Throughout Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am the Honoured One: Understanding the Nuance Behind Gojo Satoru’s Oft-quoted Statement

 

Gojo Satoru is arguably one of the most popular characters in the anime Jujutsu Kaisen. He is, in fact, more popular than the protagonist of the anime. On the surface, Gojo Satoru might seem as a character who is written to be a fan favourite. He is charismatic, powerful, attractive and rebellious. These are all the qualities fans tend to look for in a ‘hero’

But this is not true. Gojo’s character is much more than that. When we consider his actions with the context of his past, then one thing is obvious: Gojo is Buddha.

To understand this statement, we need to understand Mahayana Buddhism; the branch of Buddhism that is practiced in China, Japan and Korea. What does Mahayana Buddhism advocates for?

Mahayana Buddhism teaches the concept called ‘Anatta’ which means ‘non-self’

‘Non-self’ or rather 'non-perception of self', as the name suggests, rejects the perception of a Self.

In religions like Hinduism or Christianity, the temporal nature of the body and the permanence of the soul or self is preached. There is an attempt at perceiving what is self. 

In contrast to this, ‘Anatta’ says that no self can be perceived because what you consider to be the self, in fact, made out of five components. 

These five components are called ‘Pali Khanda’ and they are: form, sensation, cognition, mental condition and consciousness.

Mahayana Buddhism teaches that what we perceive to be the self is a combination of these five components. To give an example, there are only three colours we can perceive. That is red, blue and green. However, we do see various other colours like yellow or pink. This is because of the various combinations between the three primary colours.

Technically speaking, the colour yellow doesn’t exist but rather our eyes perceive red and green simultaneously causing us to believe that we are looking at ‘yellow’

According to Mahayana Buddhism, the perception of self is just the same. The perception of self is a combination of these five components.

Let’s think about this. When we talk about the self, do ever think outside of these five components?

We look at our face in the mirror and think ‘this is who I am’ Our form gets attributed to our self. ‘This is what I look like so, this is me’ 

We define ourselves with our form.

We attribute sensations or feelings to the self. We are capable of feeling happiness, sadness and other emotions. We attach these emotions to our self. We think they make us who we are.

We all have different perceptions. We have our own realities in which we live in. We also think our perception or our cognition defines us. I hold a certain view on life which I think defines me as who I am or what I am as a person.

Our mental condition is our inclination or temperament. It is our disposition; it is our desires and we lean towards it. Our mental disposition impacts the way we perceive ourselves and others.

Then finally, our consciousness. We think the ‘I’ is our self. Our awareness is our consciousness.

We cannot think outside of these five components because that is how we experience reality. So, when I talk about myself, I’ll probably say:

"I am a five foot girl with long black hair (form)

I am an anxious person in general (sensation/ feeling)

I am a Hindu (Cognition)

I am complacent (mental disposition)

I am Renuka (Consciousness)”

There are of course, other things I would call myself but they are all, in the end, a combination of these five components

Mahayana Buddhism points out a major flaw in this perception of Self. Because we can only perceive through these five components and since these five components are subjective change, our perception of our ‘self’ is false.

In other words, what we perceive our ‘self’ to be is nothing but an illusion made by a combination of these five components.

We are not an independent 'I', we are a combination of things that makes us who we are. 

This method of looking at everything not as independent things but rather as a combination of various things which made it, is the crux of Mahayana Buddhism.

To give an example, we look at a tree and we see a tree. The tree doesn’t exist independently rather, it is a combination of other things: seed, soil, sunlight, water. A proper balance of all of these results in the existence of a tree which we see. In other words, the tree is not an entity but it is a manifestation of many things that makes it what it is: a tree.

We do not exist independently. In fact, nothing exists independently. Everything is inter-dependant and therefore there is no ‘I’

You are not a single entity. You are a combination of entities.

This is why Mahayana Buddhism rejects ‘Brahman’ or the ‘Oversoul’ which is an independent entity. According to it, nothing can exist by itself. Every reality carries another reality on it’s back.

