As the resident Asian film geek in my Zen group, I have been asked to compile a list of "Buddhist" movies that we might view together on Friday nights. I know there are many movies featuring Buddhist monks, such as 36th Chamber of Shaolin; and although I dearly love those chop sockies, that is not really what I am after.

Off the top of my head, I have compiled a list of films that in my opinion qualify as movies with strong Buddhist themes. To wit:

Korea: Why has Bodhidharma Left for the East? Spring Summer Fall Winter...and Spring. Hi Dharma!

Bhutan: The Cup. Travellers and Magicians.

Japan: The Burmese Harp.

Hong Kong: Love au Zen. Running on Karma.

U.S.: Kundun. Groundhog Day (unintentionally Buddhist, but still...)

Does anyone on the board have other suggestions for us? Thanks a bunch. Vicki

These are based on the Journey To The East story:

A Chinese Odyssy (Part 1 & 2)
A Chinese Tall Story (very loosely based)

A Touch of Zen has some pretty prominent Buddhist themes as well.

Thanks, guys. After I posted, I thought of A Chinese Odyssey, as well as the Shaw Brothers "Monkey" movies, which are all based on the journey of Hsuan Tsang, a key figure in Chinese Buddhist history. I haven't seen A Chinese Tall Story, but I've been intrigued by the comments of others and will probably give it a look. I don't know why A Touch of Zen didn't occur to me; but if the group is willing to sit through a film with a run time of over three hours, then I am game.

If anyone reads this and knows of other possibilities, feel free to post a reply. I always admire the breadth of knowledge displayed on this board and enjoy listening to the (generally) open-minded and informed opinions of the posters.

Vicki

"Infernal Affairs" is another.

I thought the article in the link below was excellent--it not only explained a lot about the movie that I had had barely realized was there but also gave me some very good ideas as to why I liked it so much. The idea of both Yan and Ming yearning for a rebirth but being condemned to a living hell of hatred and fear followed by an unimaginable amount of time in eternal hell--from the article:

"If a person falls into this hell, he will die myriads of times and be revived myriads of times each day and each night from the time of his initial entrance unto hundreds of thousands of future kalpas, and he will never have any relief or rest whatsoever from his suffering and torture even for one instant. It is only with the exhaustion of his sinful karma that he will finally be able to gain rebirth. Owing to such continuity of suffering and torture, this hell is, therefore, known as Avici."

Hundreds of thousands of future kalpas! One definition of a kalpa is a 4,320,000 years, which is too large a number to grasp. A metaphor to explain this length of time: rub a one-mile cube of rock once every hundred years with a piece of silk, until the rock is worn away -- and a kalpa still hasn’t passed.

http://www.moonpointer.com/movies/infernalaffairs.htm

Following the moonpointer link at the top of the page will lead you to a list of other movies. I have seen several of them and think that Buddhist themes resonate much more strongly in "Infernal Affairs" than in any of the rest. It makes quite a case for "About Schmidt", a movie about which I was less enthusiastic than many.