The crisp sound of a clapperboard echoed in the room, and the cameras began to roll.
(Recording studio. The lens is aimed at a long sofa where several people are seated.)
**Zhao Meiyou:** "Uh, what should I say..." (Scratches his head, clears his throat) "Ahem. Originally, we weren't supposed to have this segment—at least not until Old Third came out so we could fill a table. But the Boss Lady was crying so hard it was pathetic. No choice. Dragged out of my warm bed in the middle of the night to clock in. I mean, where’s the justice? We only just wrapped today. I didn't even have time to change out of my pajamas before your makeup artist smeared a layer of spackle over my face..."
(He stands up to show the camera his slippers and boxers, leg hair uncurbed.)
(Liu Qijue pushes him back down. Diao Chan takes the microphone.)
**Diao Chan** (Clears his throat): "As you can see, this is an emergency behind-the-scenes special for *Buddha Says*. It is currently 9:34 PM on the night of April 2, 2023. We have just received the news of the passing of the renowned musician, Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto. The play *Buddha Says* featured Mr. Sakamoto’s famous composition, 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,' and the script was deeply inspired by him during its creation. Therefore, the cast has gathered here tonight to discuss our thoughts on the score during the filming process. We do this in memory of a great composer, producer, singer, actor, and pianist of our time—Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto."
**Liu Qijue:** "Indeed."
**Xiao Xiansheng:** "Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto was an outstanding musician. His passing is a tragedy for this era."
**Zhao Meiyou:** "The Boss Lady has already cried herself into a stupor backstage at the theater."
**Staff Member:** "Then, would everyone care to share your thoughts on Mr. Sakamoto’s music during the filming of *Buddha Says*?"
**Zhao Meiyou:** "Brother Qian is still on his way. I’ll wait for him. Site S49 was mostly Diao Chan’s scene, so let him go first."
**Diao Chan** (Thinking for a moment): "Hmm... let me think. First, the most direct experience for the audience is definitely the piece 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.' It’s the title of Scene 16, but the melody actually appeared back in Scene 13, 'Absurd, Failed, Grand.' My program-mother played that piece; we used it to complete a 'birth.' However, I think in that scene, my mother’s feelings were probably deeper than mine."
**Madame Diao** takes the microphone: "Yes. Actually, the Captain—our theater’s Boss Lady—deliberated for a long time over what music to use for that scene, and she asked for our opinions. Many plots in *Buddha Says* have musical subtexts. For instance, 'Fly Me to the Moon' at the beginning, 'Casablanca' which Xiao Xiansheng and Liu Qijue listened to together, and 'Hotel California' later on... Originally, for Scene 13, our idea was to use something in a Christian style, like 'Even If' or a Gregorian chant. After all, that scene involves an android son and a program-mother, touching on many themes including ethics and philosophy. Plus, since *Buddha Says* is set in the 25th century, using medieval religious music could create a stylistic contrast with the postmodern setting."
**Diao Chan:** "I remember the Captain asked me what I thought of the song 'Remember.' It’s from the soundtrack of the famous TV series *Skam*, and it also appears in a church scene. But it was ultimately rejected."
**Madame Diao:** "Right. The Captain felt that lyrics weren't quite right. The music for a setting like Scene 13 should be... how should I put it? Pure. Even if it’s intense or grand, it should be a clash composed entirely of notes. Adding lyrics would make it feel cluttered."
**Diao Chan:** "Actually, the script for Scene 13 didn't originally have the 'birth' plot. The initial design was just Diao Chan and his mother saying goodbye through a piece of music, ending with the mother’s suicide."
**Madame Diao:** "Yes, the script for Scene 13 was revised many times. When the Captain finally decided on 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,' I was actually a bit surprised. It is a beautiful piece, of course."
**Diao Chan:** "But at first glance, it doesn't seem to match a plot like suicide." (Laughs) "After all, to my layman’s ears, Mr. Sakamoto’s piece feels more like the transition from winter to spring. The river thawing beneath the ice—the vitality of breaking through the soil."
