Ten Thousand Films weblog

The cult of matter

10k films — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:25:13 +0000

The world is sick because men live beneath themselves; the error of modern man is that he wants to reform the world without having either the will or the power to reform man, and this flagrant contradiction, this attempt to make a better world on the basis of a worsened humanity, can only end in the abolition of happiness too. Reforming man means binding him again to Heaven, reestablishing the broken link, it means plucking him from the kingdom of the passions, from the cult of matter, quantity and cunning, and re-integrating him into the world of the spirit and serenity – even, it might be said, into the world of his own sufficient reason.

Thanks//A.M.

The crisis of capitalism – Royal Society for the Arts, London

10k films — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:27:12 +0000

Amongst White Clouds – A documentary film

10k films — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:18:52 +0000

An unforgettable journey into the hidden tradition of China’s Buddhist hermit monks Amongst White Clouds is an intimate insider’s look at students and masters living in scattered retreats dotting China’s Zhongnan Mountain range. These peaks have reputedly been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. It was widely thought that the tradition was all but wiped out, but this film emphatically and beautifully shows us otherwise.

Watch full film (Google Video)

Journal of Buddhist Ethics Review article on film

Chunhyang directed by Im Kwon-taek

10k films — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:31:10 +0000

Chunhyang is a 2000 Korean film, directed by Im Kwon-taek and starring Lee Hyo-jeong and Jo Seung-woo. The film is told through pansori, a traditional Korean form of storytelling that seeks to narrate through song. An earlier film by Im Kwon-taek, Sopyonje, also used pansori as a narrative tool. The film is based on Chunhyangga, a traditional Korean legend of a love story and is set in 18th century Korea.

Clip 1- First Time Mongryong Sees Chunhyang
Clip 2 – Chunhyang film trailer
What is Pansori?

The Avatamsaka Sutra (Hwa-Om-Kyung) 화엄경

10k films — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:26:15 +0000

The Avatamsaka Sutra (Hwa-Om-Kyung) 화엄경. Written and directed by Jang Sun-woo. Starring Oh Tae-kyung, Won Mi-kyung, Lee Ho-jae, Lee Hye-young, Kim Hye-seon, Lee Dae-ro, Dokko Young-jae, Shin Hyun-joon. Cinematography by Yoo Young-gil. Produced by Taehung Pictures. 126 min, 35mm, color. Winner of Alfred Bauer Award at 44th Berlin International Film Festival. More here and here

Qiu Chang Chun’s meeting with Genghis Khan

10k films — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:11:05 +0000

Qiu Chuji (丘處機); Taoist name: Chang Chun (長春 or Perpetual Spring); 1148 – 23 July 1227) was a Quanzhen Taoist, one of Wang Chongyang’s seven disciples, or Seven Immortals. He was also the founder of Dragon Gate Taoism.

“Qiu Chang Chun Xi You Ji” 长春真人西游记 (Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun) was a record of the journey of Qiu Chuji from Shandong China through central Asia to Persia to present himself before Genghis Khan. In 1220, on the invitation of Genghis Khan with a golden tablet, Qiu Chuji left his home town Shangdong with eighteen disciples. Read Genghis Khans letter to him and an account of the journey and meetings they had.

For more on The Dragon Gate (Longmen 龙门派) sect of Complete Reality (QuanZhen 全真派) school of Taoism today see also “Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard“, translated by Thomas Cleary.

10k films — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 10:17:22 +0000

Berber woman, Awlad al-Nil Tribe, Tunisia

On the way

10k films — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:06:08 +0000

‘There’s a story I read somewhere, years ago, which illustrates the urgency of ‘ardent longing’: It is said that a certain Sheikh (Spiritual master) was walking by a canal with a young disciple who kept pestering him to be told when he could expect to “find God”. “What must I do Master?’ Tell me at once!” In his eagerness, he grew careless, stumbled and fell into the water. The Sheikh knelt down and held the youth’s head under water until he was more than half drowned, then dragged him out and said: “When your need to find God is as powerful as your need just now for a breath of air, then you will be on the way to what you seek.” - Charles Hassan le Gai Eaton

Contentions

10k films — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:54:15 +0000

“Reality is a System. Kufr is not a malfunction in that System, it is the illusion that a malfunction exists.” – T.J.Winter, Contentions 15

The Known Universe

10k films — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:45:15 +0000

The Known Universe by American Museum of Natural History