If you're thinking of renting a movie and would like some ideas, here are a list of films we recommend ! Any comments or suggestions can be sent to Michael Parry: mp@michael-parry.com

With the tragic events of the last few weeks in Myanmar, I began thinking of Beyond Rangoon (1995), an American Film directed by John Boorman that gives an insight to the country’s political strife.

Beyond Rangoon was inspired by the history of political repression in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It tells the fictional story of Dr. Laura Bowman, an American who travels to Myanmar as a tourist, seeking to forget a tragedy at home. Confronted with the searing brutality of the ruling military dictatorship, she is transformed by the suffering of the Burmese people and the inspiring leadership of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi. To this day, Aung San Suu Kyi and the movement she heads still seek democracy and a government that recognizes basic human rights.

Dharmically, the film recalls a famous quote from Khen Rinpoche, “A dog wags its tail in Tibet the same as it does in New Jersey”. I take it that he meant something like, “Suffering in the U.S. can’t be escaped in Myanmar”. It’s no surprise that the suffering Laura finds suffering as soon as she disembarks in Myanmar but what makes the film especially worthwhile her discovery that wisdom and compassion are the only two things that can truly prevent suffering.

As summer winds down and we return to life at work or school, we may find ourselves with the thought, wasn’t that retreat/vacation/get-a-away the way it should be all the time? Shouldn’t our “normal” lives be the exception? Well, if we work hard enough, and stay focused on the right endeavors, of course, all suffering will fall away and bliss will be ours. First though, we have to be sure which is which. Which is suffering and which is pleasure. It may not be as easy a question as it seems. On the way to figuring it all out, Richard Linklater’s Waking Life is a great, diversion…..it begins with the question: What are dreams? Are they an escape from reality or are they reality itself? Waking Life follows the dream(s) of one man and his attempt to find and discern the absolute difference between waking life and the dream world. While trying to figure out a way to wake up, he runs into many people on his way; some of which offer one sentence asides on life, others delving deeply into existential questions and life's mysteries. We become the main character. It becomes our dream and our questions being asked and answered. Can we control our dreams? What are they telling us about life? About death? About ourselves and where we come from and where we are going? The film does not answer all these for us. Instead, it inspires us to ask the questions and find the answers ourselves.

Fifteen years ago, superheroes walked the streets of Metroville, performing acts of great heroism and inspiring many to follow their example. But a string of lawsuits by disgruntled people they'd helped lead to political and public outcry, and the Supers are forced into retirement and government-funded anonymity. Bob Parr used to be Mr. Incredible, one of the greatest and strongest Supers. Now though, he lives a mundane life as a suburban insurance agent. Although his wife Helen (formerly Elastigirl) has moved on and is more concerned with raising their children than battling evil, Bob still yearns for the good old days - and his chance comes when he is approached by a shadowy government organization and asked to join their numbers. But all is not as it seems, and Bob will find himself trapped by an embittered enemy. In the end, the suburban Supers are forced into action to save their endangered father. The Incredibles is a great family movie for a warm summer evening at home. We can see in Mr. Super and later in his family that the spark of Boddhichitta is always present and no matter how removed we may sometimes feel from our highest selves, we always have the opportunity to achieve our potential with the simplest acts of kindness and compassion.

Adapted from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and directed by Hal Ashby, Being There is a Shakespearean comedy of errors meets a Buddhist meditation on emptiness. Being There depicts the story of a gardener named Chance (Peter Sellers) who grows up in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington, D.C. For reasons that remain unexplained, Chance has had virtually no contact with the outside world and no social interaction for his entire life. Apart from his limited relationship with Louise the maid (Ruth Attaway), Chance's cultural and social education is derived entirely from what he watches on the television sets provided by his employer. Chance’s situation takes a fantastic turn when he is emancipated from the house and, due to a well timed cough, is introduced as “Chauncey Gardinier”. The company present in this moment instantly begins to conjure extravagant notions of who this new and exotic man might be. With the wit and charm that we would expect from Peter Sellers, the rest of the film plays out as the blank screen of Chance the Gardner is seen as everything from a businessman down on his luck to a possible presidential candidate. Emptiness indeed!