**Staff Member:** "Then why was this piece chosen in the end?"
(Both Madame Diao and Diao Chan smile.) **Madame Diao** answers: "Because the 'birth' plot was added."
**Liu Qijue** (Raises a hand): "I’ll jump in. The 'birth' plot is the Captain’s personal interpretation of 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence'; it’s not an absolute objective stance. The piece was originally the score for the war film *Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence*, which tells the story of a veiled love between two soldiers during WWII. Both the movie and the music are excellent. The audience can look them up if they’re interested; I’m sure everyone will have their own perspective."
**Xiao Xiansheng:** "The most recognizable part of 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' begins with the dense staccato of sixteenth notes. Usually, the violin joins in there. If it’s your first time hearing it, it really is deafeningly clear. I remember the first time I heard it, I actually shuddered at that part." (Laughs)
**Zhao Meiyou:** "You guys have no idea. When the Boss Lady looped that song all night, the smell of cigarette smoke in her room the next morning... it was enough to choke a mosquito to death."
**Diao Chan:** "There are actually many hints about this piece in the script. For example, 'In the dense staccato of sixteenth notes, his brief sixteen years of life flashed by...' This refers to those specific measures of sixteenth notes in the music; they’re truly brilliant. And then there’s the description of the 'birth.' Because that segment is a duet between violin and piano, the rhythms of the high and low scales are different. The violin is brighter, like a newborn, while the low piano accompaniment feels more like... well, how should I say it? The sound of a mother gasping on the operating table? So it’s easy to associate it with childbirth. Giving birth is a scene of intense contrast; you could almost say it’s a trade-off, using the mother’s life to buy the child’s new life. This conflict is partly dissolved by love, and partly persists long-term in the kinship between mother and child."
**Xiao Xiansheng:** "It’s a very complex motif."
**Madame Diao:** "There’s also a line in the script: 'The woman’s body was sliced into 753 tissue sections.' This is actually an allusion to the 753 notes in the score. Though, depending on the version of the sheet music, the number of notes might vary."
**Diao Chan:** "In short, it was a truly brilliant scene. I really like the interpretation of 'motherhood' in it. It dissolves some of the pure sense of sacrifice for the family found in traditional motherhood; it’s about finding oneself amidst gestation and death. Between death and birth, there are also many..."
**Liu Qijue** (Interrupts): "The Captain said not to say too much. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand readers' eyes. This isn't a reading comprehension test; our theater doesn't provide 'standard answers.'"
**Staff Member** (Smoothing things over): "It seems everyone is very fond of that scene. So, besides Scene 13, are there any other scenes you’d like to discuss?"
**Diao Chan:** "Quite a few. For instance, the title of Scene 16 is 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.'"
**Staff Member:** "Right. Scene 16 mentions that the cat Zhao Bujiao’s nickname is 'Mr. Lawrence.' Many viewers said they didn't understand where the name came from. Is there some hidden meaning there?"
**Diao Chan:** "Better let Zhao 'Not-a-Chance' answer that." (Hands the mic to Zhao Meiyou)
**Zhao Meiyou:** "Ah, that. Honestly, I want to say some of you are overthinking it. Sometimes a blue curtain is just a blue curtain, and the second date tree is just the second date tree—okay, okay, Diao Chan, stop pinching me! There is a bit of a story there."
(Thinks for a moment and continues) "Actually, it was mentioned in Scene 9 that the way to enter Site S45 is to play a piano piece. That piece is 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.' Then there’s the birth scene in Scene 13, where the duet between Diao Chan and Madame Diao is also 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.' But the script never explicitly states the name of the piano piece until Scene 16. So the last line of Scene 16—'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'—is a reveal of the previous music’s name. Besides that, since Zhao Bujiao’s nickname was given by Diao Chan, and in the script, Zhao Meiyou only knows how to play one song—which Diao Chan taught him back in university—it means Diao Chan had already prepared for the day Zhao Meiyou would enter Site S45. Naming the cat 'Lawrence' was an Easter egg. After all, the cat was made by Juejue and took my surname, Zhao. So, as a gift and memento from a friend, Diao Chan wanted to leave a bit of his own mark on it. That’s how the name 'Mr. Lawrence' came about."
