Pilgrimage: A Film Review cum Reflection -- by Shu Lian

Recently, the Singapore International Film Festival showcased two film-documentaries, Pilgrimage and Wheel of Time by internationally acclaimed German historical and cultural film-maker, Werner Hezrog. Both depicted two real-life pilgrimages undertaken by Catholic and Tibetan Buddhists in the Phillipines and Bodhygaya, India. They were profoundly moving and illuminating in portraying relevant issues and conflicts we encounter and grapple with in our own spiritual paths, regardless of religious belief or inclination.

Wheel of Time documented the kalachakra Initiation conducted by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Bodhygaya, India, in 2002. Widely revered as the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara by millions of Buddhists around the world, the initiation attracted over five-hundred thousand pilgrims all over the word. Despite Chinese oppression and the difficulties of traveling to India, pilgrims from Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, China, and the West made dedicated efforts to attend this extremely precious and rarely conferred empowerment.

The kalachakra

Kalachakra is a Sanskrit word meaning "cycles of time". The actual practice is a complex one involving mastery and transcendence of time-birth, death, and our own karmic tides-which keep us bound to the wheel of birth and death. However in this case, His Holiness took this opportunity to unite people all over the world in peace, love and harmony.

The documentary began with the creation and consecration of the Kalachakra Mandala, which according to the Dalai Lama is a representation of the universe, its inhabitants and everything that can be found within it spiritually and materially. It is a microscopic but no less real creation of the world to be realized through the initiate's faith and creative visualization powers. This was when I witnessed how immensely powerful a ritual can be in directly enabling us access to something richer and bigger than what the limitations of our perceptual ordinary mind allow for.

Even though the director Werner Hezrog is not a Buddhist, he has an intuitive and emphatic feel for his subject. He got into the heart of the matter by looking into the myriad and different experiences of the pilgrims. Thus, the initation was viewed as something bigger than the experience of a single individual. For example, he interviewed a lama who came from such a remote part of Tibet that two translators were needed to translate his words in English. Spending three-and-a-half years traveling from Tibet to Bodhygaya by full-length prostrations all along the way, his jouney was itself an act of purification beginning far before the actual initiation.

This was also seen in many Tibetan pilgrims who staunchly and willingly bore great physical hardship to arrive at Bodhygaya without what to us, would be creature comforts in terrain where temperatures can soar well below zero degrees. Which brought to mind just how totally integrated and strong faith and devotion was in their daily lives, without the separation between the spirtual and the material aspects. This journey of purification was done with a spontaneous naturalness, commitment and devotion joyfully coming together.

If pilgrimages are concerned with healing the spirit, purifying the murky layers of grime which we have accumulated through aeons of conditioning and delusion before we can truly realize our interconnectedness with all beings, the mundane, physical aspect of the documentary paralleled this. From the shared laughter to breathing the dust and pollution-riddled streets of the city, the pilgrims all experienced the raw, organic texture of this healing journey.

Ursula Le Guin, a famous science-fiction writer once wrote something to the effect that the point of a journey lay precisely in being able to return home; to come full circle to the innate purity and goodness of the heart. As His Holiness, the Dalai Lama commented in relation to the meaning of the mandala, it is actually means putting oneself at the centre of the universe, but without the egoistical referencing to the "I", "me" and "mine". We are vast enough to accommodate the whole universe inside ourselves, just as the universe is huge enough to accommodate us without difficlty; everyone is the centre without conflict.

But all is not all gloom and doom. Upon hearing His Holiness's explanation, the director laughed and said his wife would not be too happy hearing he was the centre of the universe!

At the same time, the ephemeral and empty nature of all things underlies everything. This was sharply highlighted because the initiation was postponed because His Holiness's health was not up to the grueling commitments of such a wide-scale initiation. The camera shot on 500,000 empty cushions when everyone had left where once there were 500,000 people and barely enough space between was a piercing reminder of how even on a spiritual journey with the purest motivation, things don't always process according to plan.

On the other hand, the initiation did end on a happy note. It was carried out in Graz, Austria, demonstrating that the seeds of Buddhism are blooming in the West and finding a wider context.

In contrast, Pilgrimage, the second documentary, depicted a Catholic festival where its participants expiated their sins in a symbolic reenactment of Jesus's suffering. What stood out very strongly in this short documentary of about twenty minutes was the blend of the pilgrims' great faith and devotion to Jesus as well as the immense pain and patience they underwent. On bare bended knees without the protection of clothing, they made their way on rough unpaved cobbled pavements and stairs to reach the church.

Watching the documentary, it was hard not to be moved by the suffering the pilgrims endured. Their facial expressions of pain, despair, courage, faith and devotion spoke volumes more than any description. It was almost unbearable to witness so much physical pain and suffering on the part of the pilgrims and wonder to what lengths will we go to expiate our perception of sin? Was this willingness of enduring such extreme suffering borne of self-hatred of oneself-and how much? Did they believe they wee eternally damned because of sin which, horrifically could never be purged? Or did it come from true understanding, courage, faith and love in the essential goodness? Was I also imposing my own spiritual and cultural understanding and preconceptions on what to the participants was completely natural?

The two films demonstrated that despite differences in religious labels -- Catholic or Buddhist, all genuine pilgrimages of whatever religious persuasion come from the heart, revolve round acts of sacrifice, patience, endurance and an ability to transcend the limitaions of our ordinary egocentred minds and actions. And ultimately, the unshakeable conviction within the heart, of its knowing goodness and highest aspirations.