The Zen of Fight Club

Fight Club is a movie based on the book of the same name written by Chuck Palahniuk. It was released in 1999 as a film directed by David Fincher. The film, when first shown in theaters, did poorly falling well short of what 20th Century Fox’s expectations were. The major problem that the film had was its negativity toward women with such lines as, “we are a generation of men raised by women”, as well as its portrayal of the film’s leading female character Marla Singer who is seemingly the root of all the nameless main character’s problems. By contrast in the movie are told to take back their masculinity and fight. After the film’s release to home video, a cult following quickly grew. A concern that sprouted from the film was that there would be people out there trying to copy what they had seen in the film, and in turn act violently. This movie and book hardly seemed like a place that Buddhism let alone any religion would be found. So in Fight club what are the Buddhist influences? First, we will talk about the main tenants of Buddhism then move into the story and look at the connections of Buddhism in Fight Club.

Buddhism often has its origins traced back to the Four Noble Truths discovered by Siddhārtha Gautama also known as Gautama Buddha. The Four Noble Truths are what one who practices Buddhism hope to achieve.

The Four Noble Truths

The truth of suffering

The truth of the origin of suffering

The truth of the cessation of suffering

The truth of the path leading to the release from suffering

The idea that life is suffering and how to escape that suffering is what Buddhism is all about. A Buddhist believes that this escape form suffering is done through enlightenment of the Atman that is, the soul or ego of a person, as ...

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