Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017) - full transcript
"Like an offering ornament
handled with great care,"
Scented and anointed it
may please the deity.
"Once the wish is granted
and the task accomplished,"
"Dumped and discarded,
it becomes a piece of trash."
- A Thai classical poem from 19th Century
Do you know?
What is the most difficulty
in making a Baisri?
Huh?
The leaves and flowers will wither.
They will wither before you finish it.
You have to touch the leaves lightly
but have to fold it tightly
One mistake can ruin everything.
It looks like fingers.
It's beautiful.
Not really.
You can see that both sides
of it are imbalance.
That's why there are holes
that air can pass through.
The flowers will wither before I finish
making the whole thing.
White jasmines are too fragile.
Now I still can't making a good Baisri.
"But one day, I want to make one for you."
"Sister,"”
you can plant the new
jasmine tree in the free plot.
"But the plots that we've just pulled the
dead trees out, you have to let them dry."
Please also remove the weeds.
"Please come back, O Spirit."
We are collecting new monks' spirits.
"Please prepare to ordain,
to become a monk."
Hair.
Body hair.
Nails
Teeth
Skin
Skin... Teeth... Nails...
Body Hair... Hair...
Shane...
Why are you looking at the Baisri here?
"No, I'm not."
Really?
The Baisri you made is beautiful.
This is the first time I see it.
I didn't realize these Baisri were so heavy.
How many days will you stay here?
For a while.
I never believe when they said
your mother was a witch.
It was very absurd.
Do you know what they did to my mother?
They step on a fire and
kick my mother's body.
She kept crying and wriggling around.
I was not sure if she was pretending.
I meant to go to your mom's funeral.
That's fine.
I heard you're having cancer.
Yeah.
I have lung cancer.
I had an operation and had a chemotherapy.
Then they found cancer at my lymph node.
How come?
Who knows?
What are you going to do?
Don't you have to go to hospital?
I'm not having any treatment.
"] take some herbal medicine,"
and keep making a Baisri.
Maybe it's cured?
Can you help me carry it?
You won't keep it?
I have to float it on the river.
I didn't expect you to own
a jasmine plantation.
"I remember you love flower making,
so I try to grow some."
Do you remember our favourite place?
I want to go there.
"My daughter died there,
you know that right?"
That morning.
I ran there...
"When I arrived,"
do you know what I saw?
A python...
It was there next to the anthill...
Have you ever hugged the dead?
That was not my daughter.
It had no strength.
It had nothing inside.
Every part was like a liquid.
Like a water...
She's dead.
She knows nothing now.
It is completely overgrown.
"You haven't been in there
for years, right?"
That day your daughter died...
You were drunk right?
No wonder your wife left you.
But I can understand.
"If it was me, I'd do the same."
Remember when I ran away to Bangkok?
It hurt me a lot that you didn't come along.
I felt worthless.
But now you're worthless one.
Drinking all day. Good for nothing.
Shane.
I feel like I want to make a Baisri
whenever I am here.
Really?
My health is getting better
when I start creating a Baisri.
It helps me more than any medicine.
It's all in your head.
Maybe.
But my health really gets better
after I create one.
"Whenever my health get worse,
I keep making new ones."
I'm tired.
"If you were me, you would not
worry about such thing."
You know what?
"When I had chemotherapy,"
my doctor told me modern medicines have less
side effect than in the past.
"My friends gave me moral support,
that I will recover.”
"So I tried,”
"but what happened was,"
I puked. I shit my pants. Lost my hair.
Even my pubic hair.
It was like that for years.
I didn't care who live or die because
my condition was far worse.
Do you know what my doctor told me
after the therapy was over?
The cancer was spreading.
You need more therapy.
I told him I've had it.
After that I turned to traditional doctor.
I went to meet a herbalist
in Rayong province.
Everybody says he's good.
"It was ok at first, but soon
my fever was back again.”
I drove back to Bangkok
with high fever of 40 degrees.
My car almost crashed but I survived.
"When my health was getting better because
of Baisri, I stopped trusting other people."
I believe only in myself.
I will do whatever makes me happy.
"Since you want to start your new life,"
I want to create a Baisri for you.
"They say when you suffer,"
you will lose your spirit.
Baisri will call back the spirit to live
with the body again.
450 grams.
The scar is from when the doctor did biopsy.
This is the scar from where
they took my heart away.
Does it make you sad?
Not really. It's beautiful in its own way.
You sound happy.
I'm proud of each one I make.
"But once I set it afloat, I feel complete.”
