Although it may not be obvious at first glance, Natsuki Takayaâs Fruits Basket is a story rich with themes related to Buddhism. The story contains a number of allusions to Buddhist practices, thought, and religious symbols. In this article, we will be overviewing the different ways in which Buddhist principles and ideas can be seen throughout Fruits Basket.
First things first, the entire motif around which Fruits Basket is built - the Chinese Zodiac, or in Japanese the Junnishi (12 animals) - has strong ties to Buddhism. As Yuki correctly tells Tohru in the first chapter, no one is quite sure when or why people in China started using the 12 animals as a way of keeping time. Originally it was simply a system of numbers, so it is speculated the animals were added in order to help make the system easier to remember, but no one knows why those particular animals were chosen or how the folklore of the Zodiac began. Â
However, we do know that the Zodiac and its related calendar were adopted in Japan in 604 A.D. and introduced to the country at the same time as Buddhism. Before that introduction, the Zodiac and Buddhism had already become tied up together in China, and so likewise the same association developed in Japan. Originally, the Zodiac legend in China was not related to Buddhism. The animals were invited to be part of the Zodiac by the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven in Chinese mythology. When Buddhism was later introduced to China, the Zodiac legend started being retold replacing Buddha as the figure where the Jade Emperor once was. This is how the story was brought over to Japan, presenting Buddha as the one to assemble the 12 animals together.
In Fruits Basket, we are initially introduced to one version of the Juunishi legend. In this version, âGodâ, as stated in Fruits Basket, invites all the animals to attend a banquet. In this story, the Rat simply tricks the Cat by telling him the wrong date of the banquet. Â
There are many varied versions of the Zodiac legend, although the basics remain the same. The Rat tricks the Cat (and usually the Ox), so that the Cat is left out of the Zodiac and the Rat becomes first place. In some versions the animals are simply invited to a banquet, in others they are told the first 12 to arrive will become guardians of the gates of heaven, in others an actual race is set up, and in others still the animals are put into a competition of different challenges against one another. How exactly the Rat tricks the Cat also has many variations.
One of the most popular versions is one where the animals are challenged to a race and must cross a river to get to the finish line. The Rat tricks the Cat by convincing him they should ride together on the Oxâs back to cross the river, only to then push the Cat off into the river when they are halfway across. The winners in this version are typically rewarded with a banquet afterwards.
In some versions of the story, the placing of Buddha as the figure to assemble the animals is given a more religious context, where Buddha had invited the animals to come see his departure from the world to Nirvana (a state of enlightenment that ends the cycle of reincarnation). The 12 animals who are part of the Zodiac are said to be the ones who came to see Buddha ascend to Nirvana, while those who didnât were not granted such a position. In different versions, Buddha may have told the animals that if they accepted his teachings they too would obtain enlightenment and join him in Nirvana. Among the animals who refuse Buddhaâs teaching might be the Cat, meaning he does not attain enlightenment and is left out of the Zodiac.
This above version of the story resembles in some ways the âtrue origin storyâ we are told in the world of Fruits Basket about God and the Juunishi. God asks the 12 animals to join him in drinking from the enchanted sake cup he has created, allowing them to gain an eternal bond and continuous rebirth. All the 12 animals readily accept and drink from Godâs sake cup, however the Cat, who had been given the drink before learning what it was, says he wishes it hadnât been given to him and that he does not agree with Godâs desire.
In Fruits Basket, this refusal is what leads to the Cat being cursed, reborn as a monster, and ostracized and punished in subsequent reincarnations.
Obviously, reincarnation is a huge aspect of Fruits Basket, as the 12 animals, God, and the Cat, are reborn indefinitely as spirits in the bodies of humans. This is a function of the bond which God created with the sake cup, to have himself and the animals eternally tied to one another, even beyond death.
Reincarnation is also an important belief in Buddhism, which teaches that the actions of a person lead to a new existence after death, as part of an endless cycle called saášsÄra, or the endless cycle of life and death, death and rebirth, and delusion plus suffering. This cycle can only be escaped in Buddhism through obtaining enlightenment.
In Fruits Basket, although God and the 12 animals initially saw the bond and its cycle of rebirths created between them as a good thing, they eventually began to view it as a curse and cause of suffering. Godâs desire to create an unending bond and cycle of reincarnation among himself and the Juunishi is actually the opposite of what would be taught in Buddhist principles, or what Buddha might have meant in the version of the story where he ascends to Nirvana and invites the other animals to obtain enlightenment.
