News of the Day: Spiritual movies (video)

Seven, Pat Macpherson, Irma Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly, News of the Day, Nov. 2012

Calming prints on the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city (WeGoTwo/flickr.com)

• Obama drops in on Cambodian dictator Hun Sen after visit with Burma's rulers
• 10,000 Days of Hun Sen: “I not only weaken the opposition, I’m going to make them dead...and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage.” 
• WalMart and others kill Bangladeshi workers

Happiness
Happiness in Teen Years linked to Higher Income later

Happy Samurai Girl (imdb.com)

(HuffPo) Gloomy teens, take heed -- your more happy-go-lucky classmates will likely earn more than you, according to new research. Researchers followed more than 10,000 U.S. adolescents over a decade and found that happiness during the teen years and young adulthood was linked with income at age 29.

Life Lessons I Learned from my Baby
Declines in Quality of Life of all EU states, alarming

Declines of over 20% in levels of optimism and happiness are reported in some countries across the EU and over a third of people indicate a... 

Happiness first for youths

The top motivating factors for Malaysians aged 18-35 are happiness, success, family, and ambition -- according to the latest Generation-Asia...

Led Zeppelin movie released: "Celebration Day"

Jimi Hendrix NEW album: "People, Hell, and Angels"

WATCH: Soundgarden plays live concert

Hundreds attend happiness panel

(Yale Daily News) Hundreds of students flooded into LC 101 last night to hear a panel of professors discuss happiness. The talk, hosted by Vita Bella ["Good Life"]... 

Study: Happiness in workplace is key to employee productivity

To complement this study, The Wall Street Journal examined the role that happiness has in workplace productivity, and how both employees... 

Workers now happiest they have been in ages, finds study

(Herald Sun, Nov. 25, 2012) Workers now happiest they have been in ages, finds study... Happiness among their workers also is up by 40 per cent as they too enjoy better... 

"Female PORN STARS are happier"

(MSN NZ News, Nov. 26, 2012) A study claiming porn actresses are happier in their sexuality and self-image than other women has been discredited by an Australian expert.

  
"Travelers and Magicians"

In Bhutan, the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom, dreaming of coming to Buddhist America

  
A Bhutanese fable [available for DVD rental] about lives in transition will be shown Monday at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford. "Travelers and Magicians" tells the story about Dondup, who wants to leave Bhutan for America, and a monk who tries to talk him out of it. To do this, the monk tells the story of another man restless and dissatisfied, whose story does not end well. It is the first movie shot entirely in Bhutan, and is in the Bhutanese language, Dzonghka, with subtitles. More

Bollywood's Sherlyn Chopra to star in Kama Sutra in 3D
Kashmir: Canada and India's new relationship
LA Yoga: Ayurveda and Health (Magazine)

Kindle eBook: India Was One

iJAN helps FREE Palestine: The WorldSocial Forum Free Palestine (WSF FP) is approaching. More than 10,000 Palestinian and solidarity activists from 36 countries will converge on Porto Alegre to learn from each other and together organize to build a strong movement to confront Israel and Zionism and the broader injustices they represent and support. The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and activists in the US, Canada, and around the world are building a joint struggleframework to the WSF FP.  More

Filling US prisons with "modern slaves" for profit
The North America Bigfoot Search (Paulides)
UFO sightings warm up on Australia's Gold Coast
Research in Open and Distance Learning  (Journal)
China dissident Ai Weiwei basks in his relative liberty
PHOTO GALLERY: Buddhist beauty in China (wow)
PHOTOS: TraceLUX's trip to Tibet
Bhutan gives cold shoulder to Nepal
Rooftop news: The Himalayan Times 
English eBooks (Tusita Hermitage)

"Life of Pi"

(LINK) Director Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") recruits an actual trained Bengal tiger to create a groundbreaking movie about a young man who survives a tragic disaster at sea. He is hurtled on an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship's only other survivor, the tiger. WARNING: Many viewers say the movie tries to inspire wonder and awe and a belief in GOD.

 

"Cloud Atlas"

 (LINK) The most "Buddhist" movie of the year?

