Krista Tippett's Articles on Lion's Roar

The Buddha often taught through stories and parables, so we think he would have appreciated the powerful spiritual stories that great films so often tell. Inside our May 2016 magazine, 10 industry insiders -- including bell hooks, Jeff Bridges, Peter Coyote, Naima Mora, and more — nominate their favorite Buddhist-themed films, from Groundhog Day to Kung Fu Panda. Here On Being's Krista Tippett writes about her pick, Perfect Sense. Perfect Sense. Directed by David McKenzie (2011) I actually watch more television than films these days, but one film that came quickly to mind is Perfect Sense. It premiered at Sundance a few years ago but never got much attention. I found it exquisite. Ewan McGregor and Eva Green star. It brings together a few things I love: beautiful visuals and music, great acting and writing, a moving yarn, and a science fiction/thriller edge. The premise is that one day a pandemic begins to hit the world in which human beings begin to lose one sense at a time. There are stages of grief in this, of course, and a certain amount of pandemonium and rage. All head toward a perilous ending, but there are also euphoria and deepening heightened pleasure in what remains. Ewan McGregor plays a restaurant owner, and the most memorable scene for me is how human beings learn, after the senses of smell and taste disappear, to delight in the texture of food and the sheer joy and necessity of being together at a meal. I have no reason to believe that the makers of this movie were Buddhist. But the absolute attention to presence in all its nuance—and the healing in and through suffering—seems to me a reflection of Buddhist psychology and humanity at its best.

Tools to Wake Up and Grow Up

On Being’s Krista Tippett on her top “Big Screen Buddhism” pick

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