The Buddha – The Story of Siddhartha
THIS IS A INTERESTING SHOW ON BUDDHA’S LIFE STORY. Adults would find it refreshing, and children would find it a nice way to learn. Please take do enjoy the learning.
I have provided on my blog a wide variety of subjects to explore, read, learn, and think about. You literally have to just carry your laptop and I have so much to share with everyone. You don’t have to keep so many files in your computer that takes up space, just access this blog. I will add more to it in time for your benefit. It’s like entering another world. My world which I open to you.
Learn and enjoy,
Tsem Tulku
Part 1
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496125hg2NJM6n.flv
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496125hg2NJM6n.flv
Part 2
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496128aHhmSJYZ.flv
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496128aHhmSJYZ.flv
(I own no rights to any part of this film. All right belong to the owner. I mean no infringements and my only intent is to share knowledge with my friends around the world. Thank You)
Rinpoche,
I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to read ur blog and have more insight into the story of Siddharta. Thank you for sharing.
Grace
I love this amazing video because it offers such a refreshing story of Lord Buddha’s life and the ancient society in which he was brought up in. The different angles of each scene is coupled with wonderful narration. The different voices and ideas adds to the richness of the story. I had always loved the Buddha’s story even when I was younger.
Probably the first time, I had ever heard of the Buddha’s life was in the early 90s when i was in my teenage years. At that time, I encountered Lord Buddha as played by Keenu Reeves and I must admit that he wasn’t much of an actor but it awoken a deep curiosity within me regarding the Buddha and his teachings. This was not to fruition until years later when I met Rinpoche.
Lord Buddha was like what Rinpoche calls him, a true renaissance man. He realised so much about the human condition and the workings of the mind that he was able to liberate himself and so many others throughout history. His teachings were refreshingly different and brought about social change in India. It was the first time, royalty and serfs mingled together in devotion to understanding their mind.
What is amazing about the teachings of Buddha was that it transcends time and culture. Even images of the Buddha has assumed the physical identity of each culture that it has penetrated. I love the Buddha and his amazing teachings!
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
I am glad that Rinpoche has brought this up and important that as Buddhists, it is so important to know and understand our Founder, Sakyamuni (Gautama) Buddha’s life story and realise how He came to realize the Path and compassionately set forth the Dharma.
Equally fortunate is this generation that we do not have to totally resort to dusty and dry books/texts but now available in multimedia forms suited for the mass audiences.
I can only imagine how many would have the patience to sieve thru the many and scattered accounts of His Life be they in the Pali Canon/Agamas/Mahayana Canon or Asvaghosha’s ‘Buddhacaritam’ or ‘A Life of The Buddha’ or even the Jataka Tales…
As buddhists, we should all know by heart the life story of buddha Shakyumuni, or prince Siddhartha before he gained enlightenment.This video is very well made, the best I have even seen. The use of different people as narrators, the beautiful visual display of old buddhist painting relating to buddha’s life story, beautiful live scenes and the use of comic interpretation all offer a very refreshing angle to learn buddha’s life story.
Kechara House also launched our frist ever Tsongkhapa stage play in Decemebr last year. It was one of its kind, never in history has a stage play been produced to share the life biography of this holy scholar Tsongkhapa, who is the founder of the Gelupa tradition in Tibetan buddhism. Tsongkhapa is often known as the second buddha. The project was headed by Liaison Kok Yek Yee , liaison Ngeow Voon Chin and Liaison Yap Yuk Fui. Many kechara house members have participated and volunteered their time in the making and production of this show. To top up the good news, We even won 5 awards in the Camerson Arts festival.
So many people do not understand why Rinpoche spends so much time blogging and a few readers have even accused Rinpoche of changing and becoming non-spiritual. Some people assume that Rinpoche is more interested in becoming a celebrity and is adding ‘personality and lifestyle’ to his Blog. I have read a comment from a reader who professes that he shall no longer follow Rinpoche because he has not seen anything worthwhile from Rinpoche. I was taken back when I read it. Here, I’d like to share something real.
It takes Rinpoche a lot of time to research some subject matters that Rinpoche shares in his blog. They are not added in here by accident, on at Rinpoche’s whim and fancy. These do not become Rinpoche’s style or nature. That would be ours.
