Yanghsi

Dilgo Khyentse is a towering figure in Buddhism.  He was the head of the Nyingma School from 1987-91.  In the Tibetan system, great spiritual masters' reincarnations are sought out and found, so that they can be trained up to the past incarnation's level.  He died 1991, and Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche was recognized as his reincarnation.  The new movie Yanghsi is about Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche.  You can like him on Facebook.

Go see Yanghsi at the Ruben Museum.  The movie is playing Dec. 8th., and 15th and more.  See press release below, starting in bold type.

I'm not expert on Tibetan Culture, but I respect it greatly and hope for a free Tibet.  I've read a lot of books about Tibetan culture (1, 2).

The movie covers many years, and as a human being, it's cool to see the evolution of a human being.  At one point he discovers the sunglasses, like all the Tibetans seem to like.

I feel ambivalent about the Tibetan tradition.  On the one hand it looks like an ideal spiritual setting.  There is a great investment in the spiritual life.  It seems to counteract the materialism of western society.

On the other hand, it seems like the old boys network, the tradition of patriarch and plutocracy, a kind of royalty, where you are born into goodness.  I know anyone can be good, and I prefer a meritocracy.  I'm sure that there are some aspects of that, and I'm not inside, so I can't really say what it's like, but that's my fear.

I have memorized the Heart Sutra, and other things, but I wish to memorize more texts of Buddhism.  They seems to educate the younger generation is a an amazing advantage It's interesting to see a young child taught so much Dharma at such an early age.  I feel jealousy.  He goofs off, they miss their parents because they are taken away at a young age.

I thought about the monastic tradition.  I've always thought "neither monastic nor lay", because in the west we resist this idea that the lay can't get enlightened, and the lay can just support the monastics.  But the idea that they pick a kid and then invest all kinds of resources in him to become a leader is quite sweet to me.  He is very very lucky from my point of view.  You can see him straining to learn to live up to expectations, which is what we all do, but his circumstances are quite unique.  His expectations are special, maybe like those of Lebron James in our society.  While in America we worship athletes a movie stars, the Tibetan culture in exile (Bhutan in this case), worships Buddhist spirituality.

I have 2 sons who are 7 and 9.  I'm going to show them Little Buddha and Yanghsi over the winter holiday.

The footage of the English teacher was very interesting.  Apparently they made fun of her and her methods but they admitted they worked.  Seeing him shoot a basketball (I can tell he's not the best basketball player) they chose to show where he made the shot.  There's lots of ritual, but they don't show him meditating, but I bet he meditated a lot.

You don't have to be a Nyingma to appreciate this movie.  Dilgo Khyentse Ringpoch is on the TBC refuge tree.  Kulananda has an essay on the refuge tree.  I have read The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most (Shambhala Pocket Classics).  It is a great book.  There is more I want to read.  Check out the wikipedia article for all his publications.  Here is the talk by Sangharakshita about him.  I feel like Yanghsi is too young to really lead.  Towards the end they show his first public teaching.  He seems casual and informal, repeating the formulas.

Some thoughts:  I love it that there's humility and compassion based on his life. You see Toy Story, which he watches.  You see Richard Gere at his enthronement.

Here is their press release:

Rubin Museum of Art to screen Yangsi – Providing a unique window into the world of Tibetan Buddhism, Yangsi is a coming of age story with universal themes, made over a fourteen year period by filmmaker Mark Elliott.

Narrated by Yangsi Rinpoche, the young teacher gives a first person account of his experience of growing up in, and coming to terms with, his unique inheritance. Beginning with his enthronement at age four before a crowd of fifteen thousand people in Kathmandu, Nepal, he is placed in the care of the previous Khyentse Rinpoche’s regent, Rabjam Rinpoche at Shechen monastery. With unprecedented access, the film chronicles his life during his training in Tibetan philosophy and various rituals, along with learning English, intimate family visits, and meetings with masters within (and without) his lineage.

Filmed largely in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan and in Nepal, Yangsi presents everyday events in a reincarnation’s life, where a mother’s love plays as important a role as high tantric empowerments; where tradition is challenged by modernity; and where human relationships are as vital as study. And where doubt challenges devotion when having to live up to great expectations.

Yangsi follows this process up to the age of eighteen, when he for the first time assumes the role of the teacher, embarking on a world tour to continue the work of his predecessor, to be of service to sentient beings. Perhaps never before has this process been so openly and engagingly portrayed, sharing Yangsi’s aim of how Buddhism can be relevant in the modern world.

What:              Yangsi Documentary Screening

When:             December 8^th: 12, 3, 6 p.m. (Q&A with Mark Elliott after each screening)

                        December 15, 22^nd, and 28^th: 1 p.m.

                        December 26^th: 4 p.m.

