Viewers cinematically follow Burger’s hikes through these beautiful
mountains, meeting Buddhist monk hermits and encountering their
wisdom stories and ways of living. We gain an immediate sense from this
film of the forest recluse tradition of Chinese Buddhism. Variations of
this tradition are followed today in two other places, in Tibet and in
Thailand, In Japan, religious practice in some schools calls for periods of
lone wandering retreat, but such monks are attached to monasteries, unlike
the reclusive (as opposed to monastery-dwelling) monks of China,
Tibet, or Thailand.
One problem with the film is the dubbed background music and
chanting, which often obscure the narrator’s voice-over. Aside from this
reviewer’s perhaps idiosyncratic response to the music, I highly recommend
this film for courses in comparative religions, Buddhism, and China
Studies. However, instructors should be knowledgeable about Chinese
Buddhism and/or Buddhism in general because the film does not offer
explicit explanations of Buddhist teachings. Students will have questions
about the meaning of the monks' teachings in this film, which should
provoke opportunities for extended discussions.