It is deeply ingrained in the Buddhist tradition, with its central morality focusing on the foolishness of an attachment to material things. Pride and arrogance are undesirable qualities that inevitably lead to a fall. These qualities are embodied in the anti-hero, the arrogant Taira no Kiyomori. These flaws remain part of his character until he dies and he thus serves as the personification of the most undesirable qualities, and the opposite of the hero. The Japanese hero, on the other hand, is embodied in the central figure of the Samurai, Minamoto no Yo*****sune.
The qualities displayed by the Samurai adhere to the principle that nothing in the world is permanent. The central truth is that the prosperous must decline, and that prosperity generally corrupts, as seen in those opposing the Samurai.
The heroes in the Tale of the Heike contrast with those in homer's work, and also with Gilgamesh, in that they are fairly simplistic in terms of inner perfection. They do not incorporate the physical perfection of the warriors in Homer's work. Instead, they represent the perfect inner qualities of the spiritual warrior who overcomes even the most wicked. While the Samurai is representative of a perfection that is desirable, it is easier for the reader to identify with heroes such as Odysseus.
The Japanese work however also incorporates certain comparisons with the other works. The spiritual nature of the hero for example plays an important role in his actions. This is also true of the heroes discussed above. Spirituality therefore appears to be the common element in defining heroism in the literature from various cultures.
Conclusion
In considering the ideal of heroism in the literature from different regions and time periods, fundamental differences arise. The Buddhist principle of the fundamental spiritual paradigm for example contrasts strongly with the mainly physical paradigm of heroes such as Beowulf. Beowulf, Achilles...
This then appears to be a universal principle of heroes throughout the discussed works. Another common factor is the fact that society determines the main qualities of the hero as they manifest themselves in the particular literature of a specific time and a specific region.
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Homer. The Iliad. Trans. By Samuel Butler. http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
McCullough, Helen Craig (trans.) the Tale of the Heike. Stanford, California: Stanford University Pres, 1988. http://www.glopac.org/Jparc/Atsumori/Heiketxt.htm
Mesopotanian Texts Archive. The Epic of Gilgamesh, 2007. http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/
Bottero, Jean. Gilgamesh, the king who did not wish to die - great epics; heroic tales of man and superman. UNESCO Courier, Sept 1989. Online Database: FindArticles.com
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