Asian Religions

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2001.
Share Professor Malcolm David Eckel's fascination with this remarkable, lively, and challenging religious tradition. In its 2,500-year history, Buddhism has grown from a tiny religious community in northern India into a movement that now spans the globe.

Directed by Trevor Green.
50-minute programs; released 2002.
A brief introduction to various eastern philosophies: Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam.

Produced by Ignatius Press.
56 minutes; released 2008.
A documentary about both 'official' and the 'underground' practice of religion in China. From a rural underground parish and a clandestine seminary, to the government-supported Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim worship places, Chinese from all walks of life candidly tell their stories of faith and what the future holds for them in China.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2003.
Provides an overview of Buddhism and describes how Buddhism challenges some of the most important Western ideas about God, human life, and the self. Covers the Buddha's life and the development of Buddhism, explains his teachings, or Dharma, and explores the lives of well-known Buddhists such as the Dalai Lama.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2003.
Provides an overview of Hinduism and discusses why Hinduism is perhaps the most diverse religion of all. Covers topics like arranged marriages and the caste system, the Indus Valley Civilization, the sacred writings in the Vedas, the Bhagavad-gita, and the Upanishads, ritual purity rites, the Aryan language of Sanskrit, and Hinduism's rejection of the notion that there is one path to the divine.

Directed by John Bush.
255 minutes; released 2007.
Bush takes the viewer on a pilgrimage to Buddhist shrines in Laos, Thailand, Burma, Bali, Cambodia, Java, and Central Tibet. Includes Dharma River: Journey of a Thousand Buddhas (81 min.; 2003), Prajna Earth: Journey into Sacred Nature (85 min.; 2005) and Vajra Sky Over Tibet (89 min.; 2006).

Directed by Martin Meissonnier.
90 minutes; released 2003.
Life of Buddha tells the story of Prince Siddhartha and his spiritual transformation into the Buddha, the great teacher who changed the world.

Produced by the Hartley Film Foundation.
30-minute programs; released 2003.
An introduction to the religions of India by Huston Smith. Includes Islamic Mysticism: The Sufi Way, Requiem for a Faith: Tibetan Buddhism, and India and the Infinite: The Soul of a People.

Directed by Cyrus Sundar Singh.
48 minutes; released 2005.
Filmmaker Singh looks at the vanishing art form of hand-painted Indian posters and their spiritual significance.

Directed by Rick Ray.
85 minutes; released 2006.
Filmmaker Ray interviews the Dalai Lama.

Directed by Barrie McLean.
90 minutes; released 1994.
Through interviews, photography, and animation, this documentary explores the history of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Buddhism's vision of the afterlife.

Directed by Werner Herzog.
80 minutes; released 2003.
A gorgeously photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India, where Buddist monks are ordained. The documentary magically captures the lengthy pilgrimage and rituals. A personal and introspective look at Buddhism from acclaimed filmmaker Herzog.