 

This Wachowski film features handsome Halle Berry and America's very own sweetheart Tom Hanks with Buddhist themes reminiscent of "Looper." Except this is without a time-travel conceit to make the karmic connection perfectly clear. "Cloud Atlas" is an exploration of how the actions (karma) of individual lives impact one another. This happens in the past, present, and future. One living being, in the course of becoming, is shaped from a killer into a hero. And a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
  
Not since Hanks nearly ruined "Cast Away" have we been so torn between wanting to watch a film for thematic reasons and being kept away by its male lead. In that epic adventure, Hanks' character is adrift on a raft ("Life of Pi"-style) with no one to talk to but a soccer ball. He draws eyes on it, places a wig atop it, and constantly whines: "Wilson, will I ever get home? Wilson, does my wife still love me? Wilson, what are we going to do?!!" Later in a hallucination, the ball answers him: "My name is Voit, dumb@ss!" Wait, that pay-off only came much later in a "Family Guy" cutaway:

"Cloud Atlas" might be bearable with the help of co-stars Susan Sarandon, Zhou Xun, Hugo Weaving, Doona Rae, Jim Sturgess, James D'Arcy, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Keith David, David Mitchell, David Gyasi... because if the worst thing one has to say about a prospective film is that Tom Hanks is in it, that is probably one great film.

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Girl vs. Girl: "Pitch Perfect" (video)

Amber Dorrian and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; IMBD.com; Screen.yahoo.com

In one of the best pop films of the year, it's "Beca" (Anna Kendrick) versus the World. Until college and her professor father nudge her into expanding her horizons beyond beats and DJing, she's the lovable indie alt grrl. How is she converted to befriending females and getting out of her shell?  That is the central conceit of the movie -- acapella renditions of very cool songs. This would be a disaster if the music weren't so good. But behind the shiny songs and unreal (unrehearsed) performances that take place spontaneously throughout the story at Riff Offs and elsewhere is a very real story about what it's like among women, our separation, cattiness, and constant counterproductive competition. 

Drill Sgt. Aubrey (imdb.com)

Thank you Nazi Aubrey (Anna Camp), super-sexy "Stacie" (Alexis Knapp), supermodel "Kimmy Jin" (Jinhee Joung), hilarious comedienne "Fat Amy" (Rebel Wilson), freaky-geek Quiet "Lilly" (Hana Mae Lee), and uber-nemesis "Bumper" (Adam DeVine). There's lesbianism (very jokey), there's misogyny, there's promiscuity, there are jerk adults (color commentators "Gail" and John), there are dance offs, and there is that one eternal truth secretly brewing underneath it all, covert competition in a gynocentric cooperative frame. The movie is not all good news; it is almost ruined by the syrupy "good guy" male lead "Jesse" (Loser). Fortunately other men, like "Bumper" and "Donald" (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and "Benji" (Ben Platt), round out the cast, all straight, all acapella. More

NOTE: This review and focus on a commercial success was written under duress after Wisdom Quarterly staff were forced to watch the movie three times by Features Editor Ashley ("Aubrey") Wells, who seemed to be experiencing some kind of enlightening experience or catharsis from the story. Who knows why the Dharma Editor allowed except that he liked the movie, too. It does grow on a person and is not bad but only compared to Hollywood's ordinary output. It has legs; it came in eighth place in the Top Ten this week.

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"YogaWoman" (film)

YogaWoman.TV; Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

(YogawomanTV) Movie now showing in Los Angeles and other major markets

 

The wonders of inner peace (Yogag33k)

Yoga, as spiritual exercises and an ancient Vedic philosophy, was brought to the West from India by a lineage of male teachers (gurus) and their disciples (chelas). But now a generation of women are leading the way. They're strong, they're inspiring, and they're radically changing people's lives. "YogaWoman" is a groundbreaking film, uncovering a global phenomenon that has forever changed the face of yoga.

  
Comments

Shiva-Shakti, the masculine-feminine in everyon

(Notch76) I am a man, and I practice yoga, but my understanding is that a major aspect of the practice is the move toward dissolving the ego along with any attachment to one's identity (including gender) in favor of a realized oneness with all. That being said, I don't take issue with the fact many women find peace, comfort, and strength through yoga practice. I think it's beautiful when anyone makes such a discovery.
  