There is a Koan or a riddle which explains this better. Three monks see a flag tied to a mast. The first monk watches the flag and says, “The flag is waving”

The second monk says, “No. The wind is waving”

As they argue, the third monk says, “It is your mind that is waving”

One interpretation of the third monk’s statement is that both of the monks don’t understand that neither the wind nor the flag are independent realities. They are interdependent to show the image of a ‘waving flag’

Having this type of an understanding and detaching oneself from that binary thinking of either this or that can lead to ‘Enlightenment’

Of course, there is no possible way to explain of all this through words or scriptures. These are supposed to be ‘experienced’ with the help of a teacher.

That’s what Mahayana Buddhism preaches. It removes the emphasis on scriptural learning or trying to make one Enlightenment understand through words. It emphasizes on experience.

The ‘Flower Sermon’ is a story where Buddha summons his disciples for a ‘sermon’. When the disciples arrived, they saw Buddha sitting calmly with a flower in his hand. He did not utter a word. None of them could understand what Buddha was trying to convey except for one disciple, Mahakasyapa, who smiled at Buddha. Buddha said that only Mahakasyapa understood what he was trying to say.

The ‘Flower Sermon’ therefore, shows the importance of experience rather than words.

Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes on a lineal relationship between the teacher and the student. The teacher helps the student learn through experience.

This is why in Mahayana Buddhism it is perfectly alright for Buddhists to stay in the cycle of Samsara out of compassion for others. That is, they can stay in the cycle of Samsara to teach others. This makes it different from other Buddhist sects like Theravada Buddhism, which focuses on liberation.

Anyone can be ‘Enlightened’ at any point in life. There is no need to wait for accumulation of good karma or to be reincarnated a number of times.

Now that we have covered the basics of Mahayana Buddhism – that was long – we are going to analyse Gojo Satoru’s statement ‘Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the honoured one’ keeping the context of Mahayana Buddhism in mind and see how Gojo is Buddha himself.

In season two, during the Hidden Inventory Arc, Gojo goes through a drastic change. All his life, he was told that he was the strongest and he believed that. One day, however, he was defeated by someone (Toji Fushiguro) and he nearly dies. Not only that but he also loses his friend, Riko Amanai, who gets killed by Toji Fushiguro.

Gojo was on the verge of death ‘Awakens’. He attains Enlightenment at this point. 

This is very similar to Buddha who had to undergo extreme levels of asceticism and suffering to understand the 'non-perception of the self'

Gojo was able to understand the workings of Positive and Negative Energies (Gojo is a sorcerer and he uses Negative Energy to fight) Positive Energy which creates, is not separate from Negative energy which destroys. Positive energy is created when Negative energy is multiplied ((-) X (-) = +)

Through this understanding, Gojo was able to see them as not separate from each other but as interdependent on each other. Thus, Gojo moves away from a binary thinking. He heals himself through Positive energy.

After healing, Gojo goes after Toji Fushiguro but his mind was clear. He does not hate anyone nor is he angry with anyone. At that moment, he just experiences the world as it is and realizes it’s beauty. He does not fight Toji Fushiguro for revenge but for his own bliss. He is content by himself.

He experiences the world. In the video above, we can see Gojo experiencing everything. We are shown shots of a butterfly flapping it’s wings, an eagle flying, a drop of water causing ripples. These are all mundane things yet Gojo experiences them with great wonder.

It’s because he got ‘Enlightened’, he sees them from a different perspective. An infinite combination of realities dependent on each other. There is no individual thing in existence and he was able to appreciate that.

In that moment, he declares, “Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the honoured one”

According to the Lotus Sutra, when Buddha emerged from his mother’s womb he pointed one finger above and one finger below and said, “On heaven and earth, I alone am honoured” 

He said that to mean he was going to guide every being towards Enlightenment and deliver them from suffering.

In this panel, we see Gojo recreating that pose. One finger pointing to Heaven and the other to earth.

Much like Buddha, Gojo decided to become a teacher and guide future sorcerers. Gojo, as an Enlightened human, returned to the cycle of Samsara out of compassion to teach others.

The student whom he mentored personally was Toji Fushiguro’s son, Megumi Fushiguro. Gojo, as stated above, did not bear any grudges. He, in fact, saves Megumi’s life. This is the compassion out of which he acts.

Gojo meeting Megumi Fushiguro

He resolves himself to create strong sorcerers like him (Enlightened ones) and he worked for it.

Through this analysis, we can understand how nuanced Gojo’s statement was. It contained an entire philosophy in it. It adds on to Gojo’s character as something more than just a ‘cool guy who is powerful’