New Film Explores the Buddha’s Life, Message

April 1, 2010

Author: Daniel Burke

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/new_film_explores_the_buddhas_life_message1/

Siddhartha Gautama was suffering. For six long years the young spiritual seeker had practiced strict asceticism: surviving on one grain of rice a day, sleeping on nails, drinking his own urine. His arms were thin as vines; his spine looked like a thread of beads.

But none of these yogic practices had pacified his body’s desires or illuminated life’s mysteries. So he ate a big bowl of rice porridge, sat beneath a fig tree, and pledged not to move until he gained enlightenment. After a night of sustained meditation, Siddhartha became the Awakened One—the Buddha.

Even as Buddhism gains in popularity among Westerners, the Buddha himself remains a mysterious figure—more myth than man, said filmmaker David Grubin. His new documentary, “The Buddha,” which is scheduled to air on April 7 on PBS stations, aims to present the person behind the legend, and to demonstrate the relevance of his message for modern seekers.