The Life Of The Buddha [Short Film]

By Ian MacKenzie On July 21, 2009 · 9 Comments

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An excellent overview of how the life of the Buddha led to his profound awakening.

Like any historical figure, the Buddha’s life as become a combination of fact and legend. But more importantly, his enlightenment and teachings are just as relevant today as they were when he first discovering them 2500 years ago.

These teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths:

Life means suffering.
The origin of suffering is attachment.
The cessation of suffering is attainable.
There is a path to end suffering.

Near the end of the film, one of the speakers reveals what I found a most intriguing comment: “It is a great irony that the person who shunned all forms of ritual and personality worship, has became the ultimate figure of personality worship.”

What do you think the Buddha would say to those who treat him as a God?

(Feature image: h.koppdelaney Hattip video: Spiritual Mind)

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Check out a 13 part series Discovering Buddhism, The Traveler’s Guide to Enlightenment, and The Traveler’s Guide To Karma. Finally, gain some wisdom with The 10 Very Best Zen Stories For Travelers.

About The Author

Ian MacKenzie

Ian MacKenzie is the founder and former editor of Brave New Traveler. He is a now a contributing editor to Matador, and the network's architect. Ian is also a documentary filmmaker, with his first feature (One Week Job) released in 2010.

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Alex

Probably he would say the same thing that Jesus would say to the people who treat him as God.

http://www.ianmack.com Ian MacKenzie

But wasn’t it CS Lewis who said Jesus was either the son of God, or he was crazy. He can’t be just an enlightened regular human being.

http://www.ericdgreene.com Eric D. Greene

We’re all sons and daughters of God. It doesn’t make any of us crazy to say so.

http://www.ianmack.com Ian MacKenzie

@eric – I’m with you. Here’s the full CS Lewis quote though…

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.)
late_stranger

Personally, I think the attachment to the rituals of modern Buddhism rather defeats the point of the tradition of scarcity and lack of attachment. But that may be just me.
http://musictravelwrite.wordpress.com Michelle

Wow, I’ve never heard that C.S. Lewis quote. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.esfacilsisabescomo.es Zissouman

I have no idea what The Buddha would say to those who believe him a God. I could try to imagine but how do you put yourself into the mind of a completly enlightened being? He would have probably been able to say just what that person needed to hear to properly understand, there again maybe not.

The Dalai Lama once told a story of a fellow buddhist monk who after many years of daily practice was suprised to discover that their is no God in Buddhism. A BUDDHIST MONK!

A sister of the Brahma Kumaris (a profoundly good person) Once told me that she had been a Buddhist but changed to devote herself to Raja Yoga and the Brahma Kumaris because she needed a religeon that included God. At the end of the day that’s how it seems to work. We take the best and leave the rest according to our own genetic pre-disposition and emotional needs.

Finally,I am not sure that Jesus ever claimed divinity over and above that which is in us all. It is a shame that no contemporaneous accounts of Jesus’ life exist. What we have is blind faith based on a mixture of hearsay and manipulation by interested parties to meet political ambitions. Commenting of such a documents seems to me to be an utterly pointless exercise.
http://www.greenygrey.co.uk Marc Latham

Good film, thanks for sharing.

Don’t know what the Buddha would say. Probably to find yourself and look for enlightenment…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma Guy West

No holiness. Vastness.

The Life Of The Buddha [Short Film]

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