Product Details

• Actors: Yeshi Silvano, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
• Directors: Jennifer Fox
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Italian, Tibetan
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: DOCURAMA
• DVD Release Date: June 19, 2012
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B006QVRW80
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,117 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Remarkable --The New York Times

Compelling emotional satisfying --Variety

Contemplative --Los Angeles Times

Product Description

Product Description

Filmed over twenty years by acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox (Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman), MY REINCARNATION chronicles the epic story of the high Tibetan Buddhist Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his western-born son Yeshi. The film follows Namkhai Norbu s rise to greatness as a Buddhist teacher in the West, while Yeshi, recognized at birth as the reincarnation of a famous spiritual master, breaks away from his father s tradition to embrace the modern world. Can the father convince his son to keep the family s threatened spiritual legacy alive? Never before has a high Tibetan Master allowed such complete access to his private life and it is doubtful that another ever will. With her signature intimate entry to both family and icons including the Dalai Lama, Fox expertly distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation and destiny.

Special Features

• Deleted Scenes
• Sneak Preview Screening footage, Melbourne, Australia
• Highlights from NYC Premiere
• Extended Interview
• English, Italian, Tibetan with English Subtitles

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Odyssey Of Self-Discovery: An Intimate Contemplation Of Responsibility, Religion, And Familial Ties June 19, 2012

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

Jennifer Fox's documentary "My Reincarnation" was, literally, over twenty years in the making. Maybe that's why it feels so unique, so enlightening, and so quietly powerful. It shows how someone can change and evolve through time, how we become the people we are truly meant to be. Essentially, this is a story of self-discovery written across the years and played out with an unexpected intimacy and intensity. It deals with weighty issues such as the troubled bonds between father and son, the path to enlightenment, and the familial responsibilities that hold you back or set you free. The central family within Fox's film have an unusual lineage. The patriarch, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, is a Tibetan Buddhist Master. But the movie is seen largely through the eyes of his son, Yeshi, at various points through the years. Resistant to his heritage and alienated from his father, we see him come to terms with what seems to be his birthright--but it's a long and difficult path.

At the age of five, Yeshi was pronounced to be the reincarnated soul of his great uncle who was a renowned spiritual leader. There is a real burden and/or responsibility to honor that legacy, and he wanted no part of that world. As we meet Yeshi twenty years ago, we see a boy with a distant relationship to his father--a kid who just wants an ordinary life. When we meet up with him years later, he has taken a very secular path. A successful businessman, he sees his father once a year and has left his spiritual upbringing in the past. As his family gets older, though, we see Yeshi start to become more involved. As he starts to question religion, reincarnation, family and his place in the world--he becomes more attuned to what just might be his destiny. It's a truly fascinating transition that feels all the more intimate as we've gone through many of the philosophical changes with him.

I am not a Buddhist and don't know a lot about their customs, but this gives one a fairly good overview of their belief system. The film is understated and thoughtful, and gives one many things to ponder. For all its spiritual content, though, the thing that struck me most was the representation of family. The father and son dynamic, and how it deepened though the years, really made me think about my own relationships. "My Reincarnation" is a quiet and contemplative film and, as such, it may not be for everyone. It gives one a look at a very singular world, but it is also very universal. It may not be my favorite documentary of the year, but it certainly ranks as one of the more unique and fascinating ones. KGHarris, 6/12.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Meaningful Return June 23, 2012

By TravellerThruKalpas

Format:DVD

This film is a warm and compassionate exploration of the many facets of life for the renowned Tibetan Dzogchen teacher Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, as well as Yeshi, who not only has the burden of being the son of such a world-famous master, but the additional one of his own reincarnated legacy to navigate and embrace.

Most gratifying and quietly amazing is the graciousness of both father and son for allowing such close cinematic observation for so long. Twenty years of access to this family also allows for a view of impermanence, which subtly colors the events in the lives and attitudes of the principals. What a privilege, for filmmaker Jennifer Fox and for us, to be allowed to spend such a generous amount of time with them, and to get a sense of the fresh challenges which are imposed upon life when it is radically encompassed by Tibetan Buddhist worldviews. For an average person, encountering the possibility that your uncle has been reborn as your son, may well transform your conventional ideas about the meaning of family life into something new and unfamiliar... perhaps even liberating.

Some opportunities for glimpses into the nature of Tibetan Dzogchen could have served as a nice taste for cultivating an interest among some potential practitioners, but there is rather very little of it here to give a good sense of what distinguishes its atiyoga qualities from, for example, Zen or even other aspects of Tibetan Buddhist practices. Indeed, it might be easy to misunderstand what comprises Dzogchen from its bare representation here; also, it doesn't actually qualify (per Norbu's own writings) as really being in itself a tradition per se, although the body of its instructional and inspirational texts do usually find a major repository within the Nyingma school. But that said, this is essentially a family drama first, with some dharma sprinkled in as commentary.

I found it interesting and valuable that, while Fox puts Yeshi up front as the more immediately sympathetic protagonist in the pair, the father has an outsized presence that necessarily requires some distancing, which results in a more ambiguous view of his character yet one which effectively helps preempt a superficial judgement of him on our part. Nonetheless, this doesn't seem to have prevented some confusion among, for example, a few Buddhist practitioners of other traditions who have seen the film, and who have not found their own Buddhist practice, beliefs or general demeanor reflected in it.

In any case, for anyone interested in acquainting themselves with Dzogchen as taught by Norbu (and he quite a good teacher), I would recommend starting with Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State, which is not too advanced and gives a short helpful overview, with many clear points about the practice and its distinctions.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary Magic - The Process of Life - Unfolding Naturally August 16, 2012

By applewood

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

But, even though life unfolds naturally, even beautifully, that doesn't mean it will be easy....

This documentary is perhaps the very best of many I have seen about Buddhism, and Tibetan culture and dharma. The documentary aspect is like being a fly on the wall of Namkhai Norbu's family's life, and especially his son Yeshi's, over a period of 20 years. And the content is very real and honest and uncontrived. It reminded me of times I've spent living with and around Lamas, the little lessons, the expectations and frustrations. And this is what living (and practicing dharma) is really all about.

What I like about this movie is that it shows the dilemma of living our individual lives, our individual destinies. The dilemma of not forcing the unfolding, not pushing or expecting it to go a certain way. The dilemma of honoring the past without repeating it's mistakes.

In this case the son, although identified as the reincarnation of an important lama (his father's main teacher in fact!), rejected the identity and role of a traditional master (such as embodied in his father's life), and instead pursued his own path of a normal secular Italian. The irony is that eventually he came to know himself better (from the inside out), and what he learned about being a normal modern father, husband and business man became just what was needed for the spiritual community his father had built up, and for his past life's followers inTibet.

The effect is we get a glimpse of the practice of dharma with enough specific dzogchen teachings - verbal and simply through example - to point out what is essential (recognition and appreciation of impermanence and the natural, effortless observation of our condition). And this is applicable for all of us, no matter what our nationality, spiritual views, or maturity. What is revealed is not so much the content, but the process of awakening.

This is thus a interesting story of Namkhai Norbu and Yeshi's specific paths, as well as a simple reminder for each of us about ours.