(Wendyness01 replying to MagicPonyRides) Unless you have "exposure" in the yoga community (the "casting couch" approach works), one's ability to make a living teaching yoga is VERY limiting. I know several yoga teachers who can't make a living teaching yoga so they "mate poach." Most yoga teachers that I know here in the West are female, NOT married, and DON'T have children. Not very empowering.
  
(ChannelStudioPeace) How fantastic! A film about yoga and women! Yoga's a wonderful way of entering sacred space, feeling your power, and experiencing the connection to yourself and the universe around you. It's interesting how the cycle has shifted from yoga being practiced and taught exclusively by men at one time to today it being practiced and taught almost exclusively by women. As a female practitioner and yoga teacher, I can't wait to see the movie!
  
(Wayne Barrow) As a male with only a cursory interest in yoga, I was blown away by this insightful film as it gave me a fascinating insight into this noble art from a female perspective. I wish the filmmakers and people involved in the production all the best for producing a quality and entertaining product. I wish people would actually see the documentary all the way through before passing judgment!

• YogaMan? Too bad men can't do yoga!

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Punk Rock: My Career as a Jerk (video)

Johnny Whiteside (LAWeekly.com); Cinefamily.org; Wisdom Quarterly

(BlankTV) From the Net's biggest, uncensored, completely D.I.Y. punk, hardcore, indie, and alternative music video site, BlankTV.com

The Circle Jerks were always one of the most explosive, engaging, and wildly enjoyable forces in punk rock: a militant shock troupe whose mixture of frantic hedonism, naked aggression, withering whimsy, and walloping music was never less than flabbergasting. 
  

There ain't hyperbole lurid enough to attempt to began to convey the heat and velocity at which the band has consistently operated, a fact that makes the arrival of director Dave Markey's jolting new jerkumentary, Circle Jerks: My Career as a Jerk, such a welcome event.

  
For those who experienced firsthand the group's weaponized punk-rock stylings, it's a glorious reminder of how dangerous some types of pleasure can be; for those just immersing themselves in the Keith Morris-brewed vat of glorious self-destructo shenanigans, it's a vivid look into punk's artistic past that rates as equal parts instruction manual and Scared Straight cautionary tale.
  

Filmmaker Markey will join band members Greg Hetson and Lucky Lehrer for a post-mortem gab fest. Don't be stupid, kids; go! Part of the Don't Knock The Rock Festival. Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N Fairfax Ave., Hollywood; Thursday, Aug. 30, 7:30 pm; $12. (323) 655-2510.

UPDATE

Review: The movie is great! Wisdom Quarterly was on the scene as 75% of the members announced that they were ready to reunite. Unfortunately, Keith Morris missed the first showing and was only later seen crossing the street to the venue after all the voting members on stage for the Q&A had adjourned to partake of free refreshments in the open-air patio. But during the movie, Morris repeatedly alluded to being open to the possibility of joining the original members and making a go of it to bring a new generation of punks hits like this:
 
"Paid [Afghan] Vacation"

"I hope you're having fun. Where's your uniform? Where's your gun? Better rub up that suntan oil 'Cause you'll be fighting in the hot sun. It's not Vietnam, It's another oil company scam. Salute that flag for Uncle Sam. Get your money out, place your bets, It's Afghanistan! Fix bayonets, check grenades. Got enough bullets, Got enough rounds to wipe out this place? We're the infantry and the cavalry. Parachutes fill the sky, Bodies burn, and people die..."

• VIDEO: Circle Jerks live at the House of Blues
• FYF Indy Music Festival expands to two days in LA 

   

Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) at Occupy San Francisco

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"Craving" the movie (Trishna)

IFCfilms.com/films/Trishna; Trishna the Movie

Slumdog Millionaire's breakout starlet Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed co-star, with original songs by Amit Trivedi and an original score by Shigeru Umebayashi, in Trishna (Sanskrit tṛṣṇā, "craving," Pali tanha). Shot in India and based on the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, TRISHNA is the story of a girl named Trishna.