In Jim Jarmusch’s genre-bending classic, William Blake (Johnny Depp) disembarks from a train that has reached its terminus in a town called Machine. Normal enough, you might think, but it so happens that Machine is where civilization’s frail finger tip meets the great western wilderness. If Depp’s character’s name weren’t a clue to the major subterranean workings of the story, and the suggestive title of Depp’s destination didn’t get the wheels turning, true suspicions begin to arise when, in this town called Machine, Depp meets a native American named Nobody. Very quickly, the careful viewer begins to see that the tale unfolding is an austere but elaborate allegory. Where the allegory points though is mysterious. Jim Jarmusch has this to say about the swirling mysteries in his film, “Death is life's only certainty, and at the same time, its greatest mystery. For Bill Blake, the journey of Dead Man represents life. For Nobody, the journey is a continuing ceremony whose purpose is to deliver Blake back to the spirit-level of the world. To him, Blake's spirit has been misplaced and somehow returned to the physical realm. Nobody's non-western perspective that life is an unending cycle is essential to the story of Dead Man”. And there you have it; one of America’s renowned maverick filmmakers has gone and made a film about the Bardo. And with a great score from Neil Young to boot, Dead Man is not to be missed.

In another fantastic film by French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children) Audrey Tautou plays the lovable, Amélie, a waitress in Montemart who realizes that the best way to bring love into life is to help others find love in their own lives. We see Amelie grow up in an original, if slightly dysfunctional, family and interact curiously with her neighbors and customers. Through the course of the beautifully photographed movie and through the twists and turns of Amelie’s life we discover, as our heroine does, that the life of a Bodhisattva, though sometimes difficult to discover and maintain, is ultimately the best.

With a great cast that includes Sissy Spacek, Ben Kingsley, and William Hurt, Tuck Everlasting is a quiet and subtle meditation on the value of life and the need to ask the question, “Am I living to my highest potential?” On one level, the film is a sweet adolescent love story that begins as Winnie (Alexis Bledel) meets Jesse Tuck, a 17 year old member of the Tuck clan who, like the rest of his family has become immortal by drinking from a hidden spring. In Winnie’s story we see how the value of life comes from the fact that it will end and that although impermanence can be painful it can also be a great motivator on the path.

Along with such books as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Siddhartha, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, has become a classic contribution to the young-adult-with-burgeoning-spirituality literature canon. Based faithfully on the book, the film, Peaceful Warrior, is a poignant exploration of renunciation and overcoming obstacles. When we first meet Dan, he is a young athlete at the height of his powers poised for great accomplishments as a collegiate gymnast. When an accident strikes and all that he has worked so hard to accomplish as a gymnast, seems suddenly far out of reach, his is forced to look more deeply inside himself and to see that material achievements and achievements are not all they are made out to be. Dan is helped in this quest by Socrates, a very lama-like Nick Nolte, who himself has mastered the path of the peaceful warrior.

Only Communist Poland could produce a state funded TV series that interprets The Ten Commandments in ten 55-minute episodes. We should be happy though that the Polish Communists saw fit to make the films, as they are each beautiful explorations of human instinct running up against morality and law. Over and above the usual genius that we have come to expect from Krzysztof Kieslowski (director of the Three Colors Trilogy), Stanley Kubrik has called the Decalogue “the only masterpiece I can name in my lifetime”. Indeed, the films are so simple and direct that they somehow baffle the viewer in their ability to create the intense emotion that they do. With each episode a very digestible length and with each offering a great mediation on matters of the spirit, a DVD containing a couple of the episodes can be a great companion on a cold winter night.