I want to become a monk for a while
Maybe it could heal you.
But I'm getting better now.
Can you create a Baisri for
my ordination ceremony?
Ok.
I'll do my best.
I'll be a monk for a while.
"When I leave the monk-hood,"
can you live with me?
It's almost the Buddhist lent.
You shouldn't stay in monk-hood
for such a short period.
Yes.
Go to see Venerable Noi on Monday.
"He will help you rehearse
the ordination chanting,”
So you can chant it correctly
on the actual day.
Ok.
I have something for Pich.
This is the medicine for him.
You can take it with Western medicine.
They can go together.
Thank you.
Did you see Pich when
his condition get worse?
No.
When I saw him last year at
his mother's memorial service.
"He's so skinny but he ate a lot,
then he threw up.”
It maybe because of his karma.
It's good that you want
to be a monk for him.
"Good karma from that may help him,"
"or if he dies, his soul
will go to better places."
Ok.
Your body is too warm.
It's like this.
It's getting warmer.
"If you can't stand me,"
we don't have to be together.
I don't want you to suffer because of me.
Are you ok?
Are you having leprosy?
Anwer me.
Answer me. 'No',
No.
Concentrate...
Ok.
Are you having the abscess disease?
No.
Are you having a ringworm?
No.
Are you having strangles?
No.
Are you having epilepsy?
No.
Are you a human?
Yes.
Are you a man?
Yes.
Pich
Pich
Pich
"If I die,"
will you become a monk for me?
Do you want me to?
Up to you.
I'll never know anyway.
"Shane, tomorrow we will
stay in another place."
This is the last day
we come to collect alms at this village.
The new place we'll stay is 2 hours
away from the village.
"You have to leave earlier,
or it will be too late for collecting alms."
We already leave very early everyday.
"When there's light enough for you
to read your own palms,
it's time that you have to leave."
There are clashes between
soldiers in this area.
They always dump dead bodies around here.
There was a monk wandering around here
without informing the army.
He was accidentally shot to death.
Have you informed the army?
The place we're going is safe.
"Before you became a monk,
which part of the armed forces you are in?"
I was in the Royal Thai Army.
"At first when other monks mentioned
Venerable-Colonel I didn't know it was you."
"Welcome, sir!"
It's medicine. Someone offered it to me.
How many spoons of rice did you have?
"After I counted 20,
I forgot to count more."
Next time you have to concentrate.
You need to have conscious all the time.
Only recognize what's
in front and have conscious.
Ok.
You were sleeping under the tree?
Why didn't you looked for a better shelter?
"It was raining, but I vowed
that whatever happens,
I would just meditate only under the tree."
"At the cemetery, I will also
practice the Nesajjik'anga,"
which I can't lie down.
Will you also do that with me?
I will try to do that next time.
You can try the practice
that suits your habit.
I've dedicated my life for this.
"If you found any of the rules is the
problem, you don't have to follow."
It's not mandatory.
Cemetery here is the best!
There are shootings in this area.
They dump the corpses here.
Sometimes they cremate the corpse.
Sometimes they don't.
"Last time I was here, when it rained,"
there was smell of the corpse everywhere.
Did you see any ghosts?
Sometimes.
They are ghosts of strangers.
"If we don't bother them,
they won't show themselves."
We can only see ghosts
of people who we know.
Have you talked with the ghosts.
"No, I didn't."
"Shane, we should find a place
to hang our mosquito net.”
Somewhere far from the funeral pyre.
Walk around to see what is there.
"Remember what you see that they are trees,"
"this is funeral pyre, this is anthill.
Recognise their shape.”
"So at night, you won't think
that they are ghosts."
"If you're thirsty, there's a stream.
1 hour far from here."
I will take you in the evening.
Ok.
Let's go.
I found a corpse over there.
Do you want to practice meditation with me?
Ok.
"When you meditate with the corpse,”
you have to stare at it.
Remember how it looks like.
"Remember the color and the shape,"
and how the corpse is laying.
"Remember, then close you eyes,
and imagine what you saw."
"If you forget how it looks like,
open your eyes and look at it again."
"You have to remember the image,
and keep repeating.”
Ok.
Let's go to look at the corpse.
The corpse is full of worms and filthy.
Keep chanting.
"Consider how the corpse is laying,"
how it looks like.
Consider the truth in front.
Are you ok?
I'll find you some water.
The corpse is full of worms and filthy.
Monk Sanchai.
Monk Sanchai.
I've collected the alms.
Are you alright?
Monk Sanchai.
I can't help...
Don't ask me why...
I can't help...
