Green did a fine job demonstrating and outlining all of the ways that Fight Club showed the journey of the Buddha through a modern lens. It seems that point for point, a textbook description of buddhist principles and paths were matched by the story.
Siddhartha witnessed old age sickness and death, and the narrator attended various support groups. Marla the temptor was mirrored in Marla Singer. The highlighting of consumerism and the symbolic representation of it by the destruction of the narrator’s apartment was a fantastic parallel to Buddha leaving his palace and rejecting the comforts of such. The asceticism and self mortification was a clear mirroring to the buddhas extreme physical suffering. Ego death in killing Tyler Durden and enlightenment that follows, the training and discipline at the house mirrored the eightfold path and of course the overall theme of “you are not your job – you are more than that” that’s a clear echo of the impermanence of life and not to be attached that you see in Buddhism.
But was it a path to enlightenment or was it simply used as a structure to hang a story off of, like a gimmick that makes it appear deep like yoda’s “do or no do there is no try” – “I’m 14 and this is deep” level of philosophy?
Granted there’s a parallel to hypermasculinity in some Buddhist sects to justify the fighting but it’s difficult to reconcile the orderliness expected in Buddhism versus the nihilistic anarchy flaunted in Fight Club. Yes, the members strictly adhered to rules and hierarchy but the extreme level of activism in destroying consumerism not only cheapens whatever Buddhism may have been in there, it renders it a mere plot device – a mockery at best. Not merely pro-nihilism but anti-civilization, despite Yoda head-pats to “find your purpose”.
Any spiritual results ought be pragmatically visible and I’ve avoided watching this film for 25 years because I saw the men attracted to it and what they drew out of it. A certain kind of self absorbed “I’m a little more elevated than you” pseudo intellectual quasi mystical easily gullible trait person are those that would get angry when I did not want to see this movie. If Fight Club intended as a conduit for Buddhism, I have not seen it function that way. This does not mean that a movie can’t be a vehicle for spirituality, but I remain unconvinced of that of Fight Club.
As a comedy and an exposé of male fragility? It wins. I’ve seen none better. The modernity remains, amplified.
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