From one of America’s foremost directors, Douglas Sirk, Imitation of Life, at first seems like a just another melodrama from the 1950s centered on issues of domesticity. Looking more deeply into the film (and this is a wonderful characteristic of most of Sirk’s films) we see a story of complex relationships and identity. Set in 1947 Coney Island, the film begins as two single mothers, one in need of help in the home and the other in need of food and shelter, discover that by helping each other both of their needs can be met. However, the relationship becomes complicated when one of the daughters, Sarah, who is African-American, begins to look for acceptance in Susy’s (the white daughter of the other mother) community. Beyond the fact the fact that the film withstands critical scrutiny, like dharma itself, the particular situations of the characters is a powerful teaching in discerning which things in life will tie you to the world and which will set you free. Although these things may be easy to differentiate in theory, sometimes in life the distinction is not so easily made.

Adapted by screenwriter Rafael Yglesias from his own novel, Fearless explores the complex struggle back to mental health of post-traumatic stress disorder victim Max Klein (Jeff Bridges). One of few survivors of a fatal plane crash, Klein remains calm and assists other survivors out of the burning debris, earning praise as a hero by the media. After stoically departing the tragedy without a word to emergency officials, Max returns home with detached feelings towards his wife (Isabella Rossellini) and son, along with a bizarre, seemingly authentic belief that he is now impervious to harm. Bill Perlman (John Turturro), a psychiatrist for the airline, fails to reach Max about his newfound fearlessness, but asks for his help in aiding Carla (Rosie Perez), a fellow crash survivor filled with grief and guilt over the loss of her baby. In this film, filled with fantastic peformances, we can see several different levels of emptiness as they are being taught by Cliff this month in our Tuesday meditatons. First, of course, the film dals with impearmanence and, even more poignantly it deals with the lack of control that we have over our lives. Eventhough we feel like there is a “self” that oversees and drives all of our activities, Fearless points out that this is in fact not the case. Not only does the film make this clear, it tells a great story in the process.

Wheel of Time

Werner Herzog’s Wheel of Time is a unique and interesting documentary on the Kalachakra Ritual. Yes, that’s the same Werner Herzog of Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man fame. While this famously obsessive and, to some, maniacal, director may seem an unlikely voice to create a documentary on Buddhism, his voice here is characteristically incisive and unique. Ranging freely back and forth between a postponed Kalachara ceremony in Bodhgaya, the subsequent ceremony in Austria and fantastic footage from Mt. Kailas and the Tibetan Plateau, Herzog has given us once again, a provocative piece of filmmaking.

Little Miss Sunshine

The humor that ensues when six very different family members climb into a marginally functional VW bus for a trip from New Mexico to Redondo Beach would be enough to highly recommend Little Miss Sunshine.  However, in light of what Lama Marut has said about the challenges of travel and the need to maintain a calm, happy outlook in the face of changing circumstances, this film is even more worth a view.  Filled with a wonderful cast and the pressing need to get Olive, the 10 year old daughter, to Redondo Beach in time for the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant, the film covers such topics dharmic as the folly of intellectual pursuit for its own sake and the joy of placing the needs of another before your own.  What really marked the film special is, as Lama Marut has mentioned, the need to slow down and enjoy the road because, as all of the characters of this film would attest, the destination we reach often looks far different than the one we set out for.

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Evita

This lavish musical drama, based on the hit stage production by Andrew Lloyd Webber and beautifully photographed by Darius Khondji, tells the life story of Eva Duarte (Madonna) who leaves her rural home for Buenos Aires in the company of Latin singer Agustin Magaldi (Jimmy Nail), eventually becoming the wife of President Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce) and a heroine to the people of Argentina.  Though Evita makes major changes in her life in a conventional sense and acquires great fame and fortune, she never attains true satisfaction.  In all, this is a beautifully made tragedy about the folly of placing too much faith in the possibility of attaining happiness through worldly ends. 