I can't say...
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
handled with great care,"
Scented and anointed it
may please the deity.
"Once the wish is granted
and the task accomplished,"
"Dumped and discarded,
it becomes a piece of trash."
- A Thai classical poem from 19th Century
Do you know?
What is the most difficulty
in making a Baisri?
Huh?
The leaves and flowers will wither.
They will wither before you finish it.
You have to touch the leaves lightly
but have to fold it tightly
One mistake can ruin everything.
It looks like fingers.
It's beautiful.
Not really.
You can see that both sides
of it are imbalance.
That's why there are holes
that air can pass through.
The flowers will wither before I finish
making the whole thing.
White jasmines are too fragile.
Now I still can't making a good Baisri.
"But one day, I want to make one for you."
"Sister,"”
you can plant the new
jasmine tree in the free plot.
"But the plots that we've just pulled the
dead trees out, you have to let them dry."
Please also remove the weeds.
"Please come back, O Spirit."
We are collecting new monks' spirits.
"Please prepare to ordain,
to become a monk."
Hair.
Body hair.
Nails
Teeth
Skin
Skin... Teeth... Nails...
Body Hair... Hair...
Shane...
Why are you looking at the Baisri here?
"No, I'm not."
Really?
The Baisri you made is beautiful.
This is the first time I see it.
I didn't realize these Baisri were so heavy.
How many days will you stay here?
For a while.
I never believe when they said
your mother was a witch.
It was very absurd.
Do you know what they did to my mother?
They step on a fire and
kick my mother's body.
She kept crying and wriggling around.
I was not sure if she was pretending.
I meant to go to your mom's funeral.
That's fine.
I heard you're having cancer.
Yeah.
I have lung cancer.
I had an operation and had a chemotherapy.
Then they found cancer at my lymph node.
How come?
Who knows?
What are you going to do?
Don't you have to go to hospital?
I'm not having any treatment.
"] take some herbal medicine,"
and keep making a Baisri.
Maybe it's cured?
Can you help me carry it?
You won't keep it?
I have to float it on the river.
I didn't expect you to own
a jasmine plantation.
"I remember you love flower making,
so I try to grow some."
Do you remember our favourite place?
I want to go there.
"My daughter died there,
you know that right?"
That morning.
I ran there...
"When I arrived,"
do you know what I saw?
A python...
It was there next to the anthill...
Have you ever hugged the dead?
That was not my daughter.
It had no strength.
It had nothing inside.
Every part was like a liquid.
Like a water...
She's dead.
She knows nothing now.
It is completely overgrown.
"You haven't been in there
for years, right?"
That day your daughter died...
You were drunk right?
No wonder your wife left you.
But I can understand.
"If it was me, I'd do the same."
Remember when I ran away to Bangkok?
It hurt me a lot that you didn't come along.
I felt worthless.
But now you're worthless one.
Drinking all day. Good for nothing.
Shane.
I feel like I want to make a Baisri
whenever I am here.
Really?
My health is getting better
when I start creating a Baisri.
It helps me more than any medicine.
It's all in your head.
Maybe.
But my health really gets better
after I create one.
"Whenever my health get worse,
I keep making new ones."
I'm tired.
"If you were me, you would not
worry about such thing."
You know what?
"When I had chemotherapy,"
my doctor told me modern medicines have less
side effect than in the past.
"My friends gave me moral support,
that I will recover.”
"So I tried,”
"but what happened was,"
I puked. I shit my pants. Lost my hair.
Even my pubic hair.
It was like that for years.
I didn't care who live or die because
my condition was far worse.
Do you know what my doctor told me
after the therapy was over?
The cancer was spreading.
You need more therapy.
I told him I've had it.
After that I turned to traditional doctor.
I went to meet a herbalist
in Rayong province.
Everybody says he's good.
"It was ok at first, but soon
my fever was back again.”
I drove back to Bangkok
with high fever of 40 degrees.
My car almost crashed but I survived.
"When my health was getting better because
of Baisri, I stopped trusting other people."
I believe only in myself.
I will do whatever makes me happy.
"Since you want to start your new life,"
I want to create a Baisri for you.
"They say when you suffer,"
you will lose your spirit.
Baisri will call back the spirit to live
with the body again.
450 grams.
The scar is from when the doctor did biopsy.
This is the scar from where
they took my heart away.
Does it make you sad?
Not really. It's beautiful in its own way.
You sound happy.
I'm proud of each one I make.
"But once I set it afloat, I feel complete.”
I want to become a monk for a while
Maybe it could heal you.
