Buddhism is a religion that tons of people have a cursory knowledge of, but want to expand their awareness of. Buddhism is an Indian religion that grew out of the Brahmin culture of early Hinduism, but after Hinduism had been well-established for quite a while. Starting about 500 years BCE, Buddhism has traveled from India into the countries it borders, China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, Korea, and really everywhere else, although to varying degrees of success.
The religion was started by Siddharta Gautama, a prince who was the subject of a prophecy before his birth. After trying all of the popular practices at the time, he finally achieved liberation. Let’s take a look now at some of the best documentaries for acquiring a thorough introduction to the practice and philosophy of Buddhism.
The Buddha (PBS)
The Buddha, a documentary by PBS came out in 2010 and was directed by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin. The film tells the story of the early life of the Buddha, his journey to enlightenment, and his teaching of traveling months and his establishment of the Buddhist community referred to in the tradition as the Sangha.
Tons of thinkers, teachers, and students join the program to explain to us how the life of The Buddha is still relevant to us today. It watches not quite like a biopic, but it’s still engaging.
Unmistaken Child
Seeing as both Hinduism, Buddhism, and most parts of eastern culture assume reincarnation to be the natural state of things, it makes sense that here, we’d have a documentary on someone who seeks out a teacher from their past.
Unmistaken Child is an independent film released in 2008, which chronicles the journey of Tenzin Zopa, a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Tenzin searches for a previous teacher of his, a great Lama named Geshe Lama Konchog. Unmistaken Child has won a small list of awards and is important for multiple reasons. Despite the fact that Tibetan Buddhists have their own ways to tell if they’ve truly found the reincarnated being they’re looking for, for those outside of their world-view, there can be some moral questions raised.
Ten Questions For The Dalai Lama
Ten Questions For The Dalai Lama is a documentary film made in 2006, in which the director, a man by the name of Rick Ray meets Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Mixed into the interview segment which consists of 10 questions for him, is a history of Tibet in its modern state, a biography about The Dalai Lama, and the journey Rick went through to get the interview.
The Dalai Lama for those who aren’t aware is what is known as a Boddhisattva. A Boddhisattva is a being who has become enlightened but decided to come back for the good of all sentient beings rather than to abide in Nirvana.
Monk With A Camera
Monk with a Camera: The Life and Journey of Nicholas Vreeland was released in 2014. It’s about Nicholas Vreeland, the grandson of a famous fashion editor. He worked for a while as a photographer, only to become a Buddhist monk later when he realized the futility of not using his human rebirth to work towards the attainment of Nirvana and the end of suffering.
While Vreeland was worried that his life of photography previous to his rebirth as a monk might be an unnecessary attachment, it becomes very important when it’s the only way to raise funding to build a new monastery.
Tulku
The 2009 documentary Tulku tells the story of 5 Tulkus, or reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist masters who were born in the west after the migration of most of the Buddhist community in Tibet to a variety of countries in the west. The director himself was the son of a monk and the monk’s wife, which was in itself scandalous.
The director, Gesar Mukpo was identified by another monk as one of his father’s previous teachers and was enthroned as a Tulku at the age of three. The film mostly documents the potential issues with the Tulku system and the internal struggle that consumes the westerners who are enthroned as such.
Samsara
Samsara actually isn’t necessarily a documentary so much as it’s a picture book in film. It came out in 2001 and is based on a concept rather than narrative. “Samsara explores the wonders of our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the unfathomable reaches of humanity’s spirituality and the human experience.
Neither a traditional documentary nor a travelogue, Samsara takes the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation.” It shows the ups and downs of human life and this material world, showing us the ever-changing nature of existence.
The Dhamma Brothers
The film The Dhamma Brothers came out in 2007 and it details the prison meditation program at Donaldson Correctional Facility. The movie focuses on four men who had been convicted of murder and includes interviews with them about the changes they’ve noticed in their psyche after engaging in consistent Vipassana meditation.
The Chaplain of the services in the jail complained about the meditation program since he was losing his congregation and some of the locals in Alabama compared Buddhism to witchcraft. It’s been shown that inmates have said their quality of life improves with the institution of these programs.
The Tibetan Book Of The Dead: A Way Of Life
The Tibetan Book Of The Dead: A Way Of Life is a film that was created by Leonard Cohen, The Dalai Lama, and Ram Dass. It tells the viewer all about an ancient book called the Bardo Thodol, The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying, or The Tibetan Book Of The Dead. The book tells of the journey that the soul of every sentient being goes through between life and death and rebirth.
This journey has many parts and foretells the rebirth into one of 6 realms. The Hell realms, the Hungry Ghost realms, the Animal realms, the Human realms, the Asura realms, the Deva realms, and the Formless realms.
Hannah: Buddhism’s Untold Journey
The 2014 film, Hannah: Buddhism’s Untold Journey tells the story of Hannah Nydahl and her quest to bring Tibetan Buddhism to the west starting in the 60s. Her journey into Buddhism, in addition to many westerners during the 60s, began in a hippie community.
She went later through the trails of Nepal to become one of the first two western students to a great Lama in Tibet.
Walk With Me
Walk With Me is a film about a Zen community under the guru Thich Nhat Hanh. Zen is a tradition that grew out of Chinese Chan Buddhism, a tradition that made its way to Japan during the earlier half of the second CE millennium. It focuses mostly on Shikantaza, which translates roughly to “just sitting”. There is no particular focus other than realizing that you’re already enlightened. There is also Koan practice, which isn’t quite the same as a riddle even if it appears to be on the surface. It’s actually a method for breaking the normal state of the questioning intellectual mind and allowing one to come to a nonverbal realization about the state of things as they are.