Everything in our life can be a spiritual teaching, simply because to live well and right one must integrate spirituality into every aspect of life. If we watch this movie of Buddha’s story, then we can see how Buddha achieved his Enlightenment. He pondered on everything around him and used them to propel him into the path, and finally realized the ultimate truth. We cannot separate our everyday life from Dharma because Dharma is life.
Every post Rinpoche shares in his blog, is crafted with love, care and a lot of time. Rinpoche has taken the things that make up our lives to teach us about spirituality. He has done so in order to make it easier for us to relate and to make spirituality relevant to our modern way of life. And it is because Rinpoche realizes that in our very busy and hectic lives, we may not even have the time or luxury to come across anything spiritual to feed our souls or minds, hence Rinpoche opens up his world to us.
Please read Rinpoche’s comments again below and see true compassion in action. This Lama cares so much that he finds creative ways to bring the spiritual messages to us all. This is why many people refer to Rinpoche as the LIVING BUDDHA.
“You don’t have to keep so many files in your computer that takes up space, just access this blog. I will add more to it in time for your benefit. It’s like entering another world. My world which I open to you.”
Ooooo…. Adrian and I watched bought this video from KH1 on Setrap’s retreat night and watched it last night.
This short documentary is so well done with animation, music and subtitles. It was so easy to understand. I encouraged my kids to watch it this weekend as it will be easy for them understand too. The last movie I saw, The Little Buddha was a disappointment for me because I didnt get to finish it. The DVD was spoilt and the player couldnt access it. Sigh! But I was glad we got to watch The Story of Siddharta instead.
Buddha Shakyamuni had to go through so much in order to understand ‘What causes SUFFERING?’ of which he gained enlightenment after understanding it and the teachings are practiced till today after 2,500 years into his Parinirvana.
It is rare to find footage or even videos depicting the Life of Buddha anywhere in video shops or on television. The lives of Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed are rarely shown on media except in religious centre or on these holy beings birthdays.
My point is the degeneration of religion globally. Human in this era pursue happiness in shopping, eating, sleeping, money, branded goods, fashion, looks, Botox etc. while the Buddha gave up everything including his own family to pursue the answer to “suffering” and its causes. How many branded bags can he have to show off? How many cars and houses do we need? Can we take these “valuable” things with us when we pass on?
Dearest Rinpoche,
thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us. I love this video very much and find it very beautiful. It tells the story of how Buddhism came about and the life story of Siddhartha from when he was born, until he achieved enlightenment, became Buddha and entered the clear light. This video shows art work of Buddhism from many countries such as Tibet, India, Japan, China and Thailand. And the example of impermanance is shown in a way, which is subtle, but we do get the point.(eg. When the guy told of, how at one moment a beautiful glass that hold water and makes a nice sound when it’s tapped, is broken in the next moment.) I feel this video should be watched by people who wants to understand and know more about Buddhism. As for people who are, Buddhist should watch it because this video reminds us that Siddharta did not achieve enlightenment easily. It is with great compassion, much experiment, perserverance and hardship that he realized the middle way. That he lived his life for the benefit of others, to find a way to lead us out of suffering. Therefore, we should be very grateful that we have a way to follow because Lord Buddha has been through all that for us and left behind a set of practice which is taught by our holy Guru to us that guarantee enlightenment if we practice diligently and correctly.
With much love and respect,
Joe Ang
Ever since I was a child I just love stories, movies of Saints and Gods. One of my all time favorites is the story of Buddha! Thank you Rinpoche for putting up this beautiful true story of Lord Buddha on your blog. No matter how many times I watch it, I am always awed by His story because it proves to us all that becoming enlightened is not just a dream, myth and legend. It is a story that inspires people because it lets us know we can become Buddha if we practice.
To many Buddhism is a way of life, because there is no ONE GOD ALMIGHTY that punishes you when you don’t do what they tell you to do http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/06/the-one-god-theory-comes-from-greek-mythology.html Buddhism gives you the power of controlling your own destiny and how you react to situations determines the results you shall reap tomorrow and the future. Becoming a Buddha is probably a long long way for me but at least I know it is not impossible and it can be achieved. Imagine if you can control your own rebirth, stop experiencing suffering and help those you love to also achieve it – impossible? Possible.
It is amazing how the story of Siddhartha has been adapted over and over, told and retold through so many different mediums through the years – movies, documentaries, musicals, etc. His story is magical, his life is inspiring, his teachings profound.