(Spreads his hands) "One last thing that wasn't explicitly written: Diao Chan’s bank PIN is actually the date of Christmas."
**Staff Member:** "So that’s how it is."
**Zhao Meiyou:** "I don't know if there are other hints. The Boss Lady is wasted right now. She started drinking as soon as she finished crying. Once she’s drunk, she’ll probably start acting like a lunatic, so it’s not a good time to ask her. Don't mind her."
**Staff Member:** "Understood. The lead actors have given us a detailed look at the connection between 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' and *Buddha Says*. Is there anything else in the play related to Mr. Sakamoto?"
**Zhao Meiyou** (Slaps his thigh): "Brother Qian knows this! Is Brother Qian here yet? Is he still eating hotpot with Mu Gesheng and that lot? What time is it?"
(Diao Chan covers his mouth) "This is the *Buddha Says* cast, don't cross the streams!"
**Zhao Meiyou:** "Hey, we all have the same theater boss, who cares? Once the cameras are off, we’re all family—oh! Brother Qian! Brother Qian is here!"
(Qian Duoduo enters the set. The camera pans as he sits down next to Zhao Meiyou.)
(He takes the microphone from the staff and nods.) "Hello, everyone. I am Qian Duoduo."
**Zhao Meiyou** (Clapping wildly): "Welcome, Brother Qian!" (Leans in and whispers) "Did you eat well, Brother Qian? No rush on this side..."
**Qian Duoduo** (Whispering back): "I’m not in a rush, but I drank Mu Gesheng under the table. If I didn't leave now, Chai Shuxin was going to lose his mind."
**Zhao Meiyou** (Whispering): "Next time I’ll go with you. If he dares to lose his mind..."
**Qian Duoduo:** "Then what?"
**Zhao Meiyou:** "...I’ll drink with him. So what if he’s the Big Brother?"
**Qian Duoduo:** "...Your tolerance is indeed impressive." (He sits up straight and clears his throat, turning serious) "I just heard some of the recording prompts from the script supervisor outside. Regarding Mr. Sakamoto’s influence on *Buddha Says*, it actually traces back to before the script was even born."
"The concept for *Buddha Says* actually began in 2022. On November 29, 2022, Shenzhou 15 launched. I watched the entire live broadcast of the launch with the Captain. That night, she had the idea to tell a story about the sea of stars. Later, on December 18, 2022, Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto held his 'Playing the Piano 2022' online concert. The Captain watched the early morning show. After watching it, she told me she knew what kind of story she wanted to write."
"After that, the Captain read Mr. Sakamoto’s autobiography, *Music is Freedom*, and watched the documentary *Coda*. In the book, Mr. Sakamoto mentioned that when he was young, he used to lie in the bathtub smoking and composing. That image became the origin of the scene in Scene 21 of *Buddha Says*. The documentary recorded some of Mr. Sakamoto’s modernist styling and musical philosophies during his YMO period, which were also major inspirations for *Buddha Says*. I remember very clearly watching that documentary with the Captain; there was a shot of a photo of Mr. Sakamoto wearing eyeshadow. He was a handsome young man then, wearing blue, purple, and neon green eyeshadow. The following shots were of children on colorful carousels in an amusement park, and dolls in white silk in a shop window... It gave off a truly wondrous feeling, like an old television suddenly flickering to life. Very 'dreamcore.' That kind of kaleidoscopic, hazy beauty is one of the key emotions *Buddha Says* aims to cultivate."
"In *Coda*, Mr. Sakamoto once said—'I think Japan has now become a world-leading capitalist country. Technology will continue to develop and gradually slip out of human control. I neither support nor oppose this, but I remain vigilant toward the unstable factors of technology, such as disasters or noise.' I think this idea probably influenced the Captain as well."
