Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?
Regarding Buddhism • 2h 24m
Directed by Yong-Kyun Bae • Drama • With Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, Tom Reynolds
• 1989 • 137 minutes
The first ever feature-length film from South Korea to gain theatrical distribution in the USA, WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? has received acclaim from critics and audiences around the world for decades. A film of remarkable power and beauty, the story follows a trio of monks in a remote mountain monastery as they grapple with the mystery of enlightenment. The oldest among them, a storied Zen master, wishes to make the ceremony of his upcoming death into a lesson for his conflicted apprentice, while the youngest among them attempts to nurse a bird he hit with a stone back to full health. The title of the film is a Zen koan, or a paradox meant to aid meditation, that provokes the question of the distinction between leaving and arriving. Magnificent, quietly powerful and astonishingly rich in formal beauty, this film is not only a cinematic gem, but an evocative meditation on the cyclical nature of existence.
Up Next in Regarding Buddhism
-
Sunrise/Sunset
Directed by Vitaly Mansky • Documentary • With the Dalai Lama • 2009 • 72 minutes
The daily life of the Dalai Lama is brought home with remarkable intimacy in Sunrise/Sunset. Granted total access to His Holiness for 24 hours, this is a day in the life of the Dalai Lama from when he wakes up at ...
-
The Dhamma Brothers
Directed by Jenny Phillips, Anne Marie Stein and Andrew Kukura • Documentary • 2008 • 76 minutes
Behind the high security towers and double row of barbed wire and electrical fence at Donaldson Correction Facility dwells a host of convicts who will never see the light of day. But for some of thes...
-
Paths of the Soul
Directed by Zhang Yang • Drama • With Tsring Chodron, Tsewang Dolkar, Jiangcuo Seba • 2016 • 117 minutes
An astonishing journey of redemption, faith, and devotion. Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yang ( Shower, Getting Home ) blurs the border between documentary and fiction to follow a...