About Schmidt

About Schmidt is "part comedy, part tragedy, mostly masterpiece." Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has arrived at several of life's crossroads all at the same time. He retired from a lifetime job and he feels utterly adrift. Furthermore, his only daughter is about to marry a man whom he does not like. And his wife dies suddenly. With no job, no wife, and no family, Warren is desperate to find something meaningful in his thoroughly unimpressive life. He sets out on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.  This movie is a hopeful story that suggests that it is never too late to look at our life and begin to make choices to reach our greatest potential. It is never too late to make a difference. Schmidt realizes that even if life has been meaningless, we need to make it meaningful. There are always opportunities to plant the seeds for a meaningful future that is in service to others.  In the end, Schmidt realizes he has immense opportunity to create the meaningfulness that he wants because everything is intrinsically void of any fixed meaning.  Sound familiar? I wonder if he had a pen with him…

Flatliners

Recommending Flatliners (1990) may be taking the risk of dating myself but what have I got to lose in recommending one of the pinnacles of eighties filmmaking which hosts a fantastic constellation of stars (Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt).  In the film five medical students at the top of their class embark on the ultimate scientific journey; to pierce the veil of Maya by seeing what lies behind the veil of death.  They hatch an ingenious plan that will allow them to lower themselves, one by one, into the afterlife and then to be revived.  Of course, piercing the veil of Maya cannot come without consequences and the students learn that actions in life do in fact carry consequences further down the line.  You can call it “erasing the apparent delay inherent in cyclical existence” or you can call it “a crash course in Causal and Resultant consciousness”, but I just call it a great movie that takes you way back to 1990 and makes you go hmmmmmmmmmm every time Mr(s). Karma catches you with your hand in the cookie jar.

My Dinner with Andre 

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more talkative of the pair. He relates to Shawn his tales of dropping out, traveling around the world, and experiencing the variety of ways people live, such as a monk who could balance his entire weight on his fingertips. Shawn listens avidly, but questions the value of Gregory's seeming abandonment of the pragmatic aspects of life.  A slight disclaimer should perhaps accompany this review if only to say that if the idea of sitting in on a two-hour conversation between two middle aged men, sounds like a trip to the gulag, this probably is not the movie for you.  On the other hand, if you think you can muster the attention required, you are in for a thought provoking and (all disclaimers aside) entertaining film that muses on the eternal conflict between reason and passion.

Capote

O.K. I know that you are saying, Capote?  Dude, where’s the dharma?  Maybe you are right.  In fact, you probably are.  But, nonetheless, here I am (as Elton John famously sang) putting it down in words.  Yes, Capote is it this month.  I could just sing its praises as a wonderfully made film with performances that take the respective performers to a new level but dharma is there, as promised.  As the title suggests, the film is about Truman Capote and the struggle that he faced in writing his novel, In Cold Blood. What is fascinating and what rings so brilliantly in Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance is the question of intention.  In the course of the film, Capote confesses to his friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), that he is writing his novel to “rescue the humanity” of the two young men who sit on death row, convicted of killing an innocent family in cold blood.   It becomes apparent though that Capote’s true motivation is more likely the salvation of his own humanity.  Caught in the paradox of needing to have two men executed in order to have his “humanity saving” venture succeed, tragedy ensues.  When I look to see the dharma in the film, I ask myself, why did Truman Capote write the book?  Was he honest with anyone whom he met?  Was he honest with himself, even in his most personal moments?  Thanks to a wonderful film, none of these questions are fully answered but they are asked in a most satisfying way.

The Truman Show

Like last month’s entry for Implicit Dharma Flick, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Truman Show offers several paths to seeing how Buddhist ideas can be represented in a film.  In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, an abnormally normal guy in a normal town with a normal wife and a quintessential best friend who stops by from time to time with six-pack in hand.  What is not so normal though is that Truman’s entire world from the rain, to the sunset and even the death of his father is a staged event performed by elaborate special effects and a troupe of actors on the world’s largest soundstage.    Beyond being a wonderfully made and very entertaining film, this depiction of the reality show extraordinaire, is a wonderful Dharma Flick in the way that it asks the question, “What do you do when you realize every moment, every thought and every experience is based on a misperception?”  If you are like Truman Burbank, you undertake a great journey on the path to freedom.

