This story is a circular Buddhist parable, the theme is the redemption of his characters, lost and alienated. The unnamed monk passing through his life into the four seasons, is a metaphor for the evolution of any human life, we can watch on him the impulse of violence, cruelty, sex, passion, possessive love, towards balance, tranquility, reconciliation with the world, with nature, with himself.
Another aspect in the film, is the game with symbols: the spring retracts the icy mantle to make way for a new course. The summer heats up the heart and passion. Autumn symbolizes the decline; decay and moment give way to a devastated scene of bitter memories but with glowing ashes. Meanwhile, winter freezes everything; nothing escapes his cold hand, leaving a field aseptic environment for new gaits.
Researching more about the film, I found that the director even said that this is a film that is universal and doesn't need to be familiar with Buddhism to understand it. May be it's true, but also some knowledge of Eastern culture would help us to understand many of the visual signs that appear throughout the film. If we recall, for example, this religion believes in reincarnation, one understands the reason for the old monk scolding the child when he tortured the three small animals: "that rock you've attached to them, carried her into the heart throughout your life". This also explains, finally, that the adult monk (played by the director) meet the punishment of their teacher not as a painful penalty, but as a way to achieve wholeness. Finally, he can become a teacher too. And the circle is closed; only to have another is opened.Someone has said that this film is actually a "zen biography", and rightly so. More than an exotic story, this is a parable that attempts to explain the meaning of life from the perspective of Buddhist philosophy. It is a lesson of discipline, renunciation, integration into the wild, and finally serenity.
