Given that we’ve actually got a profile of Harold Ramis — who, it seems, only gets cooler with age — in the new July issue, we figured this would be a good time to re-ask the question, for those who missed it:
What’s your favorite movie moment that somehow touches on or refers to Buddhism, but isn’t from a specifically Buddhist film? (Ramis is responsible for more a couple himself; one of the silliest, from Caddyshack, is below, and the filmmaker contends it represents the first-ever mention of the Dalai Lama in a Hollywood film.) …All that matters is that for some reason it’s stayed with you — and maybe even the culture-at-large, too.
And if you can find a YouTube clip of the scene you’d like to suggest, you can even leave that right in your comment.
Lots of SunSpace readers have already commented, and their video-clips and suggestions are definitely worth a look.
49 Comments
The Worst Horse blog has probably covered all the various funny ways Buddhism gets (mis)represented in pop culture. But, looking at it more from a philosophical POV, I think Buddhist philosophy has popped up in a couple interesting places:
1. Groundhog Day is often called a "Buddhist" movie. It's great!
2. The Italian film, La meglio gioventu' (The Best of Youth), could be interpreted in a Buddhist light, I've always thought. Two brothers, both equally kindhearted, take very different approaches to solving the "problem of suffering". The relatively more "enlightened" one, Nicola, practices compassion and equanimity. In one great scene, Nicola has just passed one of his medical exams with flying colors. The professor tells him that he inflated his score by one or two points for the "simpatia" factor – where "simpatia" in Italian can mean "niceness" (like, "He's a nice guy.") or "sympathy". The professor elaborates and says he means "simpatia" in the original, Greek sense: the ability to comprehend the suffering of others, which, he says, is very important for a doctor. And indeed, Nicola goes on to become a champion of the rights of the mentally ill. It's a great moment, and totally convinced me that this movie is more than a little Buddhist!
The scene's on YouTube – unfortunately without English subtitles, sorry!
[youtube TxGJ6DFocyY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxGJ6DFocyY youtube]
Thanks so much, Angela — and not least of all for the nice mention of the Horse. But your comment proves the point: there's nothing better than seeing what you readers have to say!
There's a specific scene from The Matrix that made me laugh right out loud in the theater when no one else did. It's the final fight/shootout between Neo and Agent Smith. They're in The Matrix and both are suspended in space, spent guns trained on one another, and Agent Smith says, "You're empty," and Neo replies, "So are you." Hard to top that one, for me.
One of my favorite movie quotes is from the otherwise pretty lame film GHOST, where an older, experienced ghost chastises the rookie ghost by saying, "The problem with you is you still think you're REAL."
A great tough-love ego-knocking moment.
thanks, Konchog and Paula…. good ones. (cant say i've ever seen Ghost, but hey…)
keep'm coming, folks!
How bout The Matrix. Waking up from samsara, recognizing the dream. Caring enough about humanity to want to see them wake up / unplug too. And (ok, this is a stretch) Keanu shows what the mind/body can do, given enough sila, samadhi and prajna!
Most YouTube clips just focus on the fighting, but the trailer tells the story:
[youtube UM5yepZ21pI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5yepZ21pI youtube]
A Chinese film called "Warm Spring" is just full of moments of pure uninhibited kindness and generosity.
Not sure if this qualifies, but when I first saw the ending portion of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, I had a significant experience of beginning to question what was "real", what belief system had been foisted upon me, and what the universe held for me/us. I still find the movie to be an incredible foray into questioning the nature of reality. Here's a portion of the ending…
Not sure if this qualifies, but when I first saw the ending portion of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, I had a significant experience of beginning to question what was "real", what belief system had been foisted upon me, and what the universe held for me/us. I still find the movie to be an incredible foray into questioning the nature of reality. Here's a portion of the ending…
[youtube c1IPrx-zC1Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1IPrx-zC1Y youtube]
The Wizard of Oz, like all heroic journeys, is entirely Buddhist. I love the ending where the Wizard and his hot-air balloon take flight, leaving Dorothy stranded in Oz with no way home. Glinda, the good witch, appears and tells Dorothy that she's always had the power to go home, but that she had to learn it for herself. Dorothy tells what she has learned: "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!"
Great list here – but I really found "Into the Wild" to be of great symbolism for buddhism in the message of removing the pressures of materialistic society, and to see things, simply, as they are. Also, the message, of interconnectedness plays out through the entire film. But even more specific, the message and vision of his parents, stuck in these roles, reminded me of how stuck people can get trying to live up to expectations and put on a good face, while behind it all is suffering.
Wit. with Emma Thompson. A sharp and tender portrait of letting go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wy92dcZSYw
Mystery Men. Wes Studi as fighting shaman teaching Ben Stiller stillness while standing in two fresh watermelons.
