Product Details

• Actors: Thrangu Rinpoche, Tenga Rinpoche, HE Tai Situ Rinpoche, HE Shamar Rinpoche, HE Gyaltsap Rinpoche
• Directors: Gregg Eller
• Format: HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Tendrel Films
• DVD Release Date: October 19, 2009
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KLRPP2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,458 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

About the Director

Recalling a Buddha: Memories of HH Karmapa XVI is Gregg Eller's first film. He is the producer of Pema Chodron's teaching website and received an undergraduate degree in rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley.

Product Description

The life story of the Sixteenth Karmapa is told by those close to him in Tibet, the generation of teachers that he trained and many others that he touched. This feature-length film looks closely at enlightened qualities and examines them in the context of historical events such as the fall of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism's migration to the West.

How Karmapa lived and how he died gives us the example of an awakened being: a person with a noble heart.

The DVD includes two hours of Extras material:

1. Interview with a Buddha: Karmapa XVI, Jamgon Kongtrul and Karmapa's retunie appeared on a half hour talk show. The entire program is the extra.

2. The Ceremony of the Vajra Crown: In 1980, a director who would later be nominated for an Oscar filmed the Black Crown ceremony in beautiful 16mm color.

3. The Line of Karmapas: Thrangu Rinpoche, senior teacher of the Karma Kagyu lineage, eminent scholar Gene Smith, and Beru Khyentse Rinpoche share thoughts on the previous 15 incarnations of Karmapas.

4. Preserving the Dharma Texts: H.E. Shamar Rinpoche and Gene Smith recount the partnership between the Sixteenth Karmapa and the U.S. Library of Congress to reprint sacred texts brought out of Tibet and made available to the newly forming monasteries in Asia.

5. Rumtek: various "alumni" of Rumtek monastery, seat of the Karmapas share memories of living in a high concentration of realized masters.

6. Connecting to Karmapa: Westerners who entered the mandala of the Karmapa share how they came to relate to the Sixteenth Karmapa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Audio problems, January 17, 2007

By	Tendrel (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I was very anxious to view this DVD, having had the great fortune to take refuge with His Holiness, the Sixteenth Karmapa. However, my viewing was marred by problems with the audio on the DVD: in several places, there was no sound during voice-overs and interviews. I am ordering a replacement, but I am wondering if anyone else experienced this problem or if it was simply a problem with the copy I purchased.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one is for the library to view over and over again, October 26, 2009

By	T. Narauskas "Naras" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had some similar thoughts (as some of the older commentators here) after watching the original version that came out a few years ago. This new release however is like day and night from the original one. Not only it has some incredible and never seen footage, the story flows very well. I truly enjoyed watching this movie and will watch it again many times in the future for inspiration and to feel just a bit closer to this magnificent being that he was.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Version is Stunning., October 23, 2009

By	Stu (Wellesley, MA) - See all my reviews

I just got the new version of Recalling a Buddha which is a magnificent presentation of the life of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.
This is a wonderful production filled with amazing photographs and interviews of eminent meditation masters from across the Tibetan pantheon.
It is a beautifully presented story of an incredible and inspiring person.
People of all religious traditions will find something to celebrate in this inspiring video.