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A monkey hangs from a slender branch, ignoring the full moon illuminating the sky above. Instead, it looks down at the surface of a still pond and extends its arm, stretching out its whole body in pursuit of the moon’s radiant reflection. This image tells a predictable and comical story. As the monkey reaches toward the false moon, the branch breaks under its weight and sends it tumbling into the waters below. A Buddhist motif used for centuries, the monkey asks the viewer to reflect on their own faith and pursuit of Enlightenment. In the effort to approach Enlightenment, have they become distracted by folly? Has the pursuit of knowledge replaced understanding, have the comforts of firm religious concepts and study distracted the worshipper from accepting the ever-changing nature of existence? In this post, I’m going to look at the religious themes of Pokemon Legends: Arceus and argue that Volo plays the role of this monkey. Rather than ignorance and fear, his actions are motivated by knowledge but not understanding, and instead of malice or sin, Volo embodies delusion and its dangers.
This post is about the relationship between Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Buddhism. I’m no specialist in Buddhism, but I’ve been moved by how the story conveys philosophical ideas very gently while deftly weaving them into an evolving game world. I also hope to shed some light on why Pokemon, in all the stories it tells, is so fixated on friendship and cooperative effort as a way to improve the world. I am not saying that Legends: Arceus is a Buddhist game. This is a secular game, and it's a good example of how Buddhist philosophy can be relevant to a secular context too.
Worshipping False Gods
A major theme of PLA is the conflict of two clans over the understanding of the deity Sinnoh. The Diamond clan understands it to be Dialga, the Pearl Clan Palkia. Characters make reference to this ongoing dispute throughout the game. For example, the Pearl Clan Warden Palina, interpreting the lightning from the rift as a “sign that the heavens are angry,” delivers this bit of dialogue: “even if we’ve reached an uneasy peace, the true almighty Sinnoh must be angered because there are still those who worship a false image of it.” In the end game, Volo reveals that Sinnoh is in truth Arceus, and walks us through a long quest to meet this true God.
But Volo is precisely the one who worships a false image of Arceus. He describes intense devotion and exasperation with his god, and constantly expects Arceus’ direct intervention in his life. He is so angered by Arceus’ refusal to intervene in his and the world’s suffering that he seeks to destroy it and recreate the world. He sees Arceus’ power entirely in these terms of intervention, destruction, and creation—but we never see a clear indication that Arceus even has these powers. Instead, Arceus works entirely through “encounters,” by bringing together people and Pokemon, by slowly connecting the two clans, and especially by bringing you to Hisui to set this series of connections in motion.
“Encounters”
Volo’s false image of Arceus is all the more striking in that he coolly ignores the only scripture that seems to suggest what Arceus’ power actually is and how Arceus uses its power: “When every life meets another life, something will be born.” This is the translation of this line given in the English-language anime and game, but it is especially interesting because its meaning changes a bit in translation.
That line is a loose translation from the Japanese “Subete no inochi ha betsu no inochi to deai nanika wo umidasu,” or more literally, “All life, in the encounter (deai) with another life, gives birth to something.” Here we have a missing term, deai or “encounter,” that has a great deal of meaning to the game and theological importance.
The main story of Legends: Arceus is a series of encounters and resulting transformations. Arceus takes you through a linear plot, as you work through five regions and a succession of bosses. But this is a structure for gameplay, and not the main story. Arceus is about a transforming society. It’s a red herring that it looks like the modernization of Japan in the 1890s. A different process altogether is shaping the roots of modern Sinnoh, and that is the increasing collaboration and coexistence of Pokemon and people. You are the one who brings this about, through your humblest quest to your greatest boss fight – but mostly by fulfilling an endless succession of small, modest requests. Each has the consequence of fundamentally changing the way people live, and of overcoming fear, distance, and misunderstanding. PLA makes it clear that this partnership is not about material gain—it strongly indicates that this interweaving of human and animal life is a metaphysical good.
Meanwhile, Volo is so focused on his understanding of Arceus’ power that he is literally hellbent on destroying the world in order to create a better one, ignoring the slow process of positive change that is unfolding all around him.
