Zen Noir vis-à-vis Myers-Briggs Personality Typology: Semiotic Multivalency as Grounds for Dialog

• Published in: The journal of religion and film Vol. 20; no. 3; p. 0_1
• Main Author: Godfrey, Edward J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Omaha University of Nebraska at Omaha, Department of Philosophy and Religion 01.10.2016
• Subjects: Buddhism; Criminal investigations; Identity formation; Interdisciplinary aspects; Monasteries; Personality; Psychology; Semiotics; New York
• ISSN: 1092-1311; 1092-1311

To explain, the detective's primary function is Te, which is defined by a reliance on objective and external facts and standards for problem solving, whether this comes in the form of laws, authority figures, mathematics, formal logic, or any other clearly defined rules that govern a system.7 His auxiliary function, Si, is defined by reliance on past experience of personal sense impressions to recognize patterns and generate a sense of continuity. "25 This is an interesting allusion to the role the body and breath play in meditation as the breath is a gateway of sorts to the unconscious.26 After Ed dies (i.e., after the detective recognizes the limits of his Te/Si) he learns to start listening to his breath, cultivating an awareness of the more subtle aspects of his mind-body. Oranges literally appear on the cover of the DVD; individual oranges appear a number of times in various states (with bullet holes and bleeding, rotten crawling with insects, in flames) to represent the detective's psyche; are central to the master's philosophy; and the detective's progress is also symbolically expressed by them. 22 Here we encounter a tired cliché of Zen that borders on racism, that Zen teaching is bound to the ethnically mysterious, revealing insights in broken English. Instead of mere Eros, had Jane, later on in the film, developed into the role of Sophia (beyond teaching him how to breathe), it would have made a much more compelling case for the detective's development. 26 That is, the breath is jointly controlled by the motor nerves which can be controlled consciously and the parasympathetic nervous system which operates unconsciously. 27 In light of endnote 13, this scene concludes with an embrace, which is a more subtle expression of face-to-face conflict. 28 This may be an attempt by the director to mimic the expression of Qingyuan Weixin's "mountains are mountains and waters are waters" See Suzuki D.T., Essays in Zen Buddhism (New York: Grove Press, 1994), 24.