I really like the response in the video when it was brought up that the very first biography of Buddha was only written 500 years after he has passed on, how accurate could the account be? – “We don’t know how much of it is pure fairytale, and how much of it is historic fact but it does not matter. It touches something that we all basically know. The relevance of it is in the message of the story, the promise of the story. Like any good story, it has a lot to teach. The story of his life then is a beautiful way of telling the teaching.”
Aging, sickness, death – a recognition of impermanency. Through the idea of reincarnation, we are constantly reminded that suffering did not begin with birth and will not end in death – suffering was endless. Unless it was possible to find a way out – (by) becoming enlightened, becoming a Buddha. Dear Rinpoche, thank you very much for sharing these videos with us; the story of Siddhartha has always been high on my list of interest. To find such a rare, well narrated piece of footage on the topic is like caramel topping on French vanilla ice cream for me!
YES, all Buddhist must watch the life story of Buddha Shakyamuni and remember it by hard, because through this story and history, we have direct evidence that the Buddhha has follow and practise the path, and eventually gain attainment and become enlighten. This means we can follow Buddha’s footstep and practise dharma too.
By understanding the history, we can clear our own doubt, explain Buddhism to our family and friends, and make Buddha teaching grow. This story also make perfect bedtime story for our kids, instill positive imprint to them while they are young. When the kids grow up, they will have the right thinking and attitudes too.
I hope there is more of this kind video available. The life story of Bodhisattva Manjushri, Lama Tsongkhapa, Tara and Dharmapala Setrap will be amongst the popular!
PAUL
I was delighted to find this video on Buddha’s life story with a short introduction from Rinpoche. I never tire of reading about or listening to someone relating the story of Lord Buddha’s life and his journey to enlightenment. In his introduction, Rinpoche tells us that it is enough to just access his blog. We don’t have to carry a lot of files around. How true. Rinpoche will add to the blog in time for our benefit. I know this for a fact. He tells us that it’s like entering another world. Yes, it’s Rinpoche’s world that we are entering. I find Rinpoche world very educational and every article, every bit of news is a learning experience.
The first part reminds me of the movie “Little Buddha” which I watched during my early teens, finding it very fascinating to learn the path that Siddharta took to attain enlightenment. The first sight of an old man, followed by people who fall sick, and then a corpse made Siddharta realise the truth of impermanence, sufferings and death. The encounter of spiritual seeker who lives the complete opposite of his life propels Siddharta to undertake the journey to find means to end the sufferings in life.
I love the narration and discussion of Siddharta’s life before and after becoming buddha in the videos, and also the animation in between the clips, enriching the story about the life of buddha.
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for sharing such a wonderful video with us. Thank you.
When the people being interviewed talk about the life of Siddharta, especially on the turning point when Siddharta accepted the milk offered and realised another path to enlightenment, abandoning his 6 years of practice as ascetic, all I can see from their facial expression are joy, happiness, admiration. They are rejoicing at the realisation attained by Siddharta that led him to become a Buddha. How wonderful is that! Rejoicing is the simplest method to collect merit, yet it is not easy as we are rejoicing at the happiness and success accomplished by others, not ours. Under normal circumstances, our self-cherishing mind would become jealous at others’ accomplishment. The more selfish we are, the more difficult for us to rejoice at others’ fruitful results, the further we distanced ourselves from the path to enlighten mind.
The story of the raging elephant charging towards lord buddha reminds me of my very own elephant in my mind, recklessly stumbling upon all directions in a rough manner, screaming “My Interests!, My Feelings!, My happiness, Me!, Me!, Me!”, charging towards all the altruistic impulses that arise from my mind, forbidding them to grow and destroy any seeds of virtuous acts implanted inside my mind through transgressions of refuge vows and committing various non-virtuous acts.
In the story, the wild elephant is tamed by Lord Buddha’s compassion. Likewise, in order to tame the elephant mind of mine, development of compassionate heart and mind is a must, placing others’ well beings before me, cutting off all the root causes that negate the preciousness of others that direct all the care and concern towards others to my ownself.
Adhering and complying to the 8 verses of Thought Transformation by Kadampa Langri Tangpa (1054-1123)is a good start to train our mind, of which the verses can be found in http://tsemtulku.com/resources/prayers/prayers-preliminaries/eight-verses-of-mind-transformation/ The teachings by H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche himself can be found in the youtube. To ease the streamlining of the video over the Internet, his teachings have been split into 12 parts.
