“Where can one find the One?” the student asks. The teacher replies, “Give me a fig.” — “Here it is.” — “Break it.” The student breaks it. — “What do you see inside?” — “Seeds, sir.” — “Break one. What do you see?” — “Nothing, sir.” “This ‘nothing,’ the invisible, is the foundation of existence. Its image cannot be seen; no one has ever seen it with their eyes. It is perceived by the heart, the mind, the thought. Whoever knows this becomes immortal. When the five senses—along with thought—cease, the higher self remains. Suffering can be overcome, and we may find LIBERATION.”
Then the question arose: “But why did they marry, and how did it happen that, despite having different sexual orientations, Richard still ended up married to the lesbian Cynthe?” Less so, Cynthia’s verdict did not hold, and soon Richard fell in love with Carrie Lowell. In 2000, they had a wonderful son named Homer James Jigme (Jigme means ‘fearless’ in Tibetan). The name Homer was not given in memory of anyone; the name Jigme was a tribute to his love for Tibet.
The fact is that Richard is a Buddhist who follows the philosophy and precepts of the Buddha. The boy early displayed diverse talents in music and gymnastics, then enrolled in the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts but left after a couple of years (academic knowledge often suppresses the pursuit of true wisdom). Music captivated him entirely, but in ’78 he traveled to Nepal… and there, his second life began—like the Dalai Lama—and much was revealed within himself.
“When I am there (in Tibet), I am very happy. The Tibetans shine… They send light into the world. The Dalai Lama generates love and compassion for all humanity; he has taken it upon himself to do so. I have not yet made the ‘leap,’ not risen in my self-realization, and so I continue with love to make films,” Richard once confessed. Such words reveal that Richard is still on the path of self-realization, as are many advanced people in the West. He seeks to reconcile the irreconcilable—birth and suffering, old age and suffering, illness and suffering; life itself is suffering. It arises from the thirst for life, the craving that drives a person through all reincarnations, through passions, exile, rejection, and abandonment. The desire to escape suffering (a square between the Sun in Virgo and the Moon in Sagittarius in Gier’s cosmogram) led him to embrace Buddhist philosophy.
The Sun in Virgo is meticulous, while the Moon in Sagittarius strikes at it, making it difficult to see “the forest for the trees.” The inner conflict between the conscious and the unconscious seeks an outlet, and thanks to the Moon in Sagittarius, it finds it in the aspiration to “reach” God. Gier’s travels (England, Nepal, Central America, Yugoslavia), his interest in the worldviews of other peoples, his sense of justice, and his inclination toward philosophical and religious concepts—all these are traits of a Moon in Sagittarius.
An interesting detail is the degree of the Sun in conjunction with the star Alioth (in the constellation Ursa Major)—this star is associated with religious activity, a great mission in life, and often manifests in travelers. Speaking of Gier’s fate, one can say his mission is undeniably bright, especially for a personality as luminous as his on the “gods’ horizon” of Hollywood: his North Node in Aries is in the royal degree of courage—suggesting that in a past life, he failed to assert his individuality, instead reflecting others, particularly in marriage and the soul. Richard fulfills a leadership program.
In his youth, he was highly sensitive to disharmony, which led him to immerse himself in music—the highest form of love. Incidentally, his Venus, in Libra, is conjunct Neptune at the 14th degree, speaking for itself: a love for music. However, the planet of love forms very negative aspects to Jupiter in Capricorn (at the degree of sexual crimes, marital misfortune, and occult abilities) and to Black Moon in Aries (pantheistic consciousness), conjunct the star Algorab, indicating a collision with lust. As the saying goes, “there’s no smoke without fire,” and it’s quite possible that Richard’s early years were not marked by high morality—perhaps this is what his ex-wife Cynthia meant.
Many degrees of the cosmogram speak of asceticism, a striving for perfection. However, a Virgo Sun struggles to rid itself of heightened materialism, especially since he was born in the year of the Earth Ox (1949)—orthodoxy, a narrow worldview, and attachment to tradition can hinder the path of development. Yet, the value lies in the fact that a person does not become ossified in their achievements and does not close themselves off to the narrow little world of Hollywood happiness.
Life in Tibetan monasteries showed Richard a practical path to resolving inner problems—self-denial. What is the goal of Buddhist self-denial? The Buddha called this goal nirvana. He never allowed himself to define it. Nirvana is the complete extinction of passions and even self-awareness, the extinction of being. One cannot escape this world, for everything is bound by patterns. And if a person carries within themselves an evil beginning, upon death, they do not return to the womb of Brahman but are reborn on Earth again. This life continues endlessly, and everything revolves, subject to the iron law of karma. This is called samsara, or reincarnation.
The Buddha taught the necessity of moral perfection. To break free from the snares of reincarnation, from this fatal wheel of existence, one must liberate themselves from both passions and anger, rage. Yes, the Buddha did not teach love. But he taught compassion, humanity. He gave five precepts: Ahimsa (non-violence), abstinence from intoxicants, abstinence from lust, from theft, from lying—these are the simplest commandments.
At the peak of his fame, Gier asserts another beginning within himself. He says, “I do not want to be a personality”—a paradox of society and the individual living within it. People ask, “what,” “how,” and “why,” trying to justify their petty actions. Illusion, as Nietzsche said, allows us to live. We can lie until words become truth, but such truths are not fundamental. The absolute beginning of ourselves, our true “I,” does not fall ill or recover. It always watches us, and our task is also to look at it. By peering inside ourselves, even occasionally, much becomes clear…
“I teach that you, like all beings, wish to attain happiness and avoid suffering. I teach what everything truly is… I have not hidden a single teaching in a closed fist. Follow. Be a light unto yourselves,” — the Buddha Shakyamuni.
In these words lies the answer: perhaps that is why Gier radiates a special golden light amid Hollywood’s neon… Valentina Vittrok
