Special Screening: Blessings
Sunday 26 July at Labia on Orange at 6.15pm Part of Dreaming the Himalayas Film Festival BLESSINGS The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet Narrated by Richard Gere. Interview with Tenzin Palmo. Written and directed by Victress Hitchcock. Pundarika 2009. | |
| Sunday 26 July at 6.15pm At Labia on Orange Book with Labia at 021 424 5927 Ticket R40 includes a glass of wine or fruit juice after the screening Running time 104 minutes | |
| This screening is a fundraising for the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns. Any extra donations would be greatly appreciated. | |
| This is the story of an extraordinary journey: a meeting of East and West at a remote nomadic region of eastern Tibet. The film narrates the compelling story of hundreds of yoginis keeping alive ancient enligtenment practices and the profound influence they had on a group of westerners who visited them. It is an inspiration to human beings everywhere seeking a spiritual path through the challenges of 21st-century life. The film contains unforgettable images and words. This delightful and inspiring film has purpose to expand awareness of the Nangchen Nuns, to explore the roots of their wisdom and compassion and to show how we, as ordinary human beings seeking happiness in a modern world, can find that same thread of sanity and inner strength in the everyday confusion of our lives. | |
| In the summer of 2005, Tsoknyi Rinpoche III, accompanied by a handful of western students, travelled to the Nangchen region in Eastern Tibet. The purpose of the trip was to document the lives and assess the needs of the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns—over 2,000 remarkable women who live and practise an ancient yogic tradition in nunneries and hermitages scattered across this remote, mountainous region. Those who survived the cultural revolution now are coming out of their hidden caves and re-assembling to teach young nuns. Tsoknyi Rinpoche has undertaken to help re-establish nunneries and ancient traditions . . . | |
| Nuns from both large and small nunneries in Nangchen speak about why they became nuns and what it is like to live a life dedicated to spiritual practice. Their stories of the suffering that prompted them to walk away from the security of traditional roles as wives and mothers and devote themselves to seeking liberation are vivid and universal. We see their dedication to their practices, to the teachings, to each other and their communities. We see the exchange between them and the western women who have come to offer their help and who find their lives immeasurably enriched by the wisdom, simplicity and good humour of the Nangchen Nuns. |
BLESSINGS speaks to anyone interested in simplifying and transforming their mind and life in a world that is increasingly chaotic. It will inspire all of us ... women and men ... to overcome the limitations of our fears and hesitations and to open ourselves to the blessings of a full and authentic life. MAY THE BLESSINGS OF THE NANGCHEN NUNS RAIN UPON YOUR HEART For more information please see www.pundarika.org |
| Exploring Consciousness regularly screens new films on the last Sunday of every month at the Labia on Orange in Cape Town in co-operation with Renaissance magazine - www.renaissancemagazine.co.za |