It’s a Wonderful Life

With the holidays approaching, what better film to contemplate the teachings of the dharma than the classic, It’s a Wonderful Life?  As we know, the film tells the story of George Bailey (played in a great performance by Jimmy Stewart) who is deeply distraught over the loss of an $8000 loan and the cruel vindication that is sure to come from Bedford Falls’ evil millionaire, Mr. Potter.  As George contemplates ending his life in order to escape what he feels will be unending suffering, the guardian angel, Clarence, appears to reveal what the small world of Bedford Falls would have been like if George had never existed.  Dharmically, the wonderful thing about this film is that the archetypal characters allow us to place ourselves in the story and ask, which character am I most like?  The miserly Mr. Potter whose selfish ways and obsession with money cause suffering in others?  Or am I like George, the average person who forgets her or his immense value to the world?  Or perhaps we relate to Clarence, the guardian angel who, realizes that in order to earn his wings he must help George to see the value of his life and his contributions to the world and people around him. Chances are, we are all a bit of all three.

13 Conversations About One Thing

The Dalai Lama says that all beings want to be happy and all beings want to avoid suffering. 13 Conversations About One Thing speaks to this democracy of humanity. It is about happiness: the search for happiness, the envy of happiness, the loss of happiness, and the guilt about undeserved happiness.

On the surface this film is about the confusing experiences of life. There is an attorney who wins a big case, celebrates his success in a local pub, buys a drink for a pessimist he sees at the end of the bar, drives home drunk and almost kills somebody. There is a middle management person who needs to fire somebody, so he fires the happiest guy in the office because he will be able to see the silver lining in the situation. It's about a married man who seeks happiness in an affair because society says it is a way to happiness. It is about a woman who works hard for her clients who can only criticize her… It is about the connections between these unhappy people seeking to be happy.

The movie finds connections between people who think they are strangers, finding the answer to one person's problem in the question raised by another. Although one might need to take the longer view of karma to understand the seemingly random relationship between cause and effect in the film, the knowledge that life is suffering is clear. Even so, the yearning for personal happiness and the happiness of others comes through. Indeed, the film concludes there is a way to find happiness. No, it is not an introduction to the Lam Rim, but it is an attempt to foster curiosity about all of the interlocking events that add up to our lives. It is a call to notice connections, to understand the ways things work out… to seek real happiness.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

As fog rolls through the Golden Gate, jewel green birds pluck cherry blossoms from trees on Telegraph Hill, their red heads emerging from the foliage as the birds chatter to each other and take flight.  As awestruck tourists watch, Mark Bittner holds up a palm full of sunflower seeds to the eager, noisy birds. Wearing Levis and a ponytail, surrounded by the jostling flock, Bittner is a Bohemian Saint Francis.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, tells the story of who Mark Bittner is, how he was drawn to North Beach by the music scene of the 50’s and eventually how and why he became the close with a wild and beautiful flock of birds.

In his Siksasamuccaya, Shantideva delivers a beautiful teaching on the significance of the Buddha having reached Enlightenment.  He comments that, metaphorically, we should all be dwelling in a quiet and serene place in our hearts and minds, even if we do not have the opportunity be in such as place physically.  In this respect, we see how Mark Bittner has so well achieved this goal in the face of huge personal and public obstacles.  In addition, Mark takes this precious kind of solitude and uses it to care for a group of beings that otherwise would have no help in a large and very inhospitable city.

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In the borderlands of Thailand's Golden Triangle, a rugged region known for its drug smuggling and impoverished hill tribes, one man devotes himself to the welfare of the region's children. A former Thai boxer, turned Buddhist monk, Phra Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto (also known as the Tiger Monk), travels widely on horseback, fearlessly dispensing prayers, health care, education and tough love to villagers far from the protection and support of governments or non-governmental organizations. With his Golden Horse Temple he's built an orphanage, school and clinic - a haven for the children of the region, who see him as a shaman, father figure and coach. Buddha’s Lost Children gives great insight into a region and a culture that is often not represented outside of tales of the Golden Triangle and shows the tremendous power of one individual motivated by compassion.

American director Edward A. Burger takes us on his unforgettable journey into the hidden lives of China's forgotten Zen Buddhist hermit tradition. Amongst White Clouds is a look at the lives of zealous students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China's Zhongnan Mountain range. As we learn, the Zhongnan Mountains have been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. It is widely thought though, that this tradition was wiped out by the events of the last century in China. Amongst White Clouds shows us this is not the case. One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these hidden sages, Burger reveals to us their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives. With both humor and compassion, these inspiring and warm-hearted characters challenge us to join them in an exploration of our own suffering and enlightenment in this modern world.

