BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism PBS Documentary 'The Buddha'

I just posted a review of PBS's recent special on the Buddha, which is now available on DVD for rental or purchase (I got it from Netflix.) Has anyone seen this? What did you think?

One of my favorite quotes in it came from Zen practitioner and poet Jane Hirshfield, about how detachment is NOT about cutting ourselves off from the human experience:

"It's alright to feel what human beings feel, and we are not supposed to turn into rocks or trees when we practice Buddhism. Buddhists laugh, cry, dance, feel ecstasy, probably even feel despair. It is how we know the world. It is how we live inside of our hearts, not disassociated from them."

my question is almost 'everybody laugh, cry, dance,' and if Buddhists do the same, but if one buddhist cry not for herself, but for-- her heart goes out for the needy(needed), then could I say there's differeces between the everyone and the buddhist? for example, during the past 2 weeks or more, Pakistan flood ruined more than 4 millions persons, they are human, in desperate ,..--------------- cbc news===================== Pakistan flood surge moving south Last Updated: Thursday, August 5, 2010 | 1:51 PM ET Comments89Recommend39 CBC News Emergency crews are still trying t.. ..."It is a catastrophe, there's really no other word for it," Joseph Prior, a field co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, told CBC News. To donate to Pakistan flood relief efforts, visit: * Pakistan Red Crescent Society * Canadian Red Cross * Oxfam Canada * World Vision Canada * Doctors without Borders / MSF Much of the damage was concentrated in the country's northwest, which has not seen such devastating floods since 1929. --------- With Tzu Chi given special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the scope of our mission, more than ever before, will include the entire world. It will be without boundaries. In truth, this boundarylessness of mission has always been my vision. I have always cherished the hope that the spirit of Buddhism can be manifested in every corner of the world. At its heart, Buddhism is concerned with relieving human suffering and awakening in all living beings the innate wisdom and compassion that is their true nature. This p -------- uhhh, i would suggest the Tzuchi relief foundation. explain a few hours later... FInially I found this: * Length: 10:59 * View Count: * Author: wuguanda * Powered By: Youtube Video Site Creator Tags: Adsense Treasure www.newdaai.tv Cherishing Our Blessings and Living with Prudence and Humble Piety... BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

...is NOT about cutting ourselves off from the human experience... our Chinese Buddhim told me to view others as me myself, so let us not pretend that there are no suffering out there , even if the victim are 1000 miles away from me, please. what I could do , may be to eat a meal less. or to give pray , prayers to those who do not have a home( there are more than 3 or 4 millions Pakistan human. and the Buddha or the Holiness Dalai Lama's compassion also teach me about how I am to react to catastrophies like such.

The flood news is very sad. And of course on any given day there are so many tragic things going on all around the world, it can be overwhelming at times. I think from a Buddhist perspective, the teachings on 'the middle way' are very useful for thinking about how to process it all. On the one hand, we don't want to tune out and become numb to the suffering of ourselves or others. Using the Buddha's life story as an example, this is a little like when his father tries to shield him from the world, so that his spiritual tendencies will not be awakened. An awareness of and compassion for suffering is the first Noble Truth, and therefore the first step on the path to awakening. This is partly what I think Hirshfield is speaking to, in her quote that I posted. Oftentimes Buddhist ideas on 'detachment' are misunderstood to mean we should repress our natural emotions.

On the other hand, sometimes people can try and take on the suffering of others to the point where they do not care for themselves, or to the point where they are filled with rage at the unjustness of the world. This is almost like the the stage of self-abnegation that the Buddha went through once he entered the spiritual path. Ultimately, he saw that this was not the way to awakening either, and that his way was the middle way.

This balance is one we are always working towards as Buddhist practitioners.

I havent yet seen it but I am so looking forward to! I heard its really good

Wattzy - yes it is, and as I mentioned in the review, it is available for rental through Netflix (and maybe other movie services too) if you use those...

I saw it last week. It was a very nice and simple explaination of Buddhism. It is much simplier than I had thought. We have a way of making a complex mess out of most things... making things harder than they need to be. I enjoyed the movie very much, my son watched it with me, which really surprised me that he stuck around for it. I wonder if anything sunk in for him.

Arrow - That's great, I'm glad you liked it. How old is your son?

He's 25. I did not raise my kids with religion. I figured if they needed it they would find it themselves. We are kind of buddhist in our world view. It comes natural I think if you don't have a lot of stuff laid on you.