The Little Buddha

Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mark Peploe

In this film, the search for the re-incarnation of a Tibetan Lama crisscrosses with the telling of the story of the historical Buddha’s life from conception to Enlightenment. For Religious Studies’ purposes, the vivid, colorful and dramatic depiction of the Buddha’s story offsets any weakness of the overall plot. This story is told in a series of back flashes as Jesse Conrad, one of the candidate’s as Lama Dorje’s successor, reads or is read to from an illustrated book on the life of Prince Siddartha Gautama, the historical Buddha. These sequences follow early Buddhist sources very closely – see for example Ashvaghosa’s 1^st century poem, Buddhacarita (Edward Conze, Buddhist Scriptures: Penguin, 1959 pp 34 – 66). The mingling of the traditional story of the Buddha with the search for a Lama’s reincarnation sets the overall plot firmly in the context of Mahayana (Great Vessel) Buddhism generally and of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism in particular. The biography of Siddhartha is common to all Buddhists but the overall plot draws much on the particularity of Tibetan Buddhism and some understanding of this can considerably enhance viewing of the film.

Buddhism entered Tibet during the 7^th century CE. The Buddhist concept of ‘skillful means’ (upaya-kausalya) has enabled the tradition to adapt itself to many and varied cultures by assimilating aspects of a culture that do not directly contradict its beliefs. Some traditions displace the cultures they encounter, or see them as inferior; Buddhism has tended to acculturate. For example, local deities can easily be called ‘Bodhisattvas’ (see below), so in Japan kami (Japanese deities) were simply included alongside Buddhism’s own celestial powers. Also, as the Buddha did not deny the existence of Gods (only that they could ‘save’ us or exercise absolute power over the universe’s destiny) deities such as China’s Jade Emperor and Lau Tsu were incorporated into the Buddhist system. In Tibet, the pre-existing religion was Shamanism (known as Bon) – a form of nature worship involving various psychic and sexual techniques. In India, Tantric Hinduism also used sex to symbolize and thus to assist in the conquest of duality, the realization of our oneness with the absolute. In certain Buddhist circles, a Tantric tradition developed that aimed to achieve at-one-ness with the universal Buddha nature within all of us. According to Tibetan Buddhism, each of us are microcosms of the macrocosm. The ideas of a cosmic Buddha who is able to assist us and of a Buddha-nature inherent in all of us are Mahayana concepts. The latter is especially developed in Zen. Zen’s Buddha-nature sounds so much like the Dao with which Daoism aims to achieve at-one-ness that Zen and the Chinese seemed made for each other!

For some, this Buddha-nature resides in the natural world as well. The Tantric version of Buddhism appealed to Tibetans and became a building block of Vajrayana Buddhism. Use of the wind to turn prayer wheels, of sound and of complex symbolism all aim to connect with cosmic Buddhahood. In Kathmandu, Jesse walks (clockwise as instructed by Lama Norbu) around the prayer wheels. Towards the end of the film, we hear the haunting sound of Tibetan instruments played by the monks during the children's installation ceremony (and earlier, on the roof of the monastery). Another building block was early Buddhist monasticism, so disciplined community life and study and the practice of meditation are all strong features of Tibetan Buddhism. On the flight to Nepal, Lama Norbu explains mediation to Jesse (look for this scene). We also see Lama Norbu entering a deep meditation towards the end of the movie, during which he voluntarily leaves this existence. We see quite a lot of what monastic life is like in the film, which opens with Lama Norbu telling the boy novices a story of a goat that was about to be sacrificed by a priest. The goat told the priest how, countless lives earlier, he too had been a high priest who had sacrificed goats and ever since had been reborn as a goat himself. The priest resolved there and then to become guardian of all the goats. Asked by the boys what became of the goat, Norbu replies that he is now Champa, his young assistant. All laugh. Champa imitates a goat and everyone laughs again. This humor is not untypical of Buddhists. On another occasion, we hear that Lama Dorje had often joked about impermanence; when news of the third candidate, a girl, reaches Norbu, he says that perhaps this was Lama Dorje’s ‘last joke’. Incidentally, at the start of the film we are told that the story is based on several children's real journeys of discovery. Look out for another example of humor when Lama Norbu makes a profound comment about emptiness during his visit to the Conrad's, then finishes with a joke.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the relationship between teacher and student is also vital. Lama Dorje was Lama Norbu’s teacher, so now he must find Lama Dorje’s reincarnation. In Theravada Buddhism (School of the Elders) the Buddha is dead, no longer around to help. Nor could he, since he had had no miraculous powers even when alive. What the Buddha did was teach and teach generously, establishing the dharma for this current age. When the dharma has declined, the next Buddha will arise, Maitreya. The Buddha of the previous age was Dipankara, whom Siddhartha met many existences before his birth in Lambini, Nepal in the fourth century BCE, resolving then that he would himself become a Buddha. A Buddha is the first person in each age who, by self-effort, achieves ‘enlightenment’ (Buddhahood, or nirvana), that is, a true understanding of the human condition and therefore freedom from suffering, from rebirth, from life itself as you and I know it. Listen to the description of the Buddha’s enlightenment in the film; he was now ‘beyond himself, beyond suffering, beyond pain’. Thus, Buddhism teaches that there is ‘no-self’ (anatta), since the notion that I have some eternal significance ‘attaches’ me to what is actually impermanent (anicca). Desire, appetite, ignorance makes us cling to a false self. At the start of the film, the monks begin to create a mandala that we see fully formed towards the end. This is a symbolic pattern of colored sand laid out on the floor representing the whole cosmos. As soon as it is finished, it gets destroyed with a single stroke, reminding us not to cling to anything, even to things of great beauty. Those who achieve enlightenment by following the dharma taught by the Buddha are usually known as arhats. The first of these were the five ascetics seen in the film, who abandon Siddhartha when he starts to eat but who later hear his First Sermon and immediately achieve arhatship. Arhats, like the Buddha, leave this world (and samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth) when they reach the end of their natural life. They are then beyond this world, unable to communicate with it.

