CrankyBuddhist   the learning never ends …

This film by Kyentse Norbu arrived on Saturday in the mail so I had the opportunity to see it for the first time this weekend. The film is as much about the landscape of Rinpoche’s home country of Bhutan as it is about the feelings of entrapment and the desire for escape.

As the film moved along, and the characters came into play, I found myself within each one of them, able to relate to their point of view. The need to leave. The desire to stay. The sense of being lost. The perspective that travel gives. The storyteller, philosopher, monk. In the end it all works out.

Mystical journeys of spiritual discovery are set against the spectacular, evocative landscape of the remote kingdom of Bhutan in Travellers & Magicians Young government official Dondup dreams of escaping to America while stuck in a ravishingly beautiful but isolated village. But when he misses his bus to the city, Dondup is forced to hitchhike with an elderly apple seller, a sage young monk, an old man, and his beautiful daughter. Along the way, the mischievous monk tells Dondup a story of another young man who sought a land far away: a tale of lust, jealousy and murder that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup and his blossoming attraction to the innocent young woman. – from the Product Description

You can find Travellers & Magicians in our DharmaShop. Look under Dharma on Film/DVD. The Special Features on the DVD are an interesting background story and a view into Rinpoche’s making of the film.

During my housesits I get to take pleasure in whatever perks the house has to offer. My favorites are On Demand and Netflix and big bags of chocolate. I’ve been in movie heaven for the last few weeks and since I don’t have any housesits coming up anytime soon, I am fiercely indulging myself in fantasyland while I have the chance.

Last night I got to see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. One of the reasons why I was watching this film was for the landscape. (I’ve been considering moving to the Big Bend area of Texas.) And also because it got good reviews.

But as I watched the film I realized that I was watching to experience the transformation of one of the main characters. Without giving too much away (I hope), this person went from being a person inexperienced with life to experiencing it in it’s fullest. And not in what could be considered a good way. But as I watched him live through each trial that he was faced with, all I could think was that he was going to be such a better person for the experience.

And then of course that made me reflect on my life with its not anywhere near as crappy experiences (which even though small by comparison, I’ve tried having a good attitude about). I mean, I’ve never gotten stuck running around the desert, handcuffed and barefoot and bitten by a rattlesnake.

Even though I have always thought that the people on the planet with the easy lives, the ones that get the grants or the inheritance or the rich husbands to support them, or people who live their lives without too much care, were the blessed ones, I’m beginning to see that maybe the ones who are challenged in this life are really the blessed. They are given many more opportunities to work out their karma.

Oh, anyway, it was something to think about.

That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And more interesting.

God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.

– Ashley to her husband John in Junebug