I have found a link online to one of my favorite programs of all-time, the 50+ episodes from Hindi TV, about the life of THE Buddha. We first saw it broadcast from India in 2013 and it was later on Netflix for about a year in 2019. All the episodes are in Vietnamese? with English and Vietnamese? subtitles. May also be Cambodian, just not sure. What I like about the series is that it helped me to develop a personal relationship with the historical Buddha, despite some of the earlier episodes having a Bollywood feel, it does a nice job of making Siddhartha into a real person and shows how much of his teachings evolved out of the environment he came from. So here is the link, and watch if you like or pass on, if not. If you want to skip his developmental years you can start at episode 27.
Shortly after we finished the series my wife and I went to India for some work and were able to tour the Buddhist circuit where many of these events took place.
There are some artistic liberties and some combining of characters, with time-compressing of incidents, but as I read up on the series accuracy when it was originally broadcast, it had much to recommend it. The Bollywood aspect passes by quickly and it goes into great detail about how Siddhartha himself and others are affected by his journey. I always wondered about his family and how they prospered, or didn’t. What happened to his disciples? How was his memory preserved?
I looked up certain things I was surprised at how well-sourced many aspects are. When we went to India (after viewing the series) we were able to visit Kapilavastu, which was nothing like the palace in the series. However, other things were accurate, like the prayers you hear when visiting Bodhgaya and the view of the actual places where significant events occurred. Having watched it over a year, and then binged it a few times since, I appreciated the Hindi dialogue and subtitles in the original broadcast having watched countless Hindi movies over the years. However, the current linked version is voiced in Cambodian, I think, which has a slightly different ambiance, but no less powerful. The subtitling is a bit different, but the messages get across. If viewed all the way through it has a lot of payoffs, all earned! You can do worse than spending your time thinking about The Buddha.
Note: If you have trouble with the English subtitles you can view the videos at .75 speed and they will stay up longer. Also, if you have Netflix, send them a request to again show the series in the original Hindi.
Yes thats a great point, I got to believe it was very strong, and the top Buddhists of the time never really lost touch with the Buddha, even after his death.
Yes it is lovely, and thats my friend a Tibetan Nyingma Monk who was my guide for the whole of my Pilgrimage. He knew many places, like this path, where tourists dont know.
It’s an industry of making the briquettes, used as fuel to burn in their cooking stoves, and preserve trees. It gets cold there in winter.
Cow dung & straw mixed with water. Slapped onto anywhere to bake in the sun. Even on the house!
Although she uses some branches here, it’s a lovely video of how they live close to nature (no electric, fridges etc).
This still remains my favourite (video 7 years old). Its simple, which I like.
“Prince Siddhartha, at the age of 29, embarked upon his quest for salvation. Accompanied by Channa and his favorite horse Kanthaka, he quietly left Tilaurakot palace from the eastern gate…”
Here is my photo where im standing at that “east gate”
When i was there i was fortunate that a British team of Archaeologists were on site excavating and had recently found very good evidence. They showed me a deep pit where theyd found a brick lined bathing pool. I believe the applicant for World Heritage Site is still pending.
I have often wondered why cows were sacred in India, the conclusion I came to was because they provide a steady supply of food over a long tome, where killing them would provide lots of food, but only for a short time.
Interesting to see cows released all over India and Nepal too, as an act of kindness. I was told you’d have a harsher sentence in Nepal if you hit a cow with your motorcar versus hitting a person.
" The primary reason Hindus worship cows is that they consider them a gift from the gods. Cows provide us with milk, butter, cheese, fuel, and a cleanser, and more but require nothing in return. These animals do more for humans than any other animal to the Hindu people."
it’s not that just because they provide us with milk, cow dung, that cows are worshipped…
Cows, in Hindu religion, is a representative of mother Earth (as stated in Krishna’s Bhagvat). Her four legs stand for four goals of human life - dharma, arth(Material), kaam (desires), and moksh (liberation). She’s venerated as she’s believed to house 33 crores of gods and goddesses!
Just yesterday, in South of India, Cow Pongal was celebrated.
