Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self
(A documentary of Buddhist Nuns)
After watching the documentary on Thich Nhat Hanh and being introduced to a female Buddhist for the first time, I decided to watch a documentary on a group of Buddhist Nuns. The film that I watched was called Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self by Gong Jae Sung. It was filmed at Baek Hung Temple on the Palgong Mountain in South Korea in 2001-2002. The documentary follows the 90-day meditation of the Baek Hung Nuns’ and contains very little commentary, except for a short interview with the head nun and the occasional subtitle.
During the ninety-day period two dozen nuns follow a tradition that is over a thousand years old where they meditate, fast, and contemplate life. The main goal of this rigorous challenge is in the hopes of attaining enlightenment. During this time, they undergo a daunting seven day long meditation without sleep. If their posture ever sways out of position, they are roughly tapped on the back with a bamboo stick. In order to stay awake, they often get up and go outside in the cold and meditate while walking around the center courtyard while remaining in a line formation.
I found it very interesting to see the different roles of the nuns in this particular temple. They often showed a few of the nuns in the kitchen preparing the meals. My favorite part of the entire hour long film was watching all of the nuns gather and prepare the New Year’s day feast of homemade pot stickers (that looked delicious I might add), noodles and broth, and various other dishes. I found it quite odd that they never actually showed the nuns eating the elaborate feast. They also went on a trip to a monastery of Buddhist Monks where they joined in an annual day of games and food.
In all honesty, this was quite boring to watch, but it was really nice to see people laugh and enjoy activities like singing, playing board games, and just enjoying the company of their fellow nuns and monks. It did, however, catch me off guard to see the nuns taking group pictures and eating chocolate candy bars or chocolate covered energy bars in silver wrappers. For some reason it’s just hard for me to picture nuns and monks using or enjoying modern day items like a camera and chocolate protein bars. I may just be naive for finding it weird, but it is just not how I picture individuals practicing Buddhism to behave. All in all, this documentary was interesting and I recommend watching it at some point if you ever want to get a different view on monastery life.
I've been wondering what life must be like for female Buddhists so I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. I am curious though, are there any key differences between the lifestyles of Buddhist munks and nuns or do they typically practice the same way?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't see a distinct difference from the nuns and the monks. Even their hair and clothing were virtually the same. However, in the film I did notice that when the nuns went to the monks temple for the annual day of games and food the women served the men. I found that odd and I wondered if it was a cultural thing or if it alternates each year.
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