Parallels with Buddhism
This phrase, “Subete no inochi ha betsu no inochi to deai nanika wo umidasu,” is loaded with similarities to the beliefs of Pure Land Buddhism. The phrasing “subete no inochi ha…,” “all life is…,” repeats throughout this sect of Buddhism—but it ends with different terms, such as “all life is the will of Amida Buddha” or “all life will receive the aid of Amida Buddha.” But it’s in the idea of deai, or encounter, where the similarities increase. Buddhism states that all things arise from encounter, or engi, which is also translated as “dependent origination.” Here’s a definition from Wikipedia: “Dependent origination can be contrasted with the classic Western concept of causation in which an action by one thing is said to cause a change in another thing. Dependent origination instead views the change as being caused by many factors, not just one or even a few….it holds that all phenomena arise from other, pre-existing phenomena, and in turn current phenomena condition future phenomena. As such, everything in the world has been produced by causes.”
In the case of Legends: Arceus, the encounters that you play through ARE the act of creation. Bringing you to the past was a means of creating more encounters, and of generating a more complex and benevolent creation. This is in explicit, clear contrast to Volo’s notions of direct creation.
Pure Land Buddhism celebrates a very similar idea of encounter. Encounters between people (deai) are a major way that the blessings of the Buddha can be spread, especially compassion, kind acts, understanding, and mercy. Here is a short introductory text taken from the home page of the largest sect of Pure Land Buddhism:
浄土真宗は、出会いの仏教
Pure Land is the Buddhism of Encounter
人生は出会いの連続です。
Life is a series of encounters.
誰かとの出会いによって世界が広がったり
Through an encounter with someone, the world expands,
何かとの出会いによって新しい自分に気がついたり
Through the encounter with something, you perceive yourself anew,
苦しみとの出会いによって深く傷ついたり......。
Through the encounter with suffering, you are deeply hurt.
出会いによる、よろこび、悲しみを繰り返しながら
While through encounter, joy and suffering repeat,
私たちは今日も生きています。
We are living today.
浄土真宗は、そんな出会いを大切にする仏教です。
Pure Land is a Buddhism that cherishes those encounters.
特に大切にしているのは、阿弥陀あみださまという仏さまとの出会いです。
We especially cherish encounter with the Buddha that is Amida Buddha.
The text continues on to explain that through encounters between people, compassion and kindness can be passed on to alleviate suffering and hardship, and that this is the fulfillment of the words of the Buddha. Throughout Legends: Arceus, you act as god’s avatar to alleviate hardship, suffering, and misunderstanding through a series of encounters. Overwhelmingly, you bring the two clans and humans and Pokemon together, dramatically improving the world, by following Arceus’ desire to meet all the Pokemon. The Pokedex completion also has these spiritual connotations—in Japanese, it’s phrased as “encounter all the Pokemon,” bringing to humanity knowledge of and connection with the whole world of Pokemon. This chain of connections is Arceus’ blessing to the world, a parallel to the spread benevolence of the Buddha.
Notably, Volo’s aims are solitary, and he refuses connection with other people. His focus blinds him to the changes happening all around him as the world slowly becomes a more compassionate and understanding place. It also limits the degree to which others can come to his aid—but especially how much you in particular can help him. Notably, you have no options to truly help him before his plan to challenge Arceus is already in progress.
Duality
There’s one final quality of Buddhism that informs the themes of the PLA plot, and it changes how we understand Volo. That’s duality. In Buddhism, duality refers to the illusory distinction between separate or opposed things and concepts. For example, between Arceus and its aspects and manifestations in the 18 plates. These are all separate but all part of the same Arceus. Between Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina, who are separate and together make up material existence. Between your status as a divine “hero” and the tiny, mundane things you have done to move society forward. And also, between good and evil: there are no villains in Legends: Arceus.
Volo’s determination and delusion set the events of PLA in motion. His partnership with Giratina and opening of the rift prompt Arceus to send you back in time. He is the primary cause of the game’s events, and the most important "encounter". His role can be understood through this idea of duality, again, the illusionary nature of conceptual opposites. This capacity for the utter and unexpected transformation of a person’s role, or even nature, is conveyed by the phrase, “Lead can become Gold, and Poison can become Medicine.” Volo is not truly a villain; instead, his role is unfixed—his determination to destroy existence leads directly to a world with less suffering and hardship, just as he wanted to create.
I began this post with the story about the monkey reaching for the reflection of the moon and tumbling into the waters instead. But again, the purpose of the story is not just comedy, or to mock the monkey. It’s to invite realization of one’s own mistakes and shortcomings and to encourage compassion for the monkey. Volo was never wrong to pursue knowledge of Arceus, and came much closer to knowledge than anyone else. He also put that knowledge into practice with enormous positive consequence. Through entirely backwards means, he brought about peace in Sinnoh, and delivered an endless chain of blessings to people and Pokemon. Despite its folly, the monkey is right to seek Enlightenment, and to pursue the light of the moon.