woods to cry. This kind of Ananda, perhaps, aroused my song.
When the Buddha was cremated, Tathagata came from a distance, and Ananda handed the torch to Tathagata. But Sakyamuni put Ananda's hand on the torch and asked Ananda to cremate the Buddha.
At the end of the play, Ananda, who was still unable to let go of the Buddha, walked by the sea and a leaf fell on Ananda's shoulder. His ears echoed with the teachings of the Buddha. Is Ananda enlightened?
According to the classics, Ananda does not exist. In order to get him to participate in the Buddhist scriptures, Brother Dayejia used the goading method, and finally let Ananda practice hard and be enlightened before the Buddhist scriptures.
However, as an ordinary audience, I hope that at this moment, Ananda is really enlightened.