Why SUPERMAN Fly — not Japanese ROBOT ?
You know, the Super Hero has Super Power which is beyond of human imagination.
—– well, it is in a case of Western Hero such as Superman, even Harry Potter kind.
And did you notice, Japanese equivalent of them are often the Super Robot. — In old days, it was like
Astro Boy (鉄晼アトム), IronMan 28 (鉄人28号 )and then Gandam etc who needs to charge-up or inject
the energy fuel —– doesn’t look like having super natural power. No, they are not super natural Hero.
Strangely you may think, Japanese Super Hero is a variant of Ninja / Extreme Human. ! ! !
The origin of those Super Hero came from the Ethos and the Myth of each culture.
The Western God is the Almighty. You can’t count what power he got. It is unknowable.
And the same apply to the counter part, the Devil. So that, they fight using super natural power.
In western tradition, to have a supernatural power is the norm to a Hero, Anti-Hero, Witch or Sorcerer.
But in the East, only the people in the Hades use supernatural power, and it is evil.
Hence, a Hero in the Eastern film, fight with his almost superhuman power and skill, yet it is still human skill.
Chinese Kong-Fu Hero, Japanese Sward Master, Ninja —– are all Hero in this category.
In a film, those Hero does incredible jump, still they never fly.
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In order to spread the kids’ fantasy, a new type of Hero started to appear in the Japanese comics in 50th.
They are the Robot, as it becoming within technological feasibility and reality.
So that, starting in my generation, the Japanese kids were growing up with Robot stories.
In tradition, Japanese Hero has to remain to be a human, regardless whether he got superhuman like power.
If not human, it’s a monster and never be a Hero. And this principle applies to a Robot Hero too !
Japanese Robot has to be not only realistic but also Scientifically rational, even in a comic story.
If the energy run-out, even a super Robot needs to fill. They are not a product of Myth or wild fantasy.
When those Comic Robot Hero fly, they open the exhaust of small jet engine, then blasted to the sky.
Hence they are realistic and scientifically rational, it made the kids to think its structure or mechanism.
Which lead those boys (and girls) to study science or technology —– and created today’s Robot on the end.
This is the reason why, they like to create Humanoid. —— still couldn’t forget their Hero.
If their Hero / Robot Hero was irrational and operated by the magic, kids would just grown up
and forget a childish silly story —— nothing to do with science in their future life.
——–
It is showing remarkable contrast of Eastern and Western psyche.
But a question here, is, have any of you ever seen flying-man, let alone any super natural act,
not mention the super natural power of The God and The Devil ? ? ?
There is no such things in the Buddhism.
Buddhism is in the Dharma which inherently follow the rationality. Or, by observing the
manifestation of the Dharma, people found and learned, What the Rule of Rationality is.
( Rationality is not an invention of the man )
Therefore the Dharma having no magic. Hence, Buddha himself prohibited to practice magic.
( Of cause, there is certain unknowable in the Dharma, but it is invisible any way,
and nobody can touch it. Therefore even Buddha didn’t answer for this question )
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