           

Where:            Rubin Museum of Art

                        150 West 17^th Street, New York City, 10011

Tickets:           For tickets and more information about Yangsi screenings at the Rubin Museum, visit rmanyc.org/yangsi

ABOUT THE RUBIN MUSEUM:

The Rubin Museum of Art provides an immersive environment for the exploration of Himalayan art and culture and its connections to contemporary life and ideas through innovative exhibitions, dynamic programs, and diverse educational opportunities. The only stand-alone institution in the U.S. dedicated to the art of Himalayan Asia, the museum holds one of the world’s most important collections of the paintings and sculptures of Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan, and provides a bridge between the cultures of the region and other cultures worldwide. In addition to exhibitions, the Rubin’s programming encompasses dialogues, films, performances, and more, offering multiple entry-points for understanding and enjoying the art of the Himalayas. The shop and café at the Rubin are also inspired by the varied cultures of the region, completing the visitors’ experience.  For more information, including hours and location, visit www.rmanyc.org.

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You can see the move Brilliant Moon, about the previous reincarnation:

Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Part 1 from Alexander Mescheryakov on Vimeo.

Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Part 2 from Alexander Mescheryakov on Vimeo.

And if all that's not enough for you, then follow the Ruben on Facebook.

A Zen Life: Film Review

As usual Wildmind has a good article on this movie about D.T. Suzuki, and put his influence well:

"Avant-garde musician John Cage; Catholic mystic Thomas Merton; Beat writers Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac; psychotherapists Carl Jung and Erich Fromm; Zen teachers Robert Aitken and Philip Kapleau, philosophers Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger: 20th century giants all, and all have one thing in common — they were deeply influenced by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, a gentle scholar-practitioner from Japan."

A Zen Life is a documentary film about Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. He was an early popularizer of Zen in English speaking countries, mostly America. He met many interesting and famous people, and plays a part of the cultural history in America.

It's hard to portray in depth a life, with episodic quotes and interviews. This movie gives a kind of broad impressionistic summary of Suzuki's life. I had a million thoughts during the movie. I'm always interested in biography, the arc of a life. I thought it was interesting that his deep experiences were similar to mine, I once felt that I was the wind and the trees. I didn't see that as enlightenment, just a deep meditative experience. I found it interesting he adopted a mixed child in a time in Japan when these children would be shunned, but he had an American wife, Beatrice Erskine Lane.

While I respect Bodhipaksa's idea that Suzuki was unfairly blamed for being pro-war, reading Zen At War, Suzuki clearly makes pro-war statement in his writings. The fact that many good people got swept up in the country's ideas, doesn't make him less pro-war, though perhaps it makes him human. We look back now that it is a mistake to be pro-war, and that's easy with hindsight, but we don't really appreciate all the complexities and circumstances with a snap judgment.  Everyone gets swept along in a tide of ideas, none of them their own.  For someone of Suzuki's stature to be swept along is understandable too. I still think he was pro-war, in writing anyway if Zen At War is to be believed, and am not sure why we would have to protect him from being, at least at points in his life, pro-war.

I think you can also easily criticize a popularizer's work, the first person to really begin writing about something to a country unfamiliar with Zen and Buddhism. At times Suzuki seemed profound to me.  The interviews were a mixed bag, I wasn't sure why some people got so much time.  I suppose it's hard to get footage of some people. I wanted more from Snyder, Fromm and Merton. Making a movie is not easy. I think writing something critical is easy, takes a few seconds, but making a movie takes a lot of time and effort, so I respect that.

I recently saw Crazy Wisdom, and this can be set alongside A Zen Life. They summarize a Buddhist life, and the influence people make in sharing their knowledge, in a foreign language such as English would be to Trungpa and Suzuki. Two early communicators of the Dharma in America and the English language world.

One thing that is easy in life, is to deny and cut off parts of it.  I have learned the spiritual lingo and yet it's not easy for me to change and evolve. I found it weird that Mihoko Okamura, the woman who cared for Suzuki in his later life, denied that he was dead, saying life and death were dualistic ideas. I felt sad for her loss, to such an important part of her life.  She seemed like an excellent caregiver; It's important noble work, and you can tell her devotion in her facial expressions and body language.  Suzuki seemed to be lucky to get such a devoted caregiver. I wonder how she made the decision to do that, and what her story is.  (Here is a blog of someone who met with Mihoko Okamura.)

I want to write a play about Suzuki living in a household with 5 young women, when he lived with Paul Carus, when he first came to America.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that house.

I read a few of Suzuki's books in college and was totally befuddled.  Now I have a glimmer of where these Zen masters were coming from, but at the time it was very confusing.  When I was reading the Lankavatara Sutra I saw that he had some essays on that, but the book is out of print and used copies are expensive.

So I don't know if learning about Suzuki gets me closer to enlightenment, but I do enjoy the peripheral history and culture of Buddhism in America.