Best Buddha Documentary: 6 Enlightening Documentaries

Intro: Documentary about Buddha

The Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. The term 'Buddha' is a title that implies 'one who is awake,' as in having 'woken up to reality.' Around 2,500 years ago, the Buddha was born in Nepal as Siddhartha Gautama. He didn't pretend to be a prophet or a god. He was a person who attained Enlightenment, gaining a complete comprehension of existence.

Siddhartha was born into a tiny country on the Indian-Nepalese border into a royal family. He enjoyed a wealthy upbringing, according to folklore, but was shocked awake when he understood that life is full of unpleasant realities like old age, sickness, and death.

As a result, he began to ponder the purpose of life. He eventually felt compelled to leave his palace and travel the traditional Indian route of the travelling spiritual man searching for Truth. Under the guidance of several gurus, he became a meditation expert and subsequently turned to ascetic activities. This was founded on the concept that renouncing one's flesh would release one's spirit. He practiced austerities so determinedly that he almost starved to death.

1. A Buddhist Monk Documentary - Best Buddha Documentary

This is the personal narrative of one individual fight between good and wrong, his loyalty to his nation and love for his wife until their lives are permanently transformed after the British employ him to take Sacred Scriptures from the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace in Tibet. During India's battle for independence from the British Empire and Queen Victoria's dominion in the 1940s, the British formed a covert organization known as the Pandits. Their goal was to carry out secret missions to obtain information, sway individuals, and infiltrate organized criminal rings. Nain is lucky to acquire work in a library and print shop when they arrive at the city to seek medical care for Aruna. Everything is OK until British spies are dispatched to transmit an instruction from the 'White Sahib' for Nain to travel to Tibet, sneak into the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace, and steal ancient Tibetan Scriptures because the British know Nain knows a lot about Buddhism and want to use him as an agent to gain access to the Palace. Nain, disguised as a Buddhist monk, infiltrates the Potala Palace, takes the Scriptures, and departs with the Palace Guards hot on his tail. When Nain arrives at his ultimate destination, he gives over the Scrolls to a British Agent, leaving those who assisted him to suffer the repercussions of their actions.

2. Unmistaken Child - Documentary about Buddha

Given that reincarnation is a normal state of things in Hinduism, Buddhism, and most areas of eastern culture, it's only logical that we'd have a documentary about someone who seeks a teacher from their past.

Unmistaken Child is a 2008 indie film that follows Tenzin Zopa, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, on his journey. Tenzin looks for a former instructor, Geshe Lama Konchog, who was a famous Lama. Unmistaken Child has earned a slew of prizes and is significant for a variety of reasons. Although Tibetan Buddhists have their methods for determining whether or not they've discovered the reborn person they're seeking, individuals outside of their worldview can't decide whether or not they've located the reincarnated being they're looking for.

3. Tulku - Best Buddha Documentary

The verb 'sprul' was employed in Old Tibetan literature to denote the btsanpo adopting human form on earth. As a result, the sprul notion of acquiring a bodily form is a local religious concept not found in Indian Buddhism or other Buddhist traditions (e.g. Theravadin or Zen). The new Buddhism integrated indigenous religious images throughout time; for example, sprul became part of a compound noun,' sprul.sku' ("incarnation body" or 'tülku," and 'btsan,' the Tibetan Empire's imperial monarch, became a type of mountain deity)

Tulku, a 2009 documentary, explores the narrative of five Tulkus or reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist teachers born in the west following the departure of Tibet's Buddhist population to various western countries. The director was the son of a monk and the monk's wife, which was scandalous in and of itself. Gesar Mukpo, the director, was crowned as a Tulku at three after another monk identified him as one of his father's prior instructors. The film focuses on the Tulku system's possible flaws and the psychological battle that consumes the foreigners crowned as Tulkus.

4. Samsara - Documentary about Buddha

Samsara is typically characterized in Buddhism as the never-ending cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation. You may also think of it as the realm of pain and discontent (dukkha), the polar opposite of nirvana, which is the state of being free of suffering and the reincarnation cycle.

Samsara is more of a cinematic adaptation of a children's novel than a documentary. It was released in 2001 and is more of a notion than a story." Samsara looks into the unfathomable ranges of humanity's spirituality and the human experience, from every day to the magnificent miracles of our existence.

Samsara is a nonverbal, guided meditation that is neither a standard documentary nor a trip." It depicts the ups and downs of human life and the material world, demonstrating how energy is ever-changing.

5. The Buddha - Documentary about Buddha

A new religion arose in northern India two and a half millennia ago, based on the beliefs of a single man, the Buddha—a mystery Indian sage who reputedly attained enlightenment while sitting under a vast, shapely fig tree. The Buddha never claimed to be God or his earthly representative. He just remarked that he was a human being who had discovered a form of tranquillity that others may find in a world of inescapable anguish and misery. This award-winning documentary explores the narrative of award-winning director David Grubin's life. This journey is especially pertinent in our befuddling times of violent upheaval and spiritual disorientation. Richard Gere provides the narration.

6. Seven Wonders Of The Buddhist World - Buddha Documentary

Buddhism, one of the world's oldest religious systems, is now practised by nearly 350 million people. This program, hosted by Bettany Hughes, travels to seven of the world's most famous ancient and modern Buddhist sites, including Bodh Gaya in India, Nepal's Bodanath Stupa, Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth, Thailand's Wat Pho Temple, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Hong Kong's Giant Buddha, and the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, California. Bettany meets with Buddhists in each location who explain the various concepts that form the core of Buddhist belief, providing insight into Buddhism's long and rich history.