Mind On My Money

In this scene of the movie, we see that in contrast to John Smith, Pocahontas has a very different attitude towards other life in the forest. While Smith is arrogant and can only see the life around him on a selfish, materialistic level, Pocahontas is very humble and does not put herself above the other life she shares the forest with.

Their conversation directly prior to this song is one in which John Smith is "teaching" Pocahontas about gold and how to use the land properly in order to get the most out of it ($$$). Pocahontas realizes that John Smith thinks very low of her and her people because of their lack of buildings, roads, and goods that are considered of monetary value from the explorer's standpoint. "Oh you poor ignorant little brown people! You don't even know how to use your own resources to get rich and powerful!" (That's my contemporary John Smith impersonation for the day).

  

The story of Buddha's ultimate life as Siddhartha depicts his life as a wealthy prince who later renounces his riches, his family, and all sensual pleasures to go forth into homelessness in order to be awakened (Trainor, 26). It is because of this renunciation of a distracting materialistic lifestyle that helped him concentrate better on his meditation and ultimately, gain enlightenment. Even after attaining nirvana, he remains put in his humble new lifestyle and goes around teaching others the truths that he has learned, the Dharma. Even to this day, we can see how Buddhist monks live a particularly simplistic but purposeful lifestyle, free from possessions, pleasures, and comforts of modern life; begging for alms from the laity each day before noon which is the only offering they can accept for the remainder of the day (Footprint of the Buddha, 2001). I can only imagine how much easier meditation would be if I did not have things like my cellphone, social media, and the comforts of my dorm room to distract me!

Like the Buddha, Pocahontas is definitely the one with more wisdom than Smith about the greater reality of nature because of her lack of need for material goods. She has sufficed all her life with the simplicity of her world and her deep connection with the other life in the forest. Throughout the scene, we see her taking him through the forest and mediating interactions between him and the very things that are seen as of material value to the settlers. The bear that he was about to shoot before Pocahontas stops him, the playful otters that they swim with in the river, the sycamore tree that the eagles are perched on, the deer that they run with through the forest, the dirt that John Smith holds in his hands, and more are all powerful images of the very things that the early settlers destroyed, pillaged, poached, depleted, and exploited for their own needs and convenience.

Historically speaking, as the English settlers spread in Virginia during the 1600s, the Powhatans were actually forced to move inland away from the fertile river valleys that had long been their home (Egloff, 2014). As their territory dwindled, so did the Indian population, falling victim to English diseases, food shortages and warfare. However, although the Disney version is not entirely historically accurate, it does provide accurate depictions of the attitudes of the early settlers in terms of their desire for gold and riches.

Disgusted with this notion of exploitation of the land, she thrusts his rifle, the very symbol of his own savagery, back into his hands as she sings, "But still I cannot see if the savage one is me."

Moreover, what I love the most about her teachings throughout the song is that her views of nature and preventative action toward him to stop harming other life does not seem to stem from a belief that it's bad to harm or kill other beings because of what will happen to the person doing the harming; rather, it is clear that she advocates such views and actions simply just for the greater good and to protect that greatness. I think that Buddhadasa Bikkhu's critical approach to materialism and the ritual of alms-giving as well as his encouragement of the "giving of oneself" in terms of dana can be applied to this type of right action as well. In the translation of Buddhadasa Bikkhu's "Giving Dana that Doesn't Cost Any Money and Leads to Nirvana," he discusses his critical views on Theravada Buddhism and how the expectation of karmic merit is what prevents one from attaining nirvana because of the presence of motivation that is unwholesome, or akushala (Swearer, 1995). The trick is to take out the receiver and the giver which then just leaves the gift itself. Similarly, I think this can be applied to the teachings of right view and right action according to Pocahontas. Her teachings are driven by her determination to maintain the natural balance of the world because of the value she places on its interconnected nature rather than being driven by a fear of karmic demerit. You go Pocahontas! Way to have wholesome motivation!

Continuing on with the notion of materialism, I think the most significant phrase in the song in relation to materialism is the very last when Pocahontas says:

You can own the earth and still

All you'll own is earth

Until you can paint with all the colors of the wind

Buddhism teaches us that the failure to understand the the first mark of existence, impermanence, or anicca, is what keeps one from preoccupied with foolish desires (Butler, 2014). If one understands the impermanence of everything, including the things we want and the way we think about them, there is no need to form an attachment to such material things because sooner or later it will change; whether the "it" is the value of the material, the significance, the need, or just the way in which it is perceived by the individual. From a Buddhist perspective, John Smith's desire for gold and the use of the land's creatures and resources for material gain is not the kind of wholesome motivation that exerts oneself in pursuit of a goal that reinforces true views of oneself and the universe which is known as chanda, or "interest"; this is the kind of selfish and unwholesome motivation that reinforces false views of the self and the universe which is known as tanha, meaning "thirst" (Richey, 2014). John Smith sees these things in the forest not for their beauty in how they fit together with the interdependent and impermanent natural order of the universe, but as animals that can be killed for food, pelts and trophies, dirt that can be dug up for roads, trees that can cut down for structures, etc. Thus, she is saying he can own all of earth itself but he will still be impoverished in the sense of lacking the wealth of enlightenment about the existence of the world itself. Instead of glorifying these living things for their material riches, she encourages him to view the richness of the way in which these creatures and beings contribute to the maintenance of the balance of nature:

Come roll in all the riches all around you

and for once never wonder what they're worth

Pocahontas, who clearly understands this difference between chanda and tanha acknowledges his false views and tries to convey his horribly wrong misconception to him.

 "How can there be so much that you don't know?

You don't know..."

Indeed. He did not.