Film: "Little Buddha"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the movie "Little Buddha" presents the viewers with principal concepts within the Buddhist religion: the practice of meditation, the idea of impermanence and the importance of emptiness. The author tells the plot of the film, which centers on a young boy from Seattle who is conceived to be a possible candidate of the reincarnation of well-known Tibetan monk and teacher, Lama Dorje. The paper relates a scene in the film about the life of Siddhartha from which the author learned more by the visual images than she probably would have if she had just heard the Siddhartha's life story being told verbally.

From the Paper:

"The concept of emptiness was a noticeably important element throughout the film. The Four Noble Truths try to demonstrate how one can attain Enlightenment by detaching one's mind from one's body, therefore emptying the body of all thought. The body becomes useless because it can feel nothing. In Buddhism, the mind is the most important part of a living creature; the body it chooses, whether it be a human, an animal, etc. is simply where the mind resides due to past life experiences. The connection between the idea of emptiness and the Four Noble Truths is that the Noble Truths attempt to teach beings how to achieve Nirvana by releasing their minds from their bodies and allowing them to be free in the universe without suffering."

More papers on Film: "Little Buddha":

• Film Review # 141243 : "Bernardo Bertolucci's "Little Buddha"
• Film Review # 112969 : "Film: "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Analytical Essay # 126665 : "Welcome to Hell: Darkness in 'Little Miss Sunshine'"

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