One of the most learned and highly trained American-born lamas in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. He is a meditation teacher and author.
Last night I saw the controversial Borat film, which I found hilarious, interesting and provocative. It’s a combination of Archie Bunker, Andie Kaufman, and my friend Stephen Colbert’s facetious approach to social commentary. I recommend it to you, unless you’re hyper-sensitive about anti-semitism.
Borat, who is actually a British comedian named Sacha Baron Cohen (who’s Jewish on his parents’ side), plays his altar ego Borat the Filmmaker-Journalist from Kazakhstan as a know-nothing first-time tourist in America — not unlike the characters from the Third Rock from the Sun TV sitcom, who are visiting us earthlings incognito in human forms.
In the process of discovering Americal, Borat the Bagnificant hangs of our prejudices and bigotry out to dry in the sun, for all to see — which takes nerve. I bongratulate him for doing it… And hope he doesn’t take on us imperfect Buddhists and our foibles and blindspots next!
I have not seen the film but was intrigued to read how popular it is with young Israelis because the movie includes key dialogue in Hebrew. The apparent insensitivity may indeed be a parable or teaching.
I say Yes – I say no. I have not seen the film, and i am pretty sure I will not. I have heard from all of my most trusted friends on this … half loved it, half said don’t waste your money. while I am a strong proponent of taking an alternate look and view on things and taking ourselves a little lighter, I guess I feel a bit stronger when it comes to insensitivity at the expense of others. It’s all in how we percieve it I guess. There is quite a dichotomy brewing here for me, as i work in the entertainment industry drawing storyboards. To close myself off to any potential source of humor, pathos, or observational perspicacity, limits my ability to absorb and comprehend why it is I do what I do for a living. As a Buddhist though, I must draw these lines on a daily basis. Having read many of the opponant grievances about this film, instinctively , my heart leans toward their perspective. But As I say, perhaps now it is time for me to take the alternate view. Life is too short for bad movies, though.
I want to say how much I’ve enjoyed your wisdom, Lama. I read Awakening the Buddha Within as I sat on trains trapsing through Europe, and so began my lifelong transformation into Buddhism. To my amazement I had already lived my life embracing many of the guidelines and qualities of Buddhism,without really being hung-up on catagorizing it all one way or the other. I most recently saw you speak at the Unitarian Church in Santa Monica. There’s an easyness and utter affable-ness about you that I found comforting and inspiring. Good luck to you always, Joseph Scott
I thought parts of it were very funny and ironic in the fashion of comedy today. But it did seem to poke a bit more ‘hateful’ fun at Jewish folk than it did everyone else.
But then again, it’s also possible that I’m too sensitive!
Thank you for posting this – I am planning to go see this on Saturday, it looks great –
Hello Lama Das! I think it’s wonderful that you have a blog – its a great way to spread the Dharma to the West in the modern era.
Perhaps we should hope that Borat DOES take on Buddhists next. Having our faults exposed can only serve to make us more awake to reality.
I too found it very funny, and very eye opening as to my own views about things.
One part that I keep coming back to was Borat and his companion’s (whose name I don’t remember) view of Jews.
In the beginning when Borat was covering the “Running of the Jew” where the “Jews” were a paper mache monster and laid eggs, and then later when they were at the Bed and Breakfast with the elderly Jewish couple and they mistakenly thought the cockroaches were them after “shape shifting” it was so obvious that neither one of them had ever seen a real “Jew”.
This got me to thinking about my own views about things, as I frequently do. Where was I applying stereotypical, or even absurd for that matter, views to things that I did not truly understand.
Then this morning I was reading about the launch of Al Jazeera’s English news launch. Now I, as I’m sure many Amercians, have very limited knowledge and experience when it comes to the Middle East. I grew up in a small village in Westchester County, NY where I was considered to be the “different” one because coming from an Anglican family I was neither Jewish nor Catholic. I never even met a person from the Middle East until I was in my 30’s, and when I did, he was just like me, having lived here for many years.
Every day our news and televisions are full of radical looking people shouting in a language most of us cannot understand, decrying us and what we are doing to their world. Our nation as a whole, sadly, frequently dismisses them as savages.
So as I was watching Al Jazeera today, and listened to their views on things in my own language (some of which I agreed with, some I did not) it re-dawned on me that we are all really the same, looking for the same thing. We all want to be happy.
As a Buddhist I had always considered myself to be fluent in such thoughts, but I hadn’t really realized how I had been conditioned. How I had allowed myself to not look at things from the other point of view. How I had started to look at these people as “others”, instead of “just like me”.
So Borat had a very unexpected result for me, as it allowed me to turn inwards, and look out with different eyes.
Best wishes,
Jon