She lives with her family in a village in Rajasthan, India's largest state. As the eldest daughter, she works in a nearby resort to help pay the bills. Jay (Riz Ahmed) is the wealthy son of a property developer. When he takes up managing a resort at his father's request, he meets Trishna at a dance and fate takes its course: Jay finds every opportunity to win Trishna's affection, and she accepts his advances with shy curiosity. But when the two move to Bombay (Mumbai) and become a couple, Jay's deep family bonds threaten the young lovers' bliss.
 
Produced by Melissa Parmenter and directed and shot with Michael Winterbottom's agile camera, TRISHNA is a powerful look at the tension between ancient privilege in India and modern equality, between codes of urban and rural life. Ultimately it is a hymn to both the glory and the tragedy that accompanies beauty in all forms. 

• Twitter: updates and information @TrishnaMovie

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"Killing Buddha" - the movie (video)

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

(CFL) Betsy Chasse, co-writer/producer of "What the Bleep Do We Know?!," on her latest independent film, "Killing Buddha."

There is a horrific Mahayana Buddhist expression that -- going against the very heart of Theravada Buddhist sentiment -- runs: “If you see the Buddha on the road, [blank] him.”
     
There are, after all, only five heinous deeds with fixed karmic results: (1) intentionally harming a buddha, (2) matricide, (3) patricide, (4) killing an arhat, (5) or causing a schism in the Sangha.
  
The consequence is rebirth in the most dismal subhuman plane of existence (avici) in the very next rebirth. Cultivating the intention to perform one of these unimaginable acts is mental karma that goes on to become a verbal act of encouraging others. What does it mean?

It is meant to be facetious, ironic, and shocking: “Do not follow teachers; do not set up others on a pedestal; depend on yourself; be a light/island (dipa) unto yourself, taking no teacher other than the Dharma itself as an idol or savior.”
   
An American famous for creating “What the Bleep Do We Know?” is setting her sights on Buddhism. Betsy Chasse was perplexed by the message “You are the one you've been waiting for.” But it came to her through what has become a Mahayana commandment of sorts:
  

Linji the shocking iconoclast

“Embrace Nothing. If you meet the Buddha, k*ll the Buddha… only live your life as it is, not bound to anything.” This saying is attributed to iconoclastic Linji, the 9th century founder of the Linji School of Chán (Chinese jhana) Buddhism.
   

Linji's famous sayings

“Followers of the Way [of Chán], if you want to get the kind of understanding that accords with the Dharma, never be misled by others. Whether you're facing inward or facing outward, whatever you meet up with, just kill it! If you meet a [fully awakened] buddha, kill the buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your kinfolk, kill your kinfolk. Then for the first time you will gain emancipation, will not be entangled with things, will pass freely anywhere you wish to go” (Burston Watson, 1999, The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi: A Translation of the Lin-chi lu, p. 52).

  

“Those who have fulfilled the 10 stages of bodhisattva-practice are no better than hired field hands; those who have attained the enlightenment of the 51st and 52nd stages are prisoners shackled and bound; arhats and non-teaching buddhas are so much filth in the latrine; bodhi and nirvana are hitching posts for donkeys” (Ibid., p. 26). 

    
The Next "What the Bleep?!"  
Chasse wants help. She is asking the public (through crowdfundinglive.com) to participate in this project at any level. Watch videos from the set, look at behind the scenes footage, chat online with the cast and the film makers, and more. She is exchanging these enticements for funding.
   

While distributing What The Bleep Do We Know?! Chasse was honored to travel the world talking about the film. The most common question people asked was, “How did a broke, out of work, spiritually unconscious, material Valley Girl who was into sex, tequila, and expensive shoes end up being a writer, director and producer of What the Bleep Do We Know!?”
   
Sometimes it takes the most unlikely of people in the most unusual of circumstances to create something that touches the world like “Bleep” did. The story Chasse told was so funny and resonated with so many people that she decided to write a film about it, a comedy called “Killing Buddha.” 
  