But I'm getting better now.
Can you create a Baisri for
my ordination ceremony?
Ok.
I'll do my best.
I'll be a monk for a while.
"When I leave the monk-hood,"
can you live with me?
It's almost the Buddhist lent.
You shouldn't stay in monk-hood
for such a short period.
Yes.
Go to see Venerable Noi on Monday.
"He will help you rehearse
the ordination chanting,”
So you can chant it correctly
on the actual day.
Ok.
I have something for Pich.
This is the medicine for him.
You can take it with Western medicine.
They can go together.
Thank you.
Did you see Pich when
his condition get worse?
No.
When I saw him last year at
his mother's memorial service.
"He's so skinny but he ate a lot,
then he threw up.”
It maybe because of his karma.
It's good that you want
to be a monk for him.
"Good karma from that may help him,"
"or if he dies, his soul
will go to better places."
Ok.
Your body is too warm.
It's like this.
It's getting warmer.
"If you can't stand me,"
we don't have to be together.
I don't want you to suffer because of me.
Are you ok?
Are you having leprosy?
Anwer me.
Answer me. 'No',
No.
Concentrate...
Ok.
Are you having the abscess disease?
No.
Are you having a ringworm?
No.
Are you having strangles?
No.
Are you having epilepsy?
No.
Are you a human?
Yes.
Are you a man?
Yes.
Pich
Pich
Pich
"If I die,"
will you become a monk for me?
Do you want me to?
Up to you.
I'll never know anyway.
"Shane, tomorrow we will
stay in another place."
This is the last day
we come to collect alms at this village.
The new place we'll stay is 2 hours
away from the village.
"You have to leave earlier,
or it will be too late for collecting alms."
We already leave very early everyday.
"When there's light enough for you
to read your own palms,
it's time that you have to leave."
There are clashes between
soldiers in this area.
They always dump dead bodies around here.
There was a monk wandering around here
without informing the army.
He was accidentally shot to death.
Have you informed the army?
The place we're going is safe.
"Before you became a monk,
which part of the armed forces you are in?"
I was in the Royal Thai Army.
"At first when other monks mentioned
Venerable-Colonel I didn't know it was you."
"Welcome, sir!"
It's medicine. Someone offered it to me.
How many spoons of rice did you have?
"After I counted 20,
I forgot to count more."
Next time you have to concentrate.
You need to have conscious all the time.
Only recognize what's
in front and have conscious.
Ok.
You were sleeping under the tree?
Why didn't you looked for a better shelter?
"It was raining, but I vowed
that whatever happens,
I would just meditate only under the tree."
"At the cemetery, I will also
practice the Nesajjik'anga,"
which I can't lie down.
Will you also do that with me?
I will try to do that next time.
You can try the practice
that suits your habit.
I've dedicated my life for this.
"If you found any of the rules is the
problem, you don't have to follow."
It's not mandatory.
Cemetery here is the best!
There are shootings in this area.
They dump the corpses here.
Sometimes they cremate the corpse.
Sometimes they don't.
"Last time I was here, when it rained,"
there was smell of the corpse everywhere.
Did you see any ghosts?
Sometimes.
They are ghosts of strangers.
"If we don't bother them,
they won't show themselves."
We can only see ghosts
of people who we know.
Have you talked with the ghosts.
"No, I didn't."
"Shane, we should find a place
to hang our mosquito net.”
Somewhere far from the funeral pyre.
Walk around to see what is there.
"Remember what you see that they are trees,"
"this is funeral pyre, this is anthill.
Recognise their shape.”
"So at night, you won't think
that they are ghosts."
"If you're thirsty, there's a stream.
1 hour far from here."
I will take you in the evening.
Ok.
Let's go.
I found a corpse over there.
Do you want to practice meditation with me?
Ok.
"When you meditate with the corpse,”
you have to stare at it.
Remember how it looks like.
"Remember the color and the shape,"
and how the corpse is laying.
"Remember, then close you eyes,
and imagine what you saw."
"If you forget how it looks like,
open your eyes and look at it again."
"You have to remember the image,
and keep repeating.”
Ok.
Let's go to look at the corpse.
The corpse is full of worms and filthy.
Keep chanting.
"Consider how the corpse is laying,"
how it looks like.
Consider the truth in front.
Are you ok?
I'll find you some water.
The corpse is full of worms and filthy.
Monk Sanchai.
Monk Sanchai.
I've collected the alms.
Are you alright?
Monk Sanchai.
I can't help...
Don't ask me why...
I can't help...
I can't say...
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.