What is it about?
When we approach Jonathan Livingston Seagull from a Buddhist perspective, the first thing that stands out is its division into three sections, each of which closely approximates a specific level of understanding and attainment in the Buddhist tradition. In fact, the first section tails off into a separate subsection that deserves consideration in its own right, and to a certain degree, so does the second. This gives us three major sections and two minor, intermediary parts. Together, these five sections can be seen as a Buddhist "pilgrim's progress", a movement from the initial impulse to seek something special called enlightenment to the final realisation that even enlightenment itself is nothing special. The tale of Jonathan is the tale of the Buddha.
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Perspectives
Initially published as Clasquin, Michel. 2005. ‘Once the Buddha Was a Seagull ...’ Reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull as a Mahayana Buddhist Text. Alternation Special Edition 2: 20–34. http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/12.3%20SpEd%202/03%20Cla.pdf.
Prof Michel Clasquin-Johnson
University of South Africa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘Once the Buddha was a Seagull . . .’: Reading Fonathan Livingston Seagull as a Mahayana Buddhist Text, January 2005, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789047407492_004.
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