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Documentaries/Films that relate directly to Buddhism...
Lots to fill some spare moments; thanks Leon. I also 'enjoyed' your Suicide Forest; it was poignant for me; I'm both Japanese (on my maternal side) and also considered doing similar during the end of my drinking days. Thankfully I didn't though, hence I'm here typing my drivel on the interweb.
Lots to fill some spare moments; thanks Leon. I also 'enjoyed' your Suicide Forest; it was poignant for me; I'm both Japanese (on my maternal side) and also considered doing similar during the end of my drinking days. Thankfully I didn't though, hence I'm here typing my drivel on the interweb.
Can I get a cheesy-wrap up of the intended lesson? hahaha
Synopsis:
Potential Olympic athlete meets Buddhist, Olympic athlete dismisses Buddhist then wrecks his body in a motorbike accident. Dukkha forces him back to Buddhist, he learns how to be Buddhist, and makes it back to the Olympic trials.
That's about it really.
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
edited February 2013
Kalmykia is a steppe region in the south of European Russia and the only European Buddhist republic. An international Buddhist festival is going to take place in a temple in the Kalmykia's capital, Elista. Monks are preparing a sand mandala. It is a palace that may serve a temporary abode for an enlightened deity. Colored marble sand is applied to the canvas through a cone-shaped tube. Follow the monks' white path on RT.
Samsara. Not a documentary but a wonderfully done sort of photo/film collage depicting states of life on the planet. Gorgeous and awe-some. Also, "When the Iron Bird Flies." We watched this as a sangha, it is about the coming of Buddhism to the west. It was pretty good. I don't know if it is available widely yet or not. Our sangha leader made a donation and was given a copy in advance. We watched it on New Years.
Great thread. I watched The Buddha last night and absolutely loved it. I wish they would have featured some other prominent Buddhist monks, though, but it didn't really matter in the end.
I think the film 'Ikiru' relates directly to Buddhism in the sense that it is a film about a man that spends his last few weeks living devoted to helping others. Here is a link: http://www.buddhachannel.tv/portail/spip.php?article16999
Oh, this is such a touching film. All of Kurosawa's films are worth watching, but this is such a deeply human story. I wholeheartedly agree with Roger Ebert's assessment: 'This is one of the few movies that might actually inspire someone to lead their life a little differently.'
I'm glad to know you found special significance in this film, @Dandelion.
^^ I remember when I first heard about the Dalai Lama and Russell Brand sharing a stage, and thought it was a hoax lol. Interesting to see this. I do think HHDL comes acrosss very well... he has a good giggle on him too!
I had to keep re-starting it just to 'listen' to it. "Jesus...this guy talks more than me... is the whole 2 hours just talking..on and on, one person? ....wait...Lobster would not be posting this if it didn't have a lesson, I'm sure. Let me calm myself". *looks down again at the whole running time* "Two hours of this guy telling stories", and I can't understand/put together what the hell he is talking about ??". I certainly noticed the boredom and discomfort..I restarted and kept resetting myself. Sit still. Sit still. Sit still. Took a couple of times, at least.
Once I got myself together.... ....I couldn't stop paying attention. He covered everything, didn't he?
I saw all of it. Dessert is over. Nobody will digest for you.
Okay. Thanks for at least replying!
0
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
Just came across this gem of a documentary on Thai Buddhism. Its from the BBC and looks to have been made in the 70's - early 80s, it was done when Ajahn Chah was still alive and there is an interview with him that is interspersed throughout the video. It was great to see and hear the actual voice of such a great master.
2
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
If you haven't seen The Cup, its on youtube for free atm. It may be taken off sometime due to copyright.
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
Here's a disneyfied version of Buddha's life. I haven't watched it, supposedly its not entirely accurate to the normal story. I thought I'd post it for anyone who likes Disney cartoons and Buddhism.
Short documentary about a Finnish guy who decides to leave all his possessions, friends and family in Finland to become a monk in Thailand for the rest of his life.
If you have Netflix, and don't mind English subtitles, I thought the Russian documentary about the Dalai Lama called Sunrise/Sunset was excellent. The Dalai Lama says some things in this documentary that really blew my mind:
Comments
It's a bit cheesy, but I liked it.
Can I get a cheesy-wrap up of the intended lesson? hahaha
Potential Olympic athlete meets Buddhist, Olympic athlete dismisses Buddhist then wrecks his body in a motorbike accident. Dukkha forces him back to Buddhist, he learns how to be Buddhist, and makes it back to the Olympic trials.
That's about it really.
Also, "When the Iron Bird Flies." We watched this as a sangha, it is about the coming of Buddhism to the west. It was pretty good. I don't know if it is available widely yet or not. Our sangha leader made a donation and was given a copy in advance. We watched it on New Years.
I'm glad to know you found special significance in this film, @Dandelion.
http://www.reddit.com/r/fullmoviesonyoutube/comments/19cga2/my_dinner_with_andre_1981/
I had to keep re-starting it just to 'listen' to it.
"Jesus...this guy talks more than me...
is the whole 2 hours just talking..on and on,
one person? ....wait...Lobster
would not be posting this if it didn't have a lesson,
I'm sure. Let me calm myself". *looks down again at
the whole running time*
"Two hours of this guy telling stories", and I can't
understand/put together what the hell he is talking about ??".
I certainly noticed the boredom and discomfort..I restarted and
kept resetting myself. Sit still. Sit still. Sit still.
Took a couple of times, at least.
Once I got myself together....
....I couldn't stop paying attention.
He covered everything, didn't he?
Gratitude for the teaching(s) I received.
youtube.com/watch?v=VaVzuy5gxcY
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Sunrise_Sunset/70124095?locale=en-US
I also recently watched the documentary Spiritual Revolution, also on Netflix. Although not strictly about Buddhism I thought it was very eye-opening:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Spiritual_Revolution/70265484