Living Buddha [VHS]

Living Buddha [VHS]
by Clemens Kuby

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Product details

Actor: Michael Habeck, Oliver Kuby Kaye, Renate Schmidt, Willi Roebke
Director: Clemens Kuby
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: German (Original Language)
Format: PAL

VHS Movie Reviews of Living Buddha [VHS]

Movie Review: A film for the faithful that misses the bigger picture
Summary: 3 Stars

The Living Buddha tells the story of the early 1990's search for and early training of the reincarnation of one of Tibet's most important religious leaders, the Gyalwa Karmapa. It provides a rare glimpse into the process of how these gurus are groomed, but is an incomplete, partial and at times inaccurate account of the discovery of the the 17th Karmpa.

What's glaringly omitted is any mention of the feuding between members of the council of regents, those charged with locating the tulku (or reincarnation), and the rival claims to the seat of the Karmapa. The story presented in this film is that of the more widely recognized Ogyen Trinley Dorje. The rival claimant, Thaye Dorje, was also born in Tibet, escaped to India, and is currently studying and practicing in Kalimpong, India.

Though director/writer Clemens Kuby provides documentary footage of many of the events in the search for the new Karmapa, he strangely misses out on some of the most obvious facts. He claims, for example, that the search mission had to be conducted in secret for fear of reprisals from the Chinese government. In fact, the government materially supported the search, providing the car that would be used to make the long drive into the Tibetan countryside.

Even more troubling than the lack of fact-checking, though, is Kuby's failure to provide any perspective or analysis. As this film was made for a western audience, viewers might rightly wonder about the straight-faced claims of reincarnation, miracles and other supernatural events. In one scene, the boy Karmapa on a picnic finds in the wall of a rural building a stone with a large black splotch. He claims the splotch is an evil spirit and demands of his retinue that they immediately remove it from the wall and bury it under a nearby tree, either to pacify the spirit or to protect passers-by from harm, or perhaps both. How is one to interpret this? Are the Karmapa's handlers humoring the boy, or do they believe this is really an evil spirit? The same kind of niggling questions about reincarnation go unexamined. Is the idea of reincarnation taken literally by the lamas? By the general population of Tibetans? Are there alternate interpretations? As a central tenet of Buddhism is that the self or ego is an illusion, what is that reincarnates?

Anyone coming to Living Buddha looking for an intelligent presentation of these issues will be sadly disappointed. The film is a manicured narrative for the converted. By ignoring the rivalry among the regents, Kuby misses the bigger story. When ranking lamas can't agree amongst themselves on claims to reincarnation, to what degree is the tulku system a convenient method for perpetuating established monastic authority?

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