What achieves, or enters, nirvana (the goal of Buddhism, literally ‘extinguished through lack of fuel’)? One way of answering this is that when we achieve nirvana we cease to ‘become’ and begin instead ‘to be’ yet ‘being’ is not the possession of any of us individually but is universal and outside the world as we know it. Here, we are ‘born, originated, created and formed’; beyond we are ‘unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed’. Here, we think that our five elements of causal existence (skandhas) are permanent, so we remain fettered to the temporal, corporeal world. Listen to Lama Norbu reciting the ‘heart sutra’ to the three children after their ceremonial installation as Lama Dorje’s reincarnations. The potential for experiencing what the Buddha experienced is a universal possibility, for Therevada Buddhism too. Images of the historical Buddha are used to symbolize this very potential. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva is someone who, having attained enlightenment, takes a special vow. They vow to postpone their departure from samsara until all sentient beings have gained nirvana. They do so out of infinite compassion and love. Mahayana texts set out the spiritual stages through which would be Bodhisattvas must pass, the six or ten paramitas or perfections, such as charity, morality, patience, wisdom and use of skillful means to teach the dharma

Mahayana Buddhists suggest that the arhat is selfish in comparison, because they can only teach or help others for a short while. Bodhisattvas become powerful spiritual beings. Compassion and love, in the film, are the qualities with which Siddhartha defeats all the demons and Mara himself, the chief demon, who try to deflect him from his path in the temptation sequence that has so often reminded people of Jesus’. Note also the multi-armed image of a Bodhisattva in the monastery, whose many limbs symbolize unlimited compassion. In Tibetan Buddhism, the high lamas are people, some of whom are Bodhisattvas, who have attained advanced stages of progress towards nirvana and who return again and again as teachers to continue to share their wisdom. The present Dalai Lama (see Kundun) is the 14^th incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. After a high lama dies, his successor must be found. Astrological charts are consulted to determine where to look for the child. Usually, the successor is born within a year or so of the Lama’s passing on. In the film, Lama Dorje, towards the end of his life, had ‘felt that he was needed in the West, to teach the dharma’ and had gone to set up a Buddhist Center in Seattle, Washington, where he later died. For nine years, his student, Lama Norbu, was searching for his reincarnation when news reached him that one of his colleagues, Kenpo Tensin, had seen Lama Dorje in a dream back in Seattle.

Significantly, in the dream, Lama Dorje wears jeans; in life he had always worn his bhikhu’s robe. This introduces an interesting subplot of the film, which is partly about Buddhism’s ability to change and to adapt, in this instance to Western culture. The fact that the third candidate is a girl, Gita, while the second is a Nepalese boy and the fisrt, Jesse is American may also be relevant here. Jesse and Raju find each other, too, among all the people in crowded Kathmandu. In the end, all three candidates are declared to be incarnations of Lama Dorje, of his body, speech and mind yet ‘none exist without the other’. Is this a call to overcome the many ways in which we polarize male, female, east, west and to realize our interdependence and mutual abilities to help each other across gender and cultural divides? When asked to admit his aunt, his foster mother and 500 women to his community of renunciates, the Buddha refused. They asked him again. Finally, he agreed but only on the basis that all nuns, no matter how senior, would be subordinate to even the youngest monk. He also stated that because women had joined the sangha, the dharma would decline more rapidly! Later, the order of nuns died out in Theravada Buddhism, although not in Mahayana.