HA! I hadnt seen Mystery Men — I think I was (rightly or wrongly, I dunno) swayed by the near-universal bad reviews. But that sounds somewhat enjoyably ridiculous.
"I Heart Huckabees" might count as an actual Buddhist movie, but… Too many good moments to list, but my favorites is when Albert and Tommy are eating with the Christian host family, and Albert says, "I'm talking about not covering every square inch with houses and strip malls until you can't remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk." And the son asks, "What happens in a meadow at dusk?"
And Albert and the mom simultaneously shout,
"Everything!" "Nothing!"
"Everything!" "Nothing!"
"Everything!" "Nothing!"
'Vanilla Sky' is full of Buddhist moments. Lots of emphasis on reality vs perception, the notion of death and time, self vs nonself, and even reincarnation. A great, GREAT film. I encourage everyone to see it who hasn't! __(This clip does contain the ending however, so if you haven't seen the movie you may want to skip it!)____<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MFI6TOisK7E&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MFI6TOisK7E&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Oops! Sorry-
[youtube MFI6TOisK7E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFI6TOisK7E youtube]
Stranger Than Fiction… it's so much more interesting than the trailer…
As well, the comment from the young boy, "there is no spoon"..
Not moments from films,but films themselves –
Mindwalk – Good film that deals with a lot of philosophical issues, and stresses unseen interconnectedness. It was directed by Fritjof Capra'a (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritjof_Capra) son, and extols a lot of his thoughts and views. Never made it to DVD for some reason, but the whole thing is online for free here –
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=910740195...
Stick with it, it is very rewarding.
Another good one with lots of Buddhist themes is "Waking Life" by Richard Linklater, and you gotta' love the animation (at least I do!).
Sam
And how about the line at the end of Ghost when he says to her: "All the love inside . . . you take it with you . . ." My favorite.
Well, well, well — I go away from SunSpace for just a couple hours and here's all thsi new activity. So much more to look at — thank you all.
Sam: first of all — great to see you here. And I've heard this about Waking Life several times now and somehow never seen it. This is the push I need. Don't know when I'll have the wherewithall to watch a whole film online, but it's good to know it's there.
Jacqui: YES! I totally agree. I'm a Ferrell fan, and that movie is proof that you don't have to be a lunkhead to love him. He's great in it, and the dharmic implications of the film's messages about living too much in our heads — and the way it can cause us to miss parts of our life — are wonderful. it's also just so artful:
[youtube lLPUmYiVgbw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLPUmYiVgbw youtube]
And apparently I need to let go of my judgment of Tom Cruise's acting and see Vanilla Sky, too! Thank goodness for Netflix.
The Peaceful warrior. It is about a student and his master. All along the movie the character is trying to find something more, until he meet Socrates (Nick Nolte) which guide him to be more aware of the world around him … very beautiful and deep movie.
In "Elegy," a commitment-averse divorced professor named David [Ben Kingsley] falls for a much younger student, Consuela [Penelope Cruz]. Deeply in love in spite of himself, David destroys the relationship in fear that Consuela is bound to leave him eventually for someone her own age, despite the fact that she has expressed ample readiness to commit.
David spends two years mired in desolation and regret, not attempting to reconnect because convinced that Consuela would spurn him. Then Consuela calls David saying she has something to tell him that she wants to tell him in person. He agrees to meet, steeled against the expectation that she is going to announce her pending marriage to another.
Instead, Consuela tells David that she has cancer. As they hug tearfully, she says, "How strange – now I feel older than you." I won't give away the rest…
Though there are no overtly Buddhist references in "Elegy," it is nonetheless a touching depiction of the Buddhist truths of impermanence, suffering, and the origin of suffering, with hints regarding the path to cessation of suffering as well.
Waking Life
Office Space
Field of Dreams
A Beautiful Mind
Stranger Than Fiction
The Peaceful Warrior
Groundhog Day
Thin Red Line
The Matrix
Cashback
Babel
Clerks
Contact
I Am Legend
Into The Wild
Koyaanisqatsi
Thumbsucker
Pay It Forward
28 Days Later
Lost In Translation
The Shawshank Redemption
OK – another one, not a moment, but the film.
Grasshopper.
Short film made by the same animator/software guru who created the software for Waking Life, Bob Sabiston. He took a camera to Washington square park here in NYC and conducted random interviews with people on the benches. They were all meant to become one long film, but he was so intrigued with the subject of this one that he created a stand alone film from it (unedited). He begins by asking this gentleman what he thinks of astrology, and soon finds that he has quite the Buddhist scholar on his hands. REALLY great, and I can not believe that I never thought to send this to Rod's other site, The Worst Horse, before.
One of my favorites, here is the link –
http://www.flatblackfilms.com/Flat_Black_Films/Fi...