About-Team-Financial-Media-Updates-Funders-Comments

  

Synopsis

When life is chaotic we are forced to change. This is a lesson successful film producer Sara Wells reluctantly learns when her seemingly perfect life comes crashing down. Desperate for work, she takes on a documentary project about spirituality and the new thought movement. Will “Killing Buddha” mark her triumphant return to the riches she thinks her life once contained?
  
Or will she and her mismatched crew of seekers, believers, and cynics find that ultimately it’s not what you have and what you believe in, but who you become that counts? Think “Bridget Jones gets hired to shoot a documentary about finding the meaning of life.”
   
Funny and lighthearted, “Killing Buddha” is a mainstream comedy that is set to include interviews with some of today's greatest pop spiritual teachers -- Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, and others interacting with the actors as they shoot this “film within the film.”
   

Why make the film?

“Killing Buddha” is a reminder that everything we seek can be found within ourselves. More

• VIDEO: Betsy Chasse interview on Cutting Edge Consciousness
• The four most important civil rights hero(ine)s today 
• Dr. Coldwell's 3-day Success Bootcamp
  

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Tibet: "Unmistaken Child" (full movie)

48adidaphat; Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddhist concept of rebirth -- often poorly translated as "reincarnation" -- while both mysterious and enchanting, is hard for most Westerners to grasp.

UNMISTAKEN CHILD follows the four-year search for the reincarnation of Lama Konchog, a world-renowned Tibetan master who passed away in 2001 at the age of 84.

The 14th Dalai Lama, who himself is believed to be the same being reborn on Earth life after life to save or protect the people of Tibet, charges the deceased monk's devoted disciple, Tenzin Zopa (who had been in his service since the age of seven), to search for his master's reincarnation.

Tenzin sets off on this unforgettable quest on foot, mule, and even helicopter, through breathtaking landscapes and remote traditional Tibetan villages. Along the way Tenzin listens to stories about young children with special characteristics and performs rarely seen ritualistic tests designed to determine the likelihood of reincarnation.

He eventually presents the child he believes to be his reincarnated master to the Dalai Lama so he can make the final decision.

Stunningly shot, UNMISTAKEN CHILD is a beguiling, surprising, touching, and humorous experience.

• Download DVD ISO (mediafire.com)
• Download MKV
  

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Another "Buddha" - Padmasambhava (video)

Buddhist Films; Wisdom Quarterly
(DharmaPublishingBookstore.com)

This is the dramatic story not of Maitreya, the Buddha-to-come, but of the ancient Indian Buddhist missionary Guru Padmasambhava. He was born in Udhyana -- modern Swat Valley, Pakistan -- and traveled across mountains and icy desert plains, moving across the spectacular Himalayas and finally reaching the Tibetan Plateau. Benoy K. Behl created this film to tell his story of one of the most forceful personalities of all history. Padmasambhava, with his magic and flamboyant masked dances, dominated the Rooftop of the World within his lifetime and is still revered today.

  

Behl in Berkeley

Mangalam Centers and the Tibetan Nyingma Institute in Berkeley co-sponsored a special screening of art historian and photographer Benoy K. Behl’s film “The Second Buddha.” The filmmaker was present to discuss his work and take questions with Mangalam Research Center director Jack Petranker. The program included Sylvia Gretchen, the Dean of the Nyingma Institute, on the importance of Padmasambhava in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
  
“The Second Buddha” follows the journey of Guru Padmasambhava, an emanation of the Mahayana “Buddha” Amitabha who is regarded as the founder of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet and Bhutan.
  
The 25-minute film traces segments of Guru Padmasambhava’s journey across the Himalayas and the cold, high deserts of the Tibetan Plateau. According to Behl, the film tells “one of the greatest true stories of the world and is also the story of one of the most forceful personalities in all history.” More
   

(Myo Edizioni)

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Brains are cool! (Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor)

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (drjilltaylor.com); Wisdom Quarterly

Dr. Jill "Brain Eye to Eye" (Kip May)

The Brain Extravaganza! was launched in Bloomington, Indiana, in April 2012. Brains, brains, brains! Big beautiful anatomically correct brains with 12 pairs of cranial nerves and all the gyri and sulci one could ever want.

