This imaginative telling of Lincoln’s life as a part-time vampire hunter is an elaborate allegory perhaps, of how capitalistic slave-owners were like exploitative and unrelenting ‘bloodsuckers’, who would not stop till they took over the country. The American Civil War was the result, a battle for the ‘soul’ of the country, that tore the nation apart to some extent, in order to save it.
Being embodiments of the three poisons of intense greed, hatred and delusion, the vampires could render themselves invisible. When they mingle among humans, they could manifest as well-mannered though, which makes them even harder to detect. This could represent treachery of the poisons, that make them tricky to be mindful of – especially within ourselves – as humans!
Lincoln’s struggle against darkness was for the freedom of all humans, not just the selfish welfare of some, at the expense of others. It was to do good not for one, but for all humankind. ‘Until every man is free, we are all slaves!’ Enslaved by personal greed, or apathy towards the slavery of others. The Buddhist ideal extends to the emancipation of all other sentient beings too, including animals.
As the vampire leader retorted, we are all slaves to something, he to ‘eternity’ and Lincoln to his convictions. Indeed, slavery is not merely physical in nature. However, Lincoln’s ideals were noble aspirations, not worldly ambitions due to the three poisons. The vampire’s unrelenting ways enslaved him too – to murderous hate, only as endless as he was still deludedly greedy for power.
Being anti-war at heart, Lincoln saw real power to come not from hate but truth, preferring to fight with words and ideals, to settle with the pen not a sword. Unfortunately, as history often attests, not all wish to gentlemanly debate and agree with reason. What Lincoln won was but one war though, that did not end all of slavery in its myriad forms worldwide. The inner and outer ‘wars’ rage on…
