Saturday Shinzo Sangha Talks by Will Holcomb, St. Louis, MO
September 24, 2016
Antigone in Ferguson
Good morning! This will be a little bit different today. Last week, after Carol and I left here, we went up to
Normandy High School for a performance of the Greek tragedy, Antigone, by Sophocles. Four well-known TV
actors from New York did a dramatic reading of the play with a chorus behind them made up of singers from local
gospel choirs, including the St. Louis Police Department Choir. Others were from local church groups. The music
was composed by the music director at Normandy High School. It was in the style of spirituals and very moving. I
can’t express how emotional this performance was to everyone there.
It got me thinking about, well, Sophocles was really a contemporary of the Buddha – they were on different sides
of the planet, but lived at about the same time. We’ve talked a lot in the past about Samma-kammanta – or Right
Action. Usually translated as right action but carries some meaning of skillful action or appropriate action, wise
action. I got to thinking about this Antigone story and how possibly we could apply Right Action – Sammakammanta – to this.
The Buddha wasn’t especially fond of theatrical productions. He didn’t think being an actor was a worthy vocation.
To me, drama gives us an opportunity to exercise our judgment in a way doesn’t involve gossip or hurting people.
We can talk about the characters in this play and make comments about what they did or didn’t do without
actually causing harm to a real person. I think it can be a good opportunity. The four actors were members of a
New York-based production company that uses Greek myths in a contemporary setting, and have dealt with
topics such as the Theater of War, the End of Life, Acts of Violence and a production that was performed in
Missouri called Prometheus in Prison.
In this case, the performance was part of a series of events remembering the death of Michael Brown. They were
invited here to try and help the community understand what that event and its aftermath could teach us.
Some of you may be familiar with the Antigone story (pronounced An-tig-o-nee), but I wasn’t until last week, even
though the name was very familiar. I’m going to try to summarize it quickly.
Antigone was a daughter of Oedipus. Oedipus you undoubtedly heard of – this person who unknowingly killed his
father and married his mother. When he found out what he did, he blinded himself and went running off into the
wilderness, out of the city of Thebes where he had been king. That left a power vacuum. He had two sons –
Eteocles and Polynices. These two sons didn’t see eye-to-eye and started battling one another, until Eteocles
seemed to have gotten the upper hand. Polynices went running off, but he regrouped and came back and
attacked the city. As it turned out, the two of them ended up killing each other right in the street in Thebes. So
there were the two sons, dead in the streets.
At the same time, their uncle, who was named Creon, came to power. Everything was in disarray. The city of
Thebes after the civil war was in shambles. So he was doing his best to establish law and order in a very heavyhanded way. The first law that he laid down was that since he viewed Eteocles as the patriot and Polynices as the
traitor, Eteocles should get a formal, honorable burial and Polynices was to be left out in the street, unburied and
subject to vultures and dogs.
These two brothers who had killed one another had two sisters: Antigone and Ismene. That was all background.
The play begins with Antigone and Ismene talking. Antigone says, you’ve got to help me. I need to bury
Polynices, by brother, because they’re just leaving him out there to be eaten by dogs. And Ismene says, but, wait
a minute. That’s what the king wanted. He said that anyone who tried to bury Polynices would be killed. Antigone
acknowledged the king’s order but said he needs to be buried. He’s our brother. We need to honor him. And she
finally said, if you’re not going to help me, I’ll do it myself.
Then the king gets word that someone is out at the battle site trying to bury Polynices. Someone’s trying to defy
his order. He’s upset about this and is determined to find out who this is and declares that the person will be put
to death. A messenger informs him that it was, in fact, Antigone, one of the sisters of the two brothers. Antigone
actually didn’t get a shovel and bury him. All she was able to do, according to the story, was to gather up some
dust from the street and sprinkle the dust over the body. This enraged Creon. They brought Antigone in front of
Creon. Antigone made her case; she spoke very carefully and calmly about her reasons for her actions, and
made the case that she shouldn’t be killed for this. But Creon insisted and said that she would be buried alive; she
would be put in a cave and they would roll a rock over it and she would just be left there to die.
Another complicating feature in all of this, is that Creon’s son, Haemon, was engaged to marry Antigone. There
was a lot of intermarriage going on in the royal family. Haemon, Creon’s son, comes up to talk to Creon. He’s well
trained and was very respectful, and said complimentary things. Then he gets to the point and tells Creon, out in
the street, people are saying that we really shouldn’t kill Antigone for trying to bury her brother. Just so you know,
that’s what the word on the street is, so you might want to think about this. Creon is unwavering, but Haemon
persists. Finally, at the end, Haemon gets very direct saying, I think this is crazy to punish Antigone in this way.
But Creon insists. He’s unwavering.
Creon has his soldiers take Antigone to the cave and roll the rock in front of it. But a prophet – Tiresias, the blind
prophet – couldn’t see the room but he could see into the future. And Tiresias comes to talk to the king. So,
Tiresias tells him, if you do this, they are going to be dire consequences for you and your family. Creon dismisses
it one way or the other and says, oh, you’re just trying to throw me off track. Then, after the prophet leaves, he
starts thinking about his predictions. The chorus comes in and says, you know, the prophet has never been wrong
in the past. Maybe you should listen. Creon changes his mind. He goes out to where Antigone is in this cave and
he has them roll the rock away. Actually, Haemon’s already been out at the cave. He’s rolled the rock away and
found that Antigone has hung herself in the cave. Rather than starve to death, she chose to hang herself. And
Haemon, Creon’s son, is so upset that he, at first tries to kill Creon, but he’s unsuccessful and he ends up killing
himself. So, he’s dead. And then Creon goes back to the palace, and he tells his wife about this. His wife
becomes hysterical, goes off and they don’t hear from her for a little while. They get worried and they go check on
her and she’s killed herself with a sword. The play ends up with Creon being a broken man. His wife’s dead. His
son’s dead. And he blames himself. The play ends with Creon a broken man and all of his attempts to establish
law and order created misery instead.
I think there are many things that one could say about this. I don’t really want to try to give my opinion about how
Buddhists principles apply to this story – if they do. I’d like to stimulate some discussion, keeping in mind that
there are some big decisions here. The story starts, really, with the decision of Creon to make this rule that says,
if anybody does this, I’m going to kill him. If anybody tries to bury this person, I’m going to kill him. That’s one
decision. The play is called Antigone. She’s really the central character in the play. Her decision to defy this rule in
order to bury her brother, which she saw as required of her as a family member to honor the dead brother,
regardless of what he had done. And then, of course, her sister, deciding that well, yes, but we should honor the
king because he’s the king. We shouldn’t do this. She made the opposite decision. Then there’s all that followed
after that.
When state power seems arbitrary and contrary to what a person believes is right, what do we do? I don’t know if
I adequately explained the story. How can you apply Right Action to such circumstances? Can a theatrical
production assist us in waking up, in seeing all of the various causes and conditions at play? What were Creon’s
motives? Was it his fear that caused all of this destruction?