FILM TITLES

Films already in development include:

Leaving Home: Ordination, vows and discipline are the departure point for every monk and nun’s life of wisdom and compassion. This film was shot during a rare one-month ordination ritual at the historic Bailin Chan Monastery. Dean of the Hebei Buddhist Institute, Ven. Mingying narrates our look into the role of discipline in Buddhist life as we speak with young novices taking vows to deepen their commitment to the Path.

Alms: The Head Cook (dian-zuo) of a 200-monk, remote mountain Zen monastery explains the traditional cultivation, distribution and ritual offering of food in Buddhist communities. A window into the micro-society of a Zen monastery, this film includes footage of monks farming land, cooking on wood-fire stoves and feeding their resident brothers in the disciplined, ritualized manner traditional to this 1200 year-old monastery.

Daughters of the Buddha: Eighty-six year old abbess and Zen Master Ven. Yinkong narrates this visit to China’s only orthodox Zen nunnery and Buddhist academy for women.

One Flavor: Master Zhaozhou said, “Zen and tea are one flavor.”  Explore the culture and history of tea’s relationship to Zen culture and literature, set on a working tea plantation run by Zen monks with interviews with lay experts and Master Jinghui, one of modern China's great living Zen Masters who oversaw the rebuilding of Zhaozhou's famous Cypress Grove Chan Monastery

Clouds and Water: From visiting monks to delegating labor, the Ketang is a center of management for Zen monasteries.

Householder: The Buddha gave 84,000 teachings to insure a Path for all manner of beings in the world. Lay Buddhists explain and show us their many ways of following the Buddha’s Path.