A Review of Buddhism Goes to the Movies: Introduction to Buddhist Thought and Practice

Buddhism Goes to the Movies: Introduction to Buddhist Thought and Practice. By Ronald Green. New York: Routledge, 2014, 166 pages, ISBN: 9780415841481 (paperback), $34.95. Since 2003, when the first International Buddhist Film Festival was held in Los Angeles, there have been dozens of similar events around the world (Whalen-Bridge 5). The of exploring Buddhism through movies has since steadily increased, and similar events have been organized throughout the United States, in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Calgary, Bangkok, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, and global cities. Popularizing Buddhism with the help of movies has also been on the rise in classrooms, and Ronald S. Green's Buddhism Goes to the Movies is an introductory text that describes the basics of Buddhist philosophy and practice (xi), especially those elements associated with Theravada, Pure Land, Zen, and Tantric Buddhism. Ten chapters discuss a dozen films in order to introduce students to some of the more prominent Buddhist sects, foundational concepts such as the Four Noble Truths, and contemporary issues such as gender disparities and the rise of Engaged Buddhism. Little or no knowledge of Buddhism is assumed at the outset, and the ten chapters can easily be considered units for a quarter or semester school term (xi). Buddhism Goes to the Movies is not a focused study of the dozen films listed in the table of contents. Rather, it shuttles between discussion of the films and the Buddhist background issues that the author connects to the films. The first chapter, Early Representations: Broken Blossoms and Lost Horizon, makes the point that Buddhism has been presented as an other to the Western imagination since the beginning of cinema history, and the chapter clearly explains the problem of orientalist representation. Interspersed with discussions of films by D. W. Griffith and Frank Capra, the reader will find glosses on the Dalai Lama, middle path, and loving kindness, emboldened terms that are explained in a little more detail in the glossary. These sidebar discussions of Buddhist elements are not always organically related to the direct discussions of the films as one might hope. After the first chapter, each chapter begins with a summary of the films in question, usually running about two pages, followed by an analysis of relevant themes. For example, the second chapter uses Club to explicate the Four Noble Truths. Green is not the only author to interpret the film Club in relation to Buddhism; Charley Reed has written an article on the subject, and David Harper and Richard Anderson have included discussion of the film in their book chapter. Green's argument follows Reed's Fight Club: An Exploration of Buddhism, in which a rather loose set of correlations is made between Buddhist topics (the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the trikaya doctrine) and parts of the film. The narrator and main character Jack, dissatisfied with life, begins to attend various self-help groups, an activity which corresponds, according to Green (who follows Reed), to the four sights: old age, sickness, death, and then a renunciate. The film's audience eventually learns that Jack has all along been imagining Tyler, the charismatic figure who has led him to increasingly violent behavior. Without much recognition of the ways in which Buddhism and the ethos taught by the hallucinated guide Tyler diverge, Green proposes that the rules of Club, an activity in which men bash each back into a sense of grounded authenticity, are precepts of a sort. The apocalyptic/revolutionary plan Project Mayhem that concludes the film has five rules, recalling, argues Green, the Five Precepts of Buddhism: (1) You don't ask questions. (2) You don't ask questions. (3) No excuses. (4) No lies (which is also one of the Five Precepts), and (5) You have to trust Tyler, indicating the growing cult-like nature of the gatherings. …

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