Well, I'm all moved in with my buddy Phil at New Haven. And I've hit the ground running in terms of taking advantage of some neat opportunities here. Last night, I went to the Yale Law School with my New Haven pal Ravenna Michalsen to see the great Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche deliver a lecture entitled "Projecting the Dharma: Film and the Transmission of Buddhism to the West".
For the uninitiated, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche is a Bhutanese tulku (reincarnate lama). He is the third incarnation of the founder of the Khyentse lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was trained under modern masters such as His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and also studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Today, he holds his traditional seat at Dzongsar Monastery and has established several temples and practice centers throughout the world. He is also the founder of the non-profit organizations Siddhartha's Intent and the Khyentse Foundation. His most recent and popular book is What Makes You Not a Buddhist.
In addition to all of this work, Rinpoche also directs feature films under the name "Khyentse Norbu." His first film, 1999's much-beloved The Cup, tells the light-hearted story of a group of exiled Tibetan monks trying to watch the World Cup on television. His second film, the 2003 drama Travellers and Magicians, made history as the first film to be shot entirely in Bhutan. He also co-starred in and served as a technical advisor on Bernardo Bertolucci's 1993 film Little Buddha. And he himself was the subject of Lesley Ann Patten's 2003 documentary Words of My Perfect Teacher.
Rinpoche gave a wonderful teaching, mostly about peoples' projections of what Buddhism is and the problems with having preconceived ideas about the Buddhadharma. He did finally talk a bit about films, though, saying he felt that anything could be a tool for effectively transmitting the Dharma. He also talked a bit about Andrei Tarkovsky's brilliant 1979 science fiction film Stalker and how the title character could almost be seen as a mahasiddha (Tantric adept or yogi). Then, during a Q&A moderated by Dr. Robert Scharf of the University of California at Berkeley, when he was asked about other films he liked, he talked about how much he loved Michael Cimino's 1978 classic The Deer Hunter. He said it made him unable to eat for a week--but "in a good way!"
As a fan of Rinpoche's work (especially What Makes You Not a Buddhist, which I highly recommend to you all) and someone who loves to think about Buddhism and film, I was really excited to see this talk. I had a great time, and I think it's a really auspicious start to my practice and study in Connecticut.
I leave you with the trailer for Words of My Perfect Teacher, so that you might enjoy a bit of Rinpoche and his teachings through the medium of film.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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2 comments:
I saw his movie "Words of my Perfect Teacher" and found it very interesting.
I attended this event myself and as soon as I got home rented "Stalker." Now that was a very difficult film. The pain, the suffering, the torture that the characters endured was vivid and affecting. But I would have to revisit it again to try and dig deeper for more understanding. I also appreciated the quandry Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche faced in creating a movie about the Buddha that would appeal to the many different Buddhists out there. Could he please them all? But I loved his justification for making films and that art could lead to truth and draw one away from delusion. One of the more salient comments Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche mentioned was that off the cuff remark quoting Chandrakirti. (I think that was his name). It went something like, "Those who are foolish will do bad and go to hell. Those who are foolish will do good and go to heaven. Those who are wise will go beyond good and bad and attain Nirvana."
By the way, great Blog!
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