Hinduism

Pondicherry, an ancient city near the Southern tip of India, was for several centuries an outpost of France. Now the French influence has faded but another, stranger, colony is growing on its outskirts--Auroville, a community of Europeans and North Americans who have come to live the contemplative life. They are devotees of Sri Aurobindo, a Bengali poet and mystic, and their guru is a ninety-four-year-old woman from France. This spiritual mecca is described in the film by Albert Jordan, a professor from Concordia University, Montréal, who, in 1971, with his family, spent a year there.

This two-part series explores ancient teachings on death and dying. It was filmed over a four-month period on location in the Himalayas where the original text still yields an essential influence over people's views of life and death. A Way of Life contains footage of the rites and liturgies surrounding and following the death of a Ladakhi elder. The Dalai Lama explains his own feelings about death, while other scenes within a palliative care hospice in San Francisco depicts the use of the texts to counsel dying AIDS patients. This film, by revealing ancient teachings on how to think about death and dying, can be a valuable source of counsel and comfort.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a two-part series that explores ancient teachings on death and dying. It was filmed over a four-month period on location in the Himalayas where the original text still yields an essential influence over people's views of life and death. The Great Liberation, is a docudrama which, in the company of an old Buddhist lama and a 13-year-old novice monk, leads us into the very foundations of Buddhist philosophy--the search for compassion and truth. Pema Choden, the lama, and Tubten, the young monk, read from the texts of The Tibetan Book of the Dead as they conduct the 49 days of final rites for a deceased Himalayan villager. We must all face the death of somebody we love, as well as our own death. This film helps us to prepare for these inevitabilities.