In this gorgeous cinematic tour-de-force by Ron Fricke, the meaning of the word “Baraka” (Arabic for “spiritual wisdom or blessing transmitted from God”) is explored within the ancient spiritual traditions of the world. In places as diverse as the Canyon Lands of Utah, the cityscapes of New York, the Zen Monasteries of Kyoto, and the Ghats of Banares, the images of the film (accompanied only by music) make for a poetic meditation on the sublimnity and preciousness of each moment of our lives and the delicate balance that grants each of us our place in the world. (Note for Los Angeles based readers: This film screens semi-regularly at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood in its original 70mm format. It is an experience not to be missed!)

In this gorgeous cinematic tour-de-force by Ron Fricke, the meaning of the word “Baraka” (Arabic for “spiritual wisdom or blessing transmitted from God”) is explored within the ancient spiritual traditions of the world. In places as diverse as the Canyon Lands of Utah, the cityscapes of New York, the Zen Monasteries of Kyoto, and the Ghats of Banares, the images of the film (accompanied only by music) make for a poetic meditation on the sublimnity and preciousness of each moment of our lives and the delicate balance that grants each of us our place in the world. (Note for Los Angeles based readers: This film screens semi-regularly at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood in its original 70mm format. It is an experience not to be missed!)

Could it get more explicit than this? In his film, 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama, filmmaker Rick Ray answers the famous dinner party question, “If you could meet any one in the whole world, who would it be?” Fortunately, his answer is more than just idle dinner party conversation. In 85 minutes, Ray weaves together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The film also contains rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

“I wanted to understand how the universe began.” With this simple goal, Stephen Hawking set upon his work as an astrophysicist. Luckily for us, the accomplished documentarian, Errol Morris, wanted to understand how the great physicist, Stephen Hawking, began this quest. Much less dense than the book of the same name, the film A Brief History of Time is a great accomplishment and an interesting way to see one man’s journey into the largest scientific questions of our day.

Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world's most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks' quarters for six months—filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one—it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light.

Four years in the making Tibet: a Buddhist Trilogy played to international acclaim following its release in 1979. Now made available in the US by Festival Media, it includes additional materials and a new commentary. Greeted by very positive reviews at its release, the trilogy brings you face to face with the unbroken continuity of Tibet's ancient culture. In 1977, when the film was made, the Tibetan way of life was still resonant with its ancient past and the Dalai Lama relatively unknown on the world stage. From a portrait of the Dalai Lama to an unprecedented revelation of the mystical world of monastic life this film takes you on an intimate journey deep into the heart of an ancient Buddhist culture.

This film gives an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the lineage of the Karmapas, the leaders of the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu trace their lineage directly through Tibet‘s great teachers Milarepa and Marpa to India‘s Naropa and Tilopa all the way back to the Shakyamuni Buddha. Although the current 17th, Karmapa is a more quiet (but fiercely wise) incarnation, the 16th Karmapa is a famously charismatic figure who was responsible for the first experience that many Westerners had of Buddhism as they came East in the 60’s and 70’s.

Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, was born in Tibet in 1924. During the 1959 invasion by the People‘s Republic of China, the Karmapa left Tibet and settled in Rumtek, Sikkim, India. The construction of his new Rumtek monastery was completed in 1966. In 1974, the Karmapa set out on his first world tour; he undertook a second tour in 1977. While traveling in 1981, he died in Zion, Illinois, north of Chicago. He was returned to Rumtek for cremation.

The film journeys with him in North America where he visited the Hopi Nation, offered teachings and performed the Black Crown Ceremony (Vajra Makut), enjoyed everything from zoos to video arcades, and initiated the construction of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, New York, the seat of his lineage in North America.

