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Books Movies & Music Staff Recommend... DVD The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Books Movies & Music Staff Recommend... DVD The Tibetan Book of the Dead
| 22 Dec 2009 |
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 There's been a recent uptick in interest in all things Buddhist at the library, and not just because we had a visit from the Monks over the past summer. Buddhist Centers in all traditions (Tibetan, Zen, etc.) are popping up around the Dayton area. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Buddhist religion is the Buddhist understanding of what happens to us after we die. This two-part documentary goes a nice distance toward explaining the differences between Western ideas and those of the people of Tibet. The first part discusses a bit of the history of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (which you can read, DML has several different editions) and offers a glimpse into the rituals surrounding the passing of an elderly man in the village of Ladakhi. There's also a short interview with the Dalai Lama. The second imagines another man's soul's journey into the Bardo, the Tibetan idea of life between one life and the next. Intercut with scenes of a Lama teaching his students. It's all narrated by the buttery tones of singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen. Also included is a twenty-minute bonus short about the healthy relationship between a Nova Scotian fishing village and a nearby Tibetan monastery. |