Tales with My Lama: Going to the movies with Rinpoche
Pastor David has been a student of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche for over 15 years. Within the ‘Tales With My Lama’ series of articles, he explores his spiritual relationship with Rinpoche, sharing anecdotes, stories, observations and little Dharma nuggets. It is all told to inspire others for their own spiritual relationship with their teachers.
Tales with My Lama: Going to the movies with Rinpoche
His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche often said that watching movies was one of his guilty pleasures — especially on long days spent indoors in his room. Over the years, Rinpoche watched a tremendous number of movies, and developed a particular preference for horror movies, sci-fi flicks, classic movies and on rare occasions, the odd kung fu movie. Rinpoche rarely went out unless there was something important to accomplish for the Dharma, so Rinpoche watched most of these movies at his residence.
When Rinpoche lived in India, there wasn’t a TV in the whole monastery, so there was no chance of watching a movie. Instead, Rinpoche sometimes took the young monks under his tutelage on holidays to the nearest town. There, Rinpoche rented a TV and they all binge-watched movies together. It was on one such occasion that they watched Star Wars. The younger monks realised that the sounds the furry Ewoks made was actually Tibetan. They squealed in delight when they made out little Tibetan words. It was moments like these that gave Rinpoche joy and he continued to do this even in Malaysia, amongst older lay students and friends.
I’m one of the few people who watched many movies with Rinpoche over the years. In fact, it was Rinpoche who introduced me to many horror movies, from slasher thrillers like the Hitchcock classics and Psycho, to supernatural ones like the more recent Insidious and Hellraiser, and even to the lesser known Jeepers Creepers. In between these types of movies, Rinpoche watched plenty of classic Hollywood films, particularly those that starred Bette Davis, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor and so forth.
I think those who knew Rinpoche would probably have watched cult classics like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and the camp musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There are also movies that Rinpoche recommended his students to watch and share due to their inherent spiritual and inspirational qualities. These include What’s Love Got to do With It? – a biopic of Tina Turner’s life, Hachiko – the retelling of a true Japanese tale of an extraordinarily loyal dog, several thought-provoking episodes of the original Star Trek series, and many others. In this manner, Rinpoche was not just about teaching Dharma in the traditional sense.
During his time in Malaysia, Rinpoche went out for dinner on occasion and sometimes took his students and friends to the movies as well. After that, Rinpoche often took us to have supper and if the movie was good, Rinpoche would ask us about our opinion of the movie’s plot or about the characters. Once we had all finished talking, Rinpoche revealed his thoughts at the end. We were usually held spellbound when Rinpoche explained his thoughts, as they would open our minds to a different and bigger perspective of human emotions, compassion and the world we live in.
Although the movie may have nothing to do with the Dharma, Rinpoche’s insightful opinion always reflected Dharmic values and wisdom. Rinpoche did this often and over the years, he arranged for Kechara’s various departments to have their own movie nights as well. There was always plenty of popcorn and drinks for everyone. This was without Rinpoche’s direct involvement, but it became somewhat of a bonding experience for those who work for Kechara.
Rinpoche also often organised little movie nights at Kechara Forest Retreat. We didn’t just watch movies but documentaries too. Naturally, Rinpoche invited residents, staff and volunteers for this and would intersperse the viewing with observations and explanations so the audience understood the context better. That was how Rinpoche continued to use movies and documentaries as a medium to expose his students to knowledge, insight and the world at large.
Rinpoche featured some of these documentaries on his blog to create greater awareness. Examples include Earthling, which is an epic revelation on the massive exploitation of animals, and docu-movies such as Words of My Perfect Teacher, which details the spiritual journey of a student seeking his teacher, and several others.
My last movie with Rinpoche, not long before Rinpoche was admitted to the hospital was a Star Trek movie. On that day, Rinpoche had an audience with a guest and soon after, he retired to his room. It was late and I thought Rinpoche would do his sadhana and have an early night. However, Rinpoche gestured for me to sit next to him as he played Star Trek V: The Final Frontier on his computer. The movie is about the search for a mythical planet, She Ka Ree, beyond an impenetrable barrier near the centre of the galaxy, where creation began and where God resides.
Rinpoche usually watched movies while doing a dozen other things like his sadhana or checking his messages. However, in this instance I recall Rinpoche paid full attention and was absorbed in the movie. In hindsight, perhaps Rinpoche knew that he was enjoying the movie for the last time.
Even with something as simple as watching a movie, Rinpoche left a lasting legacy of enjoyment coupled with learning and exposing our minds to culture, people and spirituality.
For more interesting information:
- Tales With My Lama: The Geshe Who Loved Butter
- Tales With My Lama: Rinpoche’s Heruka Statue
- Tales With My Lama: Rinpoche on a ‘Holiday’
- Tales With My Lama: Dorje Shugden on The Head
- Tales With My Lama: What is the New News?
- Tales With My Lama: Rinpoche Felt He Was More Indian
- Tales With My Lama: What Does Rinpoche Like About Liz Taylor?
- Tales With My Lama: Daily Practice
- Tales With My Lama: Laugh Away Your Ego
- Tales With My Lama: Why Rinpoche Has To Suffer
- Tales With My Lama: Larger Than Life
- Tales With My Lama: Manjushri
- Tales With My Lama: Audience With Tsem Rinpoche
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Beautiful sharing Pastor David , a better insight of Rinpoche through your real life stories and observations to inspire us. Going to the movies with Rinpoche for the last will forever a great memories for Pastor. It is all about the richness of the Rinpoche’s life which Rinpoche had accomplished to benefit many of us and more to come through his profound teachings. What Rinpoche had left behind is woven into the lives of us. Beautiful sharing .
Thank you Pastor David.
Thank you Pastor David for your lovely sharing. I went for movies with Rinpoche together with ladrang team many years back. At that time i was serving at Rinpoche’s Ladrang kitchen hence was invited to come along. Pastor David was one of us too. I remembered we watched a horror movie. It was not really about ghosts but something really scary. I was holding on to my breath from beginning until the end. The movie story got nothing to do with dharma yet it reflected dharma value inside which i realised it much later.
How incredibly meritorious you are Pastor David to learn from Rinpoche on and off his throne. May your samaya with Rinpoche be ever so perfect and may people like us get to learn from Rinpoche again and again from his new incarnation till we achieve our spiritual potential too. 🙏✨🌟