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Mistaken Child?
This weekend, New York City's Rubin Museum of Art hosted the premiere of Unmistaken Child (mentioned in an earlier post), a wonderful film about a young monk in search of the reincarnation of his recently deceased master. On the advice of senior lamas, the young monk travels by foot from village to village in hopes of finding a toddler who fits the bill. While the young monk's joy at discovering his master again is quite moving, it is somewhat disturbing—at least for a Western audience—to watch the child taken from his consenting but seemingly ambivalent parents. At the end of the film, several of the audience wondered aloud about the wisdom of removing the child from his home (upon his parents' leaving, the child wails, "Now I have no friends."). It remains unclear whether the parents consider their child's fate to be an honor or a loss—or both. More » -
One Cold Buddha
The 10-member collective called Okamoto Studio has carved one of its signature ice sculptures for the biennial [Queens Museum of Art] International, this one a figure of the Buddha enclosed in a refrigerated altar. See it and read about it here. More » -
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Notable Documentary: The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas
I recently had the chance to see the documentary movie The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas: A Pilgrimage to the Oracle Lake. Directed by Michael Wiese, Sacred Sites follows a group of pilgrims on their journey to Lhamo Lhatso, the Tibetan lake of visions. The voyage is told from the point of view of Steve Dancz, a film score composer, who incidentally is also the narrator, cameraman, and music composer for the documentary. He is joined by his teacher and guide Glenn Mullin, and Bhutanese monk Khenpo Tashi. With Dancz providing the voice of the awe-inspired traveler, and Mullin and Khenpo Tashi offering insight, they make their way through Nepal and Tibet, visiting a variety of temples, stupas, monastaries, and caves along the way. More » -
Philip Whalen and the Bhutanese Bob Dylans
Danny Fisher points us to the Nation's review of The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen. And from the Worst Horse: "a small platoon of Bhutanese Bob Dylans". Ok, sure. More » -
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The Best Horse
There's no shortage of Buddhist websites these days---see our links for evidence---but few are as entertaining and wide-ranging as theworsthorse.net, edited by my friend Rod Meade Sperry. Taking pop-culture and sub-culture as its starting points, TWH covers a lot of ground. The feature articles exhibit the strength of the site: an unfailing ability to get to the salient dharmic core of the many shapes Buddhism is taking in modern culture. Generally, this is accomplished with humor, sensitivity, and intelligence. The reader participation is impressive---don't miss "Body Vows," the collection of tattoos submitted by practitioners, with their stories---and a feeling of community permeates the site, without social networking being the thrust of the whole thing. More »