In this documentary, the Dalai Lama gathers with notable Christian theologians at a four day conference in London to discuss the similarities and differences in Christianity and Buddhism. Hosted with the usual charm and endearing spirit of His Holiness the film is a very informative and interesting teaching on how we can take the teachings Of Jesus and understand them in terms of a Buddhist practice. Being as that he’s “the reason for the season” it seems like a perfect time to spend a little time contemplating the good qualities of this very important teacher.

Speaking of mastering the art of living with the truth of impermanence, Vietnamese Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh has had a profound impact not only on contemporary thinking and social action but also on the lives of many practitioners. His efforts to achieve an early peaceful end to the American war in Vietnam earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a forty-year exile from his homeland. Peace Is Every Step is an intimate and direct portrait of a monk who has lived through war and fought back with meditation, love and grace under fire. The fine documentary shows what can be achieved by living mindfully and with an insight into the inescapability of change.

Deepa Mehta’s Water is set in the 1930s during the rise of the independence struggles against British colonial rule. The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from a lower caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. In Water, the tension between the past and the future is beautifully and tragically played out in the lives of the widows whose misfortunes in the past seem to ensure a tragic future. However, both in the film and the mind of the practitioner, the misfortune of the past need not predetermine future misfortune.

Samsara

During a routine trip to bless the harvest of a local community, Tashi, a dedicated and well respected monk, becomes attracted to the daughter of a local farmer.  In the story that follows, Tashi is lead to choose between the monastic life that he cherishes and the life of a layperson and the ‘samsaric’ joys therein.  The classic conundrum of choosing between the inner and the outer life is framed interestingly in this film as a sort of reverse tale of the Buddha’s own choice between life as a renunciate or as a lay person.  Made in the Ladakh region of India, this is a beautifully made film.

We're No Monks

OK, this is not so much explicit dharma as it is explicit Tibetan culture with explicit dharma questions. The film plays out in McLeod Ganj- a village tucked away in the foothills of the North Indian Himalaya that is the hub of Tibetan activities and the home of the Tibetan government in exile. It is a place where many Tibetan refugees live with hopes of returning to Tibet... But it is also a place where a new generation of Tibetans has grown up in exile. This is a changed generation and their dreams, desires and aspirations are different. We're No Monks is their story.

It follows four friends as they find solace from family and societal expectations. Their place of refuge is not a temple, but a café. It is a perfect little place for unemployed and rejected youth to share and vent their emotions. But, the local community looks at Shiva cafe in contempt. They think it is the source of all things illegal. This culture of contempt shadows the boys as they organize a party to raise funds for a woman who has just arrived from Tibet and needs immediate medication. After the party and some drunken pranks, and the excessive bullying by a manipulative police officer, one of the boys gets pushed to a violent mission for Tibet's freedom. Can Tibetan freedom come through violence? Can an individual find peace through manipulation? Can we escape the mental afflictions that govern our actions in this life? Do they end with death?

Himalaya

Originally released in Asia under the name Caravan, Himalaya is both a fascinating portrait of traditional life in the Dolpo region of Nepal and wonderful drama that portrays the conflict between a village’s elders and its youth.  In this remote region of Nepal, the annual caravan where one village trades its barley for another village’s salt is a vital part of the village’s survival through the winter.  As the film begins, the ripening barley shows that the fall is quickly turning to winter.  When the date to begin the annual caravan is not granted by the village’s oracle, members of the younger generation defy the elders and, citing the approaching winter, decide to undertake the caravan despite the oracle’s advice to wait.  As the younger, less experienced generation makes its peril filled way, many of the subtle traditions and ways of life of the remote regions of Tibet and Nepal are reveled in a very satisfying blend of beautiful cinematography and poignant drama.

The Burmese Harp

Based on a novel by Michio Takeyama, The Burmese Harp was the first film that brought director Kon Ichikawa to international attention. It is the story of Mizushima (Shoji Yasui) a Japanese soldier in Burma at the close of World War Two who is sent on a mission by his Captain to inform another unit of the Japanese surrender and to convince them to surrender. When the unit does not surrender and is destroyed by the British Army, Mizushima must come to terms with his nation's defeat. Pretending to be a Buddhist monk, he finds true renunciation as he travels across the region in search of his unit and comes face to face with the staggering amount of death and destruction brought by the war. Determined to honor and bury the dead, Mizushima is conflicted about remaining in Burma to live a life of service or returning to Japan to help rebuild his own country.