Enlightenment in Buddhist thought breaks the cycle of rebirth, rather than creating or continuing it. Reincarnation happens because the individual still has not found enlightenment and must continue to learn in their next cycle of life until they finally obtain its meaning. Continuous rebirth in Buddhist doctrine is seen as a source of suffering and pain, not something desirable as it originally was to God and the Juunishi. In Fruits Basket, the Cat foresaw the kind of suffering and pain that the âbondâ and its continuing cycle of reincarnation (both of life and relationships) would eventually create.
Kyoâs bracelet in Fruits Basket is well-known. It is the charm which keeps him from transforming into his âtrue formâ - a hideous monster. Kyoâs bracelet is actually, as told by him, a set of juzu, or Buddhist prayer beads.
The beads are supposedly made out of the bones of a Buddhist monk and the red-coloring on every other bead are dyed from his blood. As the story goes, so many years ago this Buddhist monk sacrificed himself in order to create the bracelet and keep the Catâs âtrue formâ at bay. There is actually a practice in some Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions where prayer beads can be made out of human bones if they are recited over for the purpose to forcefully tame or subdue a malicious spirit.
The purpose of Buddhist prayer beads is to count them while meditating, reciting mantras, or reciting Buddhaâs name. The recitations and repetition of the beads is meant to remind the user of the cycle of rebirth, the ability to break free of it, and to help them obtain enlightenment.
When prayer beads are made into a bracelet they are meant to be worn on the left wrist, where Kyo does indeed wear his beads. This is because the left hand represents the world of saášsÄra - cycles of rebirth and suffering - and the right hand represents the world of Buddha and enlightenment.
In Fruits Basket, Kyoâs beads serve as a reminder to him of his âtrue formâ, his exclusion from the Zodiac, and the Sohma belief that the Catâs is âan existence made up of othersâ sacrifices and othersâ livesâ. Kyo himself is caught in a cycle of rebirth and suffering due to the conditions of the Sohma curse. However, so are the rest of the Juunishi, as the original Cat foresaw. Kyoâs beads are used to represent both these conditions, for himself and for the others as part of the Sohma bond as a whole. At the end of the manga, when the bond/curse finally breaks, it is represented through the powerful imagery of Kyo breaking his juzu beads off his wrist.
Permanence and Impermanence
Throughout Fruits Basket the idea of "permanence" is used in relationship to the "bond". The concept of âpermanenceâ Â - that something would remain in the same state, unchanged, indefinitely - is what God and the other Juunishi wished for when creating the bond. They wished that the banquet, their lives, and their relationships to one another would have âpermanenceâ. This is also the idea which the Cat directly spoke out against. Instead the Cat spoke favorably of change, wishing to see God in another life forming different relationships with new people, saying that even though it can be sad they should accept the impermanence of all things.
Permanence and impermanence are also key concepts in Buddhist thought, with âimpermanenceâ being an essential doctrine of what Buddhism teaches about existence. Buddhism teaches that all existence is in a continual state of change, where all things are temporary, trasitionary, and never remaining in one constant form.
In Buddhist belief, realizing this truth about lifeâs inherent âimpermanenceâ is key, as it is believed that resistance to it or trying to obtain âpermanenceâ is a root cause of suffering. Enlightenment is obtained through the realization and acceptance of âimpermanenceâ, including of the âselfâ, or in other words that there is no constant, permanent, singular sense of âselfâ, âsoulâ, or âbeingâ.
The narrative of Fruits Basket of course is not a parable or guidebook for exact Buddhist doctrine, but thematically it can be seen to be heavily influenced by Buddhist principles. Impermanence in particular is a concept from Buddhism that has had a great impact on Japanese aestheticism, or those ideals of what is considered beautiful and truthful, which appear frequently in Japanese art and storytelling.
A commonly used example is the cultural appreciation for cherry sakura blossoms, which bloom for only a brief period each spring season. They are considered so beautiful in Japanese culture, and celebrated accordingly through hanami (annual flower viewing parties), precisely because of their transient nature. They will only last in that exact state of delicate existence for a short time.
Fruits Basket uses allusions and symbols related to Buddhism to steer home thematic principles related to changing relationships and selfhood. Everyone comes to their own moment of "enlightenment" regarding these realities at the end of the series and the themes extend beyond just the Sohma and their family curse. The âbondâ between God and the Juunishi, and Akitoâs desire to create a âpermanenceâ in her identity and relationships, is related by Tohru to her relationship with her deceased mother and how she too had been wishing for unchanging feelings and bonds. Each of the main characters in Fruits Basket are brought through a journey of realizing and accepting the truth of âimpermanenceâ, or that all things come to an end and all people, feelings, and relationships change.
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