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The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:15 am
by householder
Has anyone (in the UK) watched?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ist_World/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pretty simplistic as expected, but full of pretty shots of various impressive monuments. Never heard of the one in LA though! Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:44 am
by cooran
householder said:: Nice little shots of Wat Pho too, which I'm about to jet off to in 6 hours!
Can't see the movie here in Australia - but enjoy your trip!

with metta
Chris

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:37 am
by PeterB
Yes, we watched it two nights ago.
First off its wildly ambitious. It attempts a potted history of Dhamma in all its cultural and developmental diversity in one and a quarter hours........
Secondly its choices of location seem odd.
The presenter for example to illustrate Zen visits a Chan Temple in California, but hardly even mentions Japan..
Having said that the presenter ( Bettany Hughes ) is clearly sympatico and is articulate and highly professional.
She is a historian who has fronted a number of TV history documentary. She is both learned and telegenic, which keeps her busy in front of TV cameras.. There is input from both Uma Thurman's dad, and Richard Gombrich who comes across like a parody of a Teutonic academic...
It is beautifully filmed.
I think it may well arouse an interest in some of its viewers. And thats about as much as one can expect from a populist TV programme isnt it ?

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 1:28 pm
by Mawkish1983
I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:17 pm
by PeterB
Mawkish1983 wrote:I just watched it. I think the presenter pronounces Theravada in an odd way and badly misrepresents some of the Dhamma (for example; kamma and punabbhava). I think it fails as a sightseeing film (it missed some key locations in favour of big shiny statues) and as an educational film. I found it disappointing.
I think she was actually rephrasing Gombrichs rather odd interpretation of kamma.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:34 pm
by PeterB
I can only recall six of them David...
Bodhgaya
Bodhinath Temple in Katmandhu
The Temple Of The Tooth in Kandy
Wat Pho in Bangkok
Angkor Wat and
Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco.
David N. Snyder wrote:Since it can only be viewed in the UK, can one of you who saw it list the 7 wonders mentioned in the documentary?

I have a similar list here: http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1905" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and here:

8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

My list is probably more 'Theravada' biased, compared to the BBC version, which I am sure will have plenty of Mahayana buildings.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:32 pm
by DNS
PeterB wrote:I can only recall six of them David...
Bodhgaya
Bodhinath Temple in Katmandhu
The Temple Of The Tooth in Kandy
Wat Pho in Bangkok
Angkor Wat and
Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco.
Thanks PeterB.

Hsi Lai is actually in Los Angeles. http://www.hsilai.org/en/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is the largest temple in the Western Hemisphere, in terms of square footage, about 105,000 square feet in about 10 buildings. My wife and I visit it often.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:41 pm
by PeterB
I beg its pardon...Just shows why I shouldn't try to rely on my memory... :smile:

:namaste:

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 11:27 pm
by Mawkish1983
Mawkish1983 wrote:I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.
Wow, my post was negative! Sorry, I must have been in a grumpy mood that day.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:35 am
by imagemarie
Mawkish1983 wrote:
Mawkish1983 wrote:I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.
Wow, my post was negative! Sorry, I must have been in a grumpy mood that day.
And here's me thinking you were telling it how it is :tongue:

:anjali:

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:44 am
by Mawkish1983
imagemarie wrote:
Mawkish1983 wrote:
Mawkish1983 wrote:I just watched it... ...I found it disappointing.
Wow, my post was negative! ...
And here's me thinking you were telling it how it is
I was, but I could have tried to find some positive points to mention (even though I still cannot think of any) :)

"If you cannot say anything nice..." springs to mind.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:36 pm
by datlone
Where did the Biggest Reclining Buddha of Afganistan go?
Where did the Golden Mount of Burma go?
Where did the Historic Ancient Buddhist temples go?
Where did the Tripitaka Marble Slabs (worlds largest book) go?

Hsi Lai Temple in San Francisco? I am pretty sure there are many other Wonders in Asia more wondrous than this.

It is obvious that the narrator didnt do the research properly.
And she didnt even know what she was talking about regarding Buddhism.

Such an disappointment.

The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 6:17 pm
by Skeptic
These Wonders of The Buddhist World also deserves to be mentioned:

Image

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand

Image

Shwezigon Paya, Nyaung-U, Myanmar

Image

Uppatasanti Paya, Naypyitaw, Myanmar

Image

Bagan, Myanmar

Image

Shwemawdaw Paya, Bago, Myanmar

Re: The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 6:47 pm
by DNS
Since the BBC show topic has also morphed into what should be the 7 or 8 wonders of the Buddhist world in general, I have merged it with this existing topic.

In the OP for this topic, my choices are based on:

Maha Bodhi Temple (most important site for Buddhists and in Bodh Gaya)
And additional choices based on having at least one representative from Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, considering their importance to Buddhism, especially Theravada Buddhism.
World's largest book of any kind (the one in Burma, the Tipitaka on marble slabs) seems very appropriate
Angkor Wat (largest Buddhist temple in the world, which is also a Theravada temple since about the year 1200).
And then gotta have the internet, after all here we are discussing Dhamma on quite an invention that connects kalyana mittas from around the world. :coffee:

Re: The 8 Wonders of the Buddhist World

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 2:15 am
by householder
The Internet doesn't translate well visually for TV though! :P

+1 for Shwedagon. Haven't been to the other sights in Myanmar yet - Naypyidaw is a full day's return journey from Yangon and I didn't have enough time here for that, but will do next time.

My initial reaction was that the place had a similar atmosphere to Boudhanath Stupa which I visited last year, but it's markedly more mundane. It's a religious site and there's plenty of devotion and meditation and ritual going on, but that's intertwined with general social congregation and activity. It's quite hard to describe - it's awe-inspiring but at the same time without pomp.