The film takes its name from a Burmese harp acquired by Mizushima. He has become an expert harpist and plays while the soldiers sing beautiful chorales. While the depiction of the soldiers may be idealized, The Burmese Harp transcends its limitations to become a universal testament not only to the madness that prevailed in Burma, but also to the unspeakable horror of all war. Ichikawa, in spite of the fact that film became a classic, loved the story so much that he filmed it again in 1985.

The Saltmen of Tibet

Shot under extreme conditions in one of the world's most remote locations, The Saltmen of Tibet is a work of sublime beauty and epic scale. Documenting the ancient traditions and day-to-day rituals of a Tibetan nomadic community, filmmaker Ulrike Koch transports us into a realm untainted by the tides of foreign invasion or encroaching modernity. Observing age-old taboos and steadfast homage to the deities of nature, four men meticulously plan their grueling three-month yak caravan to fetch "the tears of Tara," the precious salt from the holy lakes of northern Tibet. The Saltmen of Tibet is a breathtaking collage of image and sound-a majestic tribute to the purity of a landscape, people and tradition facing extinction.

The Yogis of Tibet

Before 1959, there were 6,000 monasteries in Tibet, and one in every six males was a monk.  Many of these monks not only studied science, philosophy, the arts, and medicine but also often perfected spiritual disciplines in remote retreats.  It is these rarely discussed and often hidden practices that this film describes. Realizing that their tradition and impact on the future is now threatened, H.E. Choje Togden Rinpoche, H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, Ven Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche, H.E. Chetsang Rinpoche, and H.H. the Dalai Lama discuss teachings passed down through the generations about meditation, controlling the mind, and eliminating suffering for all beings.

The last section of the film focuses on the spiritual practice of compassion. The Dalai Lama tells about a Tibetan monk imprisoned by the Chinese who felt that the only danger he experienced was when he stopped loving his enemies. American Buddhist teacher Robert Thurman has called Tibetan monks and yogis "supreme artists of life." No wonder they are spreading the dharma all over the world. Yogis are now teaching in the United States, and their mind control techniques and example of inner freedom and peace continue to earn the respect of their students. This inspiring and edifying film allows an even wider audience to appreciate the special spiritual gifts of the yogis of Tibet.

The Cup

While the world is following every fast break, goal, and penalty of the World Cup in France, two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery/boarding school in exile in India.  Unknown to the monastery these young boys are bringing much more than the average young novice; they carry with them a heavy case of soccer fever.  The primary culprit in spreading the fever is Orgyen who sets out to organize the rental of a TV set for the monastery when he is prevented by various circumstances from seeing the Cup finals on television.  The enterprise becomes a test of solidarity, resourcefulness and friendship for the students, while the Lama contemplates the challenges of teaching the word of Buddha in a rapidly changing world.

Travelers and Magicians

In this film by Khyentse Norbu (The Cup), two men embark on parallel, if separate, journeys. Their yearning is a common one--for a better and different life. Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder, that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup.   The cataclysmic conclusion of the monk's tale leaves Dondup with a dilemma, can one find happiness by finding it in the outside world?

Ong-Bak

This wonderful Thai film is a great summer diversion with a fairy tale premise and more than enough martial arts action to satisfy even the most demanding Hong Kong aficionado.  When the head of Ong-Bak, the sacred Buddha of a poor village is stolen, the town’s young hero (Ting) is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it from a notorious crime gang.  While new to the city, Ting is no usual country lad.  Ting is not only an incomparable martial arts master, but he has a special affinity with the statue.  In the dangerous pursuit that follows, martial arts scenes that go beyond the standards set by Bruce Lee always impress and Ting’s selfless discipline as he risks his life for the good of his village is a great example of the power that comes from doing good with the best interests of others in your heart.