**Staff Member:** "It seems there is indeed a deep connection."
**Qian Duoduo:** "Exactly. Of course, besides the widely known 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,' Mr. Sakamoto was also responsible for the score of the famous film *The Last Emperor*. Some of the incidental music from that film influenced the Captain’s conception of 'Insatiable'..." (Looks at Zhao Meiyou) "Can I say that?"
**Zhao Meiyou:** "You can't. But the Boss Lady is hammered right now—the kind of drunk where she’s completely out of it—so she won't know what you just said."
**Qian Duoduo:** "Alright. Then back to *Buddha Says*. Actually, the creation of *Buddha Says* was very improvisational, much like the state of 'handing out flyers on the street' that Mr. Sakamoto mentioned in his autobiography. He said: 'My mood at the time was perhaps like a child playing a prank on someone they liked, which is why I ran off to hand out flyers. Without a special passion, how could one deliberately make flyers to distribute, doing such a troublesome thing? That feeling was probably like writing a love letter!' The Captain’s creation was likely born of that same mood—a self-righteous love letter, filled with her manic ramblings. About music, about sci-fi, about Marlboro cigarettes and McDonald's. And about right now: a sudden interview, a letter delivered to someone in the afterlife."
(He sits up straighter.)
"In the documentary *Coda*, there is a very special scene where Mr. Sakamoto plays a piano that had been submerged in seawater. We might think: how can this out-of-tune music be called music? But perhaps there is another interpretation. As Mr. Sakamoto said in the film: 'The Industrial Revolution began to create the instrument we call the piano. Many are like this, made of wood perhaps six years old, layered and overlapped, fixed into a mold through immense pressure over half a year. I heard these strings are also under several tons of pressure. Human industrial processing and the power of civilization have taken natural substances and nested nature within a mold. If the pitch is wrong, people say it’s out of tune. In reality, these natural substances are struggling desperately to return to their original state. The waves surged up in an instant, and this piano returned to its natural form.'"
"Perhaps, in the face of Mr. Sakamoto’s departure, we can also say that he has returned to the natural form of life."
"Death is like a wave surging onto this shore, pushing people into the next life. But there are always things that can transcend life and death, enduring forever. Like literature. Like music."
"Tonight we speak of death, just as we praise life."
**Staff Member** (Inserting at the right moment): "To Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto."
**Qian Duoduo:** "To his venerable life."
**Zhao Meiyou:** "Goodnight, Professor Sakamoto."
**Diao Chan:** "He was a great musician."
**Madame Diao:** "Merry Christmas, Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto."
**Liu Qijue:** "The coda has not ended."
**Xiao Xiansheng:** "Like the morning dew, art is eternal."
(As the recording is about to end, the staff member stops Zhao Meiyou.)
**Staff Member:** "Mr. Zhao, could you reveal some of the actors' real-life statuses? For example, how are the leads of *The Wedding Game* doing? And are you and Mr. Qian Duoduo really together?"
**Zhao Meiyou** (Stops Qian Duoduo from answering and smiles): "Why must you get to the bottom of everything? Why not leave some space between reality and imagination? Between the 25th century in *Buddha Says* and the 21st century in reality, who knows if we are currently living in some unknown ruins? Just like Professor Sakamoto’s departure—perhaps he is simply playing the piano melody once more within his own ruins. Who can say for sure?"
**Staff Member:** "But..."
(A car pulls up at the theater entrance. Liu Qijue opens the door.) "Zhao Mode, get in!"
**Zhao Meiyou** (Grabs Qian Duoduo and jumps into the car): "The Boss Lady is drinking backstage! She’s probably drunk enough by now that she’ll answer anything you ask! Go find her! See ya!"
(The staff member finds the backstage area, but the Captain is already dead drunk. They can only write in the interview notes:)
Tonight, we talk of music and death.
Starlight made of atoms pulses upon the heart.
In the vast universe.
We shall all live forever.
***
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