Question: Movie Time

Q&A #7

This is not exactly a question, but more an excellent recommendation by a reader:

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A Reader recently wrote:

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…The thought that I wanted to share with the rest of you is this: As a member of Netflix, it dawned on me to check and see what would come up for the searches; Buddha, Buddhist and Buddhism. The results were satisfyingly surprising. I only half-expected any results to be truly on-topic.

What I got back in the list of available discs was filled with documentaries, historical pieces, educational topics and even discs meant to supplement meditation. Don’t get me wrong, the list isn’t a who’s who of Buddhism, by any means. But, it had several titles that I found immediately worthwhile to add to my queue. The first of those queued titles arrived today.

Since first becoming interested in Buddhism, not too long ago, I immersed myself in what is my natural place to turn first. The internet. I read many many pages on Wikipedia, and then branched out in a multitude of direction, finding literally scores of fantastic websites, that now stuff my ‘Buddhism’ bookmark folder.

One of the places my searches took me was to the Bamyan Valley (spelling may differ). The giant Buddha statues there fascinated me. As one of the hobbies I eagerly pursue is the study of ancient astro-centric civilizations, this had a great feel of similar archeology about it. I read the article with zeal, until I got to the third paragraph, when my mouth hung open and my stomach pained me.

These massive works of faith, created some 1500 years ago, were dynamited by the leaders of the Taliban, after being proclaimed idols offensive to their religion. My heart sank.

The upside to my conveyance here is that one of the discs I found on Netflix, titled “The Giant Buddhas,” is a documentary telling their story and how the tragic events leading to their destruction unfolded.

I wanted to share this with anyone interested, and just express my satisfaction with the film.

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My Response

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Wow‚Ķ ‚ÄúBuddhist movies‚Äù is a topic I hadn’t even thought of before. That’s a great suggestion. A couple that I remember seeing, not documentaries, but regular ‚Äúfor entertainment‚Äù movies are ‚ÄúSiddhartha‚Äù and ‚ÄúLittle Buddha.‚Äù Neither are what I’d call great, but they have their moments. I’m sure there are plenty of documentaries available on Netflix.

If anyone has any movies they would specifically recommend, post it on the website, I’d love to hear about more movies!