Another useful tools of taming the elephant mind can also be found in this blog itself, namely Twenty-Seven Verses On Mind Training Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419)(http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/07/27-rules-to-real-happiness.html)
The above 2 teachings serve as guidelines and rules of conducts in our daily interactions with other beings, conditioning our mind into selflessness, and depreciate selfishness. These teachings are not magic spells that would wipe off the wild elephant from our mind by merely reciting them, but daily recitations of these verses do help to reinforce the thoughts of selflessness inside our mind. As Buddha spoke, “The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.” (http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/03/and-buddha-spoke-you-should-listen.html)
I really love this post very much that I keep coming back here to leave comments.. hehe … I love the music in the video so much!!
Towards the end of the video, the people being interviewed, including H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, implores us to look into ourselves in search of our Buddhahood, the nature of Buddha mind, that we have the very fundamentals, capabiliies and possibilities to become an enlighten being too.
Below are some of the words from the interviewers towards the end of the video:
“.. but the real Buddha’s holy places is within one’s self, that is important. So the real Buddha’s sacred place we must build is within ourself. We must build within our heart.” – H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama
“.. This world does not have to be a painful place. The world can be a world inhabited by Buddhas. It is up to each one of us to turn ourselves into Buddha. That’s the work.”
“If the Buddha is not you, finally the Buddha is of no interest to you. The Buddha is of interest to you because you are a Buddha.”
“Every sentient beings, even insects, have Buddha nature, the seed of Buddha. That’s the seed of enlightenment. So therefore, there’s no reason to believe some sentient beings cannot become Buddha. So like that,” – H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama.
“..Ah.. ten toes, me too!!
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for posting such a wonderful video. Thank you very much.
There is a song that I like very much back in my years in secondary school, “One of us” by Joan Osborne. The original lyrics are as follows:-
If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?
1-And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?
If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see if, seeing meant
That you would have to believe in things like heaven
And in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets?
(repeat 1, 1)
Back up to heaven all alone
No, nobody calling on the phone
No, just tryin’ to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome
If we were to associate some of the words in the lyrics e.g.
a) God with Buddha/enlighten being embedded in us – our Bodicitta mind;
b) Heaven with Nirvana/Tushita’s heaven/Kechara heaven;
c) Jesus with Rinpoches, high lamas, Tulku, Geshe-la, the enlighten ones;
d) prophets with dharma/vows; and
e) the first 3 sentences of the forth paragraph can be associated with us, beings with conscious mind, who at all times seeking for happiness that at times we are lost along the way and have fallen back from our spiritual path numerous times due to unsatisfying happiness gained through non-virtuos acts, who despite all the setbacks, continue the journey to seek for “pure” happiness throughout countless rebirths within the 6 realms, who eventually come to realise that the boundless happiness the limitless that we yearn for, the happiness that is pure and joyful, is from none other than within our heart. What we have been doing over our countless rebirths, is just trying to make our way home – to reach our very own budhicitta mind inside us.
f) the last 2 sentences of the forth paragraph can be associated with the current degeneration time that most humans on earth are so distracted by delusions and attachments around us that we have ignored and neglected our very own budhicitta mind, that would only be called upon by our Gurus when we make the effort in meeting them, following their advises dearly, and transforming ourselves into better person.
To me, if I were to interpret the song in the manner prescribed above, the song pretty much sum up the ending of the videos attached above
(Just my immagination though)
The video of the song “One of us” can be found in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CRkpBGQzU
Thank you again Rinpoche, for posting such a wonderful video on story of Siddharta. Thank you.
Sorry, is not the 4th paragraph that I was referring to in e) and f) above. It was the 5th paragraph.
During my era all schools subjects were taught in the English Language. And history was one of the subjects which we have to take in the Examinations. When I learn the history of Siddhartha I did not understand that Siddhartha was a Buddha. It was not suppose to be a religion but as way of life and a contemplation and meditation when applied to our life can bring satisfaction and a peaceful well being. The story of Siddhartha which the Sage has predicted that Siddhartha either can be a very great king or become a very holy being who will benefit many people. This is so similar to Rinpoche’s life story when Rinpoche’s mother dreamt of a white elephant before Rinpoche was born. Rinpoche will also have an option to live in the Samsara world or become Spiritual by becoming a monk to benefit a lot of people.
this is an amazing video it showed me and my friends there is another way to live a peacefil way
Rinpoche is one of the kindest people in my life. His dedication and compassion are amazing and inspiring. I hope one day I can become great also.