  

There are 22 enormous fiberglass brains (5 feet long, 5 feet high, and 4 feet wide) in the hands of the artists who painted/decorated them for the extravaganza. This thrills Dr. Jill's heart, she explains.

   

Every brain will have a sign attached. On the sign will read five facts about the brain and a special question. Download a really cool mobile app at jbtbrains.org to paint your own brain. Then compare it to other brains, upload the image to Facebook [so the government can get a copy for your file], and talk brains, brains, brains. "YaY! Brains are cool!" the doctor and author of My Stroke of Insight insists. More

• Enlightenment by stroke
• On the heels of her viral sensation TED Talk, Harvard neuroscientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor wrote My Stroke of Insight. She was interviewed by Teri Gross on "Fresh Air."
• Hemorrhaging Nirvana
• Top 10 quirky facts about mass-produced food
• PHOTOS: Thai novices and the "Second King Monk" 

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"BuddhaFest" Film Festival (video)

BuddhaFest.org 2012 Washington, D.C. adjacent

UPDATES - TICKETS + SCHEDULE - FILMS + TALKS - SPEAKERS + TEACHERS - VENUE INFO - HOTEL INFO - SHORT FILMS SHOWCASE - FESTIVAL SPONSORS - SLIDE SHOW - PICTURE GALLERY - FROM THE FOUNDERS - BUDDHAFEST POSTER - PRESS ROOM - CONTACT

BuddhaFestDC, presented by Tricycle, means four days of 
spiritual cinema, meditation, and talks in the DC area.

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"Yogis of Tibet" (film)

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Jeffrey Pill (video); Ayya Khema (book)

The fabled land of Tibet, with Lhasa its capital and Potala Palace its heart (nekorpa.org)

  

(IAmHanuMan)For the first time, the reclusive and secretive Tibetan Buddhist monks (yogis and lamas) agree to discuss aspects of their philosophy and allow themselves to be filmed while performing their ancient practices. They do this to preserve an extraordinary culture being eradicated. Directed by Jeffrey M. Pill.

   

Himalayan Buddhist flags (Bhakti Omwoods)

Once upon a time in Tibet, when people followed the ancient Indian ascetic practices (of the Buddha and the Brahmins) prevalent on the subcontinent below, there were real-life mystics and magicians. Magic and Mystery in Tibet was an early western title by Alexandra David-Neel, embroidered and exaggerated to boost sales. But it hinted at the perplexity of what was possible in the Himalayan wilds, in the isolated home of seers (rishis), Bon wizards, partial shamans, and Buddhist wanderers. It is famously said, "Not all who wander are lost." While the austerities and mortifications once prevalent in Tibet may have reached extremes beyond the Buddha's "sane asceticism" (dhutanga), it produced and kept alive many of the feats that set Indian spirituality apart. This eventuality of taking secrets out into the world beyond the Himalayas did not come entirely as a surprise.
  

There was a prophecy that said, "When the Iron Bird Flies," the title of Western Theravada nun and meditation master Ayya Khema's book, "the Dharma [Buddhism] would reach the West." Like many Native American prophecies, we do not realize that they have come true until we look back on them. The "iron birds" were planes in the Age of Flight a time when we also re-entered the secret Space Age. The ages are cyclical. This is not the first time earthlings have flown in metal "birds." The long-lived devas remind us, and we can develop the capacity to look back to verify it. The bigger question is, What will we do with the liberating Dharma?

• David-Neel: On Tibetan Buddhist Hermits

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"Safety Not Guaranteed" (trailer)

Wisdom Quarterly; MovieclipsTRAILERS

From the producers of "Little Miss Sunshine" comes a great summer movie for 2012. When an unusual classified ad inspires three cynical Seattle magazine employees to look for the story behind it, they discover a mysterious eccentric. Kenneth is a likable but paranoid supermarket clerk, who believes he's solved the riddle of time travel, and he intends to depart again soon. Together with snarky indie Aubrey Plaza as a magazine intern, they embark on a hilarious, smart, and unexpectedly heartfelt journey that reveals how far believing can take us. It also features Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, and Derek Connolly.

