BFFE - The Great Transmission + Sculpting the Lotus Guru

The Great TransmissionPema Gellek (US/TIB/IN 2015) 60'English and Tibetan spoken, English subtitles

The Great Transmission traces Tibetan Buddhist literature's epic journey through history and closes with a pressing inquiry into whether the vibrant culture can survive. Throughout the film, viewers are brought to realize the difficulties of preserving great cultural knowledge and the heroic efforts that have been exerted for this cause. The film concentrates on the role Tibet has played in this transmission and highlights two key moments to focus the inquiry: the Sanskrit-Tibetan translation project initiated by the founders of Tibetan Buddhism in the 8th century CE, and the US-India based efforts of Tarthang Tulku, a lama who fled Tibet in 1959 due to the communist invasion, to help restore Tibetan Buddhism's vast literary heritage. Ultimately, the hero of this film is sacred knowledge itself, as it makes a journey from the ancient past into our era and beyond.

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Sculpting the Lotus GuruArnaud Maitland (US, 2016), 27'English spoken

Sculpting the Lotus Guru follows the creation of a 20-foot bronze statue of Guru Padmasambhava created by Dharma Publishing under the guidance and direction of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche. Completed in under two years, the creation of this remarkable statue, possibly the largest of its size in the West, was guided by Tarthang Tulku”s teachings on Skillful Means. This inspirational, documentary film presents the transformation of clay into a finished bronze statue, highlighting each part of the bronze casting process. Featuring excerpts from the books Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava and Padmasambhava Comes to Tibet, and mantras from Prayers to Padmasambhava.

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Art and WisdomLaura Weiss (US, 2016) 6'English spoken

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is a well-known and highly respected meditation teacher. He began painting under the guidance of the French abstract expressionist painter Yahne Le Toumelin. In this short film he demonstrates his painting technique, playing on canvas with a mixture of turpentine and oil paints. Discussing the freedom aspect in creativity, he creates, destroys, then re-creates. DKR: “The role of the artist is to stop creating and allow experience to unfold in a natural way”.

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