In the film, Norbu travels to Seatle with Champa to persuade Jesse’s parents to allow him to be tested in Bhutan. He takes Dorje’s alms bowl with him, which a shaman or oracle gives him as he leaves the monastery. This is used, with other objects familiar to Dorje, to see if candidate’s can pick them out from among bogus items. Jesse did. Jesse’s father is an engineer/architect; his mother a teacher and they receive their curious visitors politely and are even fascinated by their story. They allow Jesse to visit the dharma center and he becomes friendly with the monks. However, Dean Conrad makes it clear that he does not believe in rebirth. See the scene in which Norbu explains rebirth by smashing a teacup – the cup is no longer a cup but the tea is still tea, whether on the floor or in the cup. Then Dean’s partner, who is bankrupt, commits suicide and Dean changes his mind about the trip, saying that perhaps this is the opportunity he needs to decide what to do with the rest of his life. There is nothing he can do in Seattle except wait on the lawyers. He will, after all, accompany Jesse to Nepal and Bhutan. Mrs. Conrad, more open to the whole idea, actually regrets that the adventure is being taken away from her. Dean’s own journey becomes part of the plot, although it remains unclear at the end of the film whether or not he resolved his situation. The meeting up with the two candidates in Nepal, Raju and Gita, and the later scenes in the Monastery in Bhutan, all contain interesting material. Some scenes are stunningly beautiful, especially perhaps the closing scenes where the three children dispose of Norbu’s ashes.

The retelling of Siddhartha’s story shows us his birth while Queen Maya travels back to her parent’s home. We see the tree bending to support her, 'understanding this great moment', baby Buddha walks and talks, declaring that he will enlighten the world. We hear about the dream she had on the night she conceived, when a baby elephant blessed her with its trunk. We see lotus flowers blossom behind him. We see Asita, the revered sage, arrive at the banquet and predict that Siddhartha will either be a great world teacher or a great world leader, regretting that he will die before Siddhartha begins to teach. This is often compared with the Simeon incident in Luke 2: 25 – 52. Scholars suggest that the main incidents of this story are historical but that legend has fleshed out the details. Interestingly, the stories of several religious leaders’ births and careers have some common features, such as dreams, predictions of their roles and temptations. Enlightenment, or the start of their religious mission, usually occurs at about the same age. The Little Buddha is a good example of a story that uses this hero-formula. Siddhartha’s protected upbringing in the three palaces built for him by his father is excellently portrayed. As Jesse says, so all he did was ‘have a good time’. Yashodara, his wife, appears to fear that Siddhartha will begin to ask the very questions his father was trying so hard to suppress. The ‘going forth’ into the city, when Siddhartha sees the three signs, is dramatic and powerful. In the film, he sees the ‘fourth sign’, the ascetic, after leaving the palace to seek freedom for all people from suffering (dukkha) and pain. The rest of the biographical scenes are equally well represented, especially the final conflict with Lord Mara and his daughters and the army of demons. This takes place in Gita’s ‘secret garden’, where the children are drawn into the ‘action’. Look for Siddhartha in the classic bhumisparsa position. Often used in Buddhist art, this depicts the Buddha touching the earth so that it can witness his defeat of Mara, 'O Lord of my own ego, you are pure illusion. The earth is my witness". For Buddhist 'hand gestures', see Buddhist Hand Gestures

Note especially the following:

The incident that attracts the five ascetics to follow Siddhartha. Why do they later leave him?

The incident that convinces Siddhartha to follow a middle path between extreme indulgence and extreme self-denial. Listen for the words spoken by the old musician, which Siddhartha repeats to the cow, ‘if you stretch the string too tightly, it will snap, if it is too slack it will not play’. What does this mean?

The scene when Siddhartha floats the bowl in the river, to see if it will float upstream. Why does he do this?

Listen carefully to the dialogue between Siddhartha and Lord Mara when Mara appears as Siddhartha’s double. What does Siddhartha say? This all but represents a summary of the dharma. What we do not hear is Siddhartha’s First Sermon, when he diagnoses the human condition, that all is suffering and that suffering is caused by desire or false attachment, then offers his prescription. Nonetheless, the scene with Mara may compensate this omission.

Evaluate this dramatic enactment of this part of the Buddha’s life as a learning tool. How does it complement reading a prose account, such as Ashvaghosa’s?

Does the mingling of these scenes with the search for ‘Lama Dorje’ add or detract from their usefulness as a learning tool?

From your knowledge of Buddhist teaching and of the differences between Theravada and Mahayana, do you think that this retelling of the Buddha’s story is colored by the latter’s beliefs, or not?

Note several references to the concept that we are all, in essence, 'one'; for example, as Siddhartha explains why he must leave the palace despite his love for his wife and newborn son.

What special ability, or abhuna did the Buddha gain as a result of his enlightenemt. Lama Norbu explains this to the children after the enlightenemt sequence.

Listen for Lama Norbu's reply to Dean when, at the Dharma center in Seatle, he calls the story of the Buddha's life a nice myth. Are stories only 'true' if they really happened?

Do you think the film would be better had it explained more explicitly the specific beliefs and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, several of which do feature in the film? For example, the role of the shaman towards the end is not really explained.

Some of the ritual is impressive and interesting to watch. Note the offereings in front of the images in the monasterry and look up what Mahayana Buddhists place before their (3 items) rupas and what Theravada place before theirs (usually 7 or 8 items). However, when the three children are obviously being ‘installed’ we are not actually told what was happening. Does this detract from the film’s usefulness as a learning tool, or should we not expect too much of what is after all a commercial movie?

See also the homepage of the Office of Tibet Office of Tibet

© 2001 Clinton Bennett