Sam
The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray is a wonderful movie that shows a 'real' person who is becoming aware of everything, accepting and not judging people or things. The scene where he is alone on top of a cold mountain with his cherished books and he may freeze to death. He then has an awareness that he doesn't need anything to achieve enlightenment that he hasn't always had including his books. He then burns them one by one to keep warm, loses his need for attaching to things and become awake for the first time. It is a fantastic story with a view of a journey that anyone can make.
For me, it's a tie. Here's one:
"Most of us dread bad or uncomfortable situations, wondering what we can do to make them less unpleasant. But as far as [Dharma] practice is concerned, that isn't the point. Surrendering to a situation might indeed make us feel better, but that is not the purpose of the exercise. Surrendering allows us to feel the qualities of a situation and to see things clearly. If we turn away or respond with aggression, we never get the chance to do that. So even if you feel the situation that's about to unfold might be so embarrassing, frightening, or difficult you would never recover from it, just open to it. It may appear like a high wall that you can't see beyond, but you will pass through it and come out the other side." – Rigdzin Shikpo
[youtube UOiJuKoXbk0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOiJuKoXbk0 youtube]
And two…
"Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world,
All comes from desiring myself to be happy." – Śantideva
[youtube qfcjyXmSqOs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcjyXmSqOs youtube]
Wizard of Oz
When you become Dorothy and all those you meet are an aspect of your personality
and the wizard and fairies are telling you the messages you need to find in yourself.
Isn't this really what the Buddha was telling us ?
Well, that makes two votes now for The Wizard. I have a feeling we could do a dharmic deconstruction of the whole thing…
there's a very tender moment in "Rachel getting married" where compassion and forgiveness from Rachel for her drug addicted sister Kym is expressed in silence and touch, no words needed. truly an enlightening Buddist moment.
"Run Lola Run" (1998) — recently I watched this again and found it holds up really well. But back in the 1990s I knew nothing about Buddhism, so …
There are a couple scenes where Lola is in bed with her boyfriend, Manni, and the conversations they have are very Buddhist. He's asking things like, "If I died, would you have a new boyfriend?" and her answers are all, like, I can't even think about such an irrelevant scenario that doesn't exist.
Also, the repeat-rewind plot is 100 percent about cause and effect — conditioned reality.
Recommended!
check it out: "Donnie Darko" and Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" were selected for the International Buddhist Film Festival. Via The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/apr/09/buddhi...
The first 30 minutes of "The Thin Red Line." Check it out. It calls into question many of the predominant western philosophical ideas … then gently nudges them aside with real questions. After that comes real war. One of the only films/popular visual media I've seen that addresses not only the action of war but the underpinnings in real-time subtlety as the people involved see it. (Or so as it is recreated.)
Marcello Mastroianni floating above the earth, tethered only by a rope in Fellini's 8 1/2. Here's the opening dream sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmEqBdde5H0
Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (1971).
The words to the song Pure Imagination sung by Gene Wilder:
"If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it."
The Nines – John August
The main character does not realize that he is not living in reality. Stick with it. Worth it.
Julie
http://coolmoonyogaknits.blogspot.com
V for Vendetta is my alltime favourite movie, the main character V is an elegant fearless warrior. It is not only about how a government should be run, it's also how your own life should be conducted. I am sure that Trungpa would have loved this movie!
[youtube wowtN8d83iE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wowtN8d83iE youtube]
The ego scene from the movie Revolver.[youtube q3vM1PcrV0k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3vM1PcrV0k youtube]
From the movie Revolver.
[youtube q3vM1PcrV0k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3vM1PcrV0k youtube]
The film "Powder" highlights Buddhist themes, especially the scene in which the central character, an albino, shows a hunter the fear and pain in a deer he has just shot.
Wow, I have watched the matrix countless times and never made that connection… fantastic!
The Matrix… "what is real? how do you define real? If you're talking about what you can see, smell, taste, touch or see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
And of course, "there is no spoon." [youtube OA3WGf9pX0A&feature=PlayList&p=C81C474929E7052F&index=2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA3WGf9pX0A&fe... youtube]
I quite liked the line in Kungfu Panda when Po realizes, and says, "There is no secret ingredient!"
I laughed out loud too, and my wife as usual nearly pounded me down into my seat! That it was elegant writing too, of course, was half the joy.
I treated myself to watching "American Beauty" again this past weekend and was struck by how poignant and eloquent the ending is. Definitely rang some dharmic bells when I was watching the ending sequence.[youtube sYrgHju3d-E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYrgHju3d-E youtube]
One of Nicholson's best roles. Such a great scene! Thanks for the reminder about his great movie!
Definitely the "Waking Life".
Also, "Cosm" from Alex Grey, the artist…. beautiful.
"What the bleep do we know"… its about quantum physics and reality. A little cheedzy but great science.
Hoffmann's Potion -about LSD
OM MANI PADME HUM
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