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Buddhism is an outsider among religious traditions when it comes to cinema. Indeed, given
the tradition’s 2,500-year history and millions of followers, only a handful of overtly Buddhist
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films have been made and fewer have experienced commercial success. Fortunately, what is
available for modern viewers includes at least a dozen riveting masterworks of the art form.
Any list of “Buddhist movies” should include the 14 films listed below.
Rikyu
Absolutely intriguing and magnetizing from its opening scene, the 1989 film Rikyu is among
director Hiroshi Teshigahara’s best work. Indeed, he was aptly qualified to depict the life of
Japan’s foremost Tea Master, the historical Rikyu. Teshigahara himself was the modern
master of a companion art form, flower arranging (ikebana in Japanese).
Rikyu lived in the 1500s and had a strong influence on the life of the country’s most powerful
man, the Shogun. One might say this is the story of the Clavell novel (coincidentally entitled,
“Shogun”) from the inside of Japanese society, rather than the foreign outside. Oddly, the
protagonists of both works face a similar fate, having to eventually bow to the will of the
almighty and worldly, but spiritually empty, Shogun.
Indeed, Japan’s early Zen monks brought matcha tea from China, arguably a turning point in
Japanese history. China’s matcha tea, later cultivated to a supreme level by Japanese
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growers, became the central symbol of a Buddhist ritual, tea ceremony, which even today
carries deeply significant meaning for the Japanese nation and its people.
[Note: A 2013 film entitled Ask This of Rikyu, deals with the same man in a different, more
fictionalized way. That film belongs on this list as well, but English-subtitled versions are very
difficult to locate].
Kundun
This is the 1997 Martin Scorsese masterpiece about the life of the Dalai Lama, from its
turbulent beginnings onward. Anyone even peripherally interested in Buddhism will enjoy it
immensely, not least of all for Scorsese’s cinematic bravura.
Zen
Zen is a fascinating 2009 Japanese film about a monk who seeks “true Buddhism.” What he
finds on his journey to China is the crux of this tantalizing look at life during the Kamakura
Period, more than 750 years ago.
Wheel of Time
A 2003 stunner of a film that features the Dalai Lama and prominent other religious leaders,
Wheel of Time is a documentary by Werner Herzog. Viewers are transported to Bodh Gaya,
India, for that city’s massive ritual that centers on a sand mandala.
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What happens when Buddhist meditation techniques are taught to crime-hardened convicts
in one of India’s toughest prisons? The film answers that question in a surprising, shocking
way. For anyone who has ever wondered about the effects of meditation, this Indian
production has an uplifting, unexpected answer.
Siddhartha
The 1972 film version of the famous Hermann Hesse novel offers a thorough treatment of
the life of the Buddha, what he faced on his road to enlightenment and why that matters.
As a generalization, one might say that Buddhism began in India and ended its long journey
of propagation in Japan. Somewhere along the way, the teaching made a zigzag path
through Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and China. After landing in Japan more than a thousand
years ago, the tradition went underground and actually became a part of Japanese culture.
Of course, latter-day ricochets of Buddhist thought, primarily Zen but other flavors as well,
have impacted many lives in the West. But the fact remains that Buddhism’s key influences
have been, and continue to be, on Asian cultures. Modern film-making is one of the many
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Author
Yuki
Yuki thinks simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. His most significant accomplishment is
learning how to sit with a good cup of tea and listen. When not online, Yuki talks with all
things wild and free. He is a blogger and a matcha lover.
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