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"You Don't Know Jack." The Real Jack Kevorkian.

As someone who supports a terminal patient's, "right to die "(euthanasia) I am really interested in a new movie out about the famous Dr. Jack Kavorkian. It will soon be aired in America on the HBO cable channel on April 24th. Dr. Kevorkian is a champion of the rights of people to die with dignity. He is known world wide for personally assisting many terminally ill people kill themselves:

In each of the above mentioned cases, the individuals themselves allegedly took the final action which resulted in their own deaths. Kevorkian allegedly assisted only by attaching the individual to a euthanasia device that he had made. The individual then pushed a button which released the drugs or chemicals that would end his or her own life. Two deaths were assisted by means of a device which delivered the euthanizing drugs mechanically through an IV. Kevorkian called it a "Thanatron" (death machine). Other people were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide which was called "Mercitron" (mercy machine). This became necessary because Kevorkian's medical license had been revoked after the first two deaths, and he could no longer have legal access to the substances required for the "Thanatron".

Handsome B. Wonderful: Here is the trailer for the movie, "You Don't Know Jack:"
Handsome B. Wonderful: Why is that we not only allow for our beloved pets to die peaceful by lethal injection but see it as merciful action, yet we won't allow humans to die the same way? That's backwards, inhumane and unnecessary. Why should terminally ill people have to slowly and painfully waste away in a hospital bed as the family helplessly watches? I don't care if people find it morally offensive and "sinful" because death is a very personal issue.

Yes, suffering is inevitable as well as death but what about unecessary suffering? At what point does allowing the continuance of physical suffering become cruel? At what point does it become the merciful and compassionate thing to help people pass into their next life peacefully if they consent to such an action? If we are to embrace death as we are taught in Buddhism then why should we Buddhists oppose a terminally ill patient's right to die? If a person is barely alive anyway and just in constant anguish then I think forcing someone to stay alive at that point is cruel. Some say that Buddha died from poisoned mushrooms and that he knew it before he ate them, so couldn't one argue that he was engaging in voluntary euthanasia?

What lessons can be learned in slowly watching yourself (or a loved one) die from cancer as you bleed from every orifice on your body or in spending months wracked in pain throughout your core? You might say that the terrible suffering teaches that suffering is inevitable but I think a person would get that lesson right quick after a few days of their body slowly and excruciatingly painfully turning on them. So, then what do they do after that point? They suffering needlessly. Or, you might answer that modern drugs allow the patient to be quite comfortable during the dying process but I would argue then, "Isn't that already a form of voluntary euthanasia?" Those pain drugs numb people out so much that they might as well be dead because they basically just put them into a chemically induced coma.

If doctors are going to decide to drug a person up so that they are basically unconscious most of the time then what is the point of that?? What can the family learn from such a situation besides the unnecessary suffering of their loved one? I would think that the loved one's and family and friends would learn more by knowing ahead of time when the person was going to die and that way everyone could spend precious time with their loved one and exchange love and sincere feelings knowing that these would be their last days/hours/minutes with them. It would also allow everyone to arrange to be present upon the passing of the terminally ill person so that no one would have to go through unnecessary suffering by knowing that they missed the last minutes of their loved one's life.

And what about in the Jataka stories (stories of the Buddha's previous lives) where, as a Bodhisattva, the Buddha slits his own throat so that starving tiger cubs may feed off his blood? (The Hungry Tigress).

There was also the case of Vietnamese Buddhist monks in the 1960s who set themselves alight in protest against anti-Buddhist policies.

In the end religious arguments shouldn't matter because we don't make laws based on religious beliefs. As long as the action is taken willingly and by consent from a psychologist that they are in a frame of mind to make that decision then I think it should be legal. We have freedom of religion in this country, so I won't tell you what to believe as long as you afford me the same respect. If you are terminally ill, I shouldn't be able to force you to be injected with a lethal drug if you don't wish but that also means that you shouldn't be able to force me not to be able to die that way. As Dr. Kevorkian says, "Dying is not a crime."

(Some of this post was put together with quotes from a previous post on this issue).

---End of Transmission---

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