[Buddha-l] vehicles for an admittedly superficial examination of some fundamental Buddhist principles

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

Thanks to Gary for that tidbit on the process of making "Little 
Buddha." I believe it.

Carl, I *do* use the film in a course, though we have three weeks to 
study Buddhism and thus have the time to separate the mythological 
scenes--which, despite Keanu Reeves's accent, are quite good--from the 
modern, Vajrayana, scenes. I've considered copying the thing to iDVD 
and making an edit with only the mythological scenes. BTW: during a 
previous thread on this subject, a buddha-l member (sorry, I've 
forgotten whom) told me his Tibetan wife and others found the modern 
scenes offensive (and not only because a Chinese man was cast in the 
role of the main lama). Having said all those negative things, I don't 
think any other popular film pays equal attention to introducing 
central Buddhist themes. (Dated documentaries are just too dull for my 
students; we're from LA, after all.) And *that* said, I have to add 
I've not seen several of the films Gary mentions on his site, for 
example, "Enlightenment Guaranteed," which I've heard recommended by 
several sources.

Cheers,

Franz Metcalf