Mount Of Excellence zeroes in on Palpung Sherabling Monastic seat and its leader Tai Situpa.Team viva reports
In the search for interesting cinematic content, it’s easy to lose faith, especially if you’ve grown up on a steady diet of Bollywood movies. No wonder the present generation of movie goers, especially those who grew up in the 90s, understand the practice of ignoring logic or realism, all in the name of entertainment. However, with change in times comes change in perspective. And it’s this change that’s brought in a new wave in cinema. Popularly known as independent cinema, movies falling under this category are produced outside of big banners and are independently distributed to entertainment agencies, focusing on specific groups of cinema-goers. They receive national and international acclaim in Film Festivals, but seldom made much news in mainstream India. One of them is Mount of Excellence.
Regarded as one of the best documentaries to have been produced in India, Mount of Excellence was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival and received phenomenal acclaim there. Produced by Dipankar Khanna and directed by Shivajee Chandrabhushan, this film focuses on more than 1000-year-old sacred lineage of the Tai Situpa’s and the Palpung Sherabling Monastic (PSM) seat located in Bhattu village in Himachal Pradesh. A 70-minute long documentary, narrated in the powerful voice of Kabir Bedi, explores and documents the day-to-day activities of the monks and their life at the Palpung-Sherabling Monastic Seat in India today. It also features HH the Dalai lama, HH 17th Karmapa, HE Jamgon Khyentse Rinpoche and over high Tibetan lamas in it explaining aspects about the brilliance of the Palpung lineage rising from lord Maitreya.
“Age-old traditions and practices which are seeped in history make them interesting and doubly so if they transcend man-made boundaries. This is possibly what one feels after viewing Mount Of Excellence,” says Shivajee.
About the challenges, he states, “I am a storyteller and to direct a documentary based on a living person, who is a global icon, was immensely difficult. I had to be careful with each and every step.”
The film’s genesis can be traced to Dipnkar’s 25-year-long association with Tai Situpa ever since he became a monk of the Tibetan order in 1990 and practised for five years. “Dipankar wanted to share this legacy with everyone and also contribute towards it in his own way,” he says.
The Tai Situpa title came into being when the Ming Emperor in 1407 bestowed it upon a spiritual leader after becoming his disciple and donating half of Derge Kingdom in Eastern Tibet to him. The Palpung Monastic Seat was established in 1727 by the 8th Tai SitupaChokyi Jungney in Kham, Derge. literally meaning “mounds of excellence”, it became the seat of the Tai Situpas and besides spirituality developed a unique scholarly and artistic tradition and is one of the 25 most sacred places in Tibet. Describing the filmmaking process a search, journey and spiritual adventure, he shares, “I always viewed monastery from a tourist point but during the making of this documentary, I realised that there is so much more to it. The disciplined lives of monks, meditation and the most important lessons of all, living in the present.”
The 12th Tai Situpa born in 1954 in Palyul province, Derge was identified in accordance with the prediction and indication left by the 11th Tai Situpa and search instruction letter of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. He reached India via Bhutan following the political upheavals. After basic education, he received all ordinations from the 16th Karmapa from 1966 to 1975, becoming a bhikshu after completing extensive study of Buddhist philosophy, literature, art, science and history as well as ritual, meditation, sacred dance, Mandala, Tibetan astrology and medicine etc.
The film highlights the close collaboration between Karmapa and Tai Situpas and states, “Situs have been a caretaker, spiritual father, mentor to Karmapas while different Karmapas have mentored and tutored the Situs as gurus.” He explains, “They are spiritual equals. Both are enlightened masters of the same level. The bestowing of red crown by the 9th Karmpa on the 5th Tai Situ symbolises their inseparability. It signifies equality of spiritual status enabling them to give each other diksha.” Thus the 11th Situ was the root guru to the 16th Karmapa who became the same for the 12th Tai Situ who subsequently assumed the role for the 17th Karmapa.
He further adds, “PSM was established in 1976 in Himachal Pradesh by the 12th Tai Situpa who designed the monastery following the ancient science of geomancy. The place was envisioned to propagate the sacred teaching of the lord Buddha and preserve the ancient and living heritage, tradition, practices, arts and sciences and the spirit of Tibetan heritage.”
Besides spiritual training the students are taught Hindi, English, Tibetan, Social Science and Mathematics among other subjects to enable them to pursue other professions in case they wish to. Emphasis is laid on sports and extra-curricular activities too like cricket, football, martial arts, Bharatanatyam, rudra veena and sitar since according to Shivajee, the Tai Situpa views “them as essential for the growth of children making them aware of all aspects of life and enjoy them.”
The film brings to fore Tai Situpa’s accomplishments as an artist besides his passion for stamp and porcelain collection, bonsai and photography. “Painting is the manifestation of the mind on the canvas and it always shows the person, the artist...his or her state of mind and body-mind coordination. You really can’t hide. Art is a very good way to express oneself,” he says.
Two observations by the Tai Situpa in the film stand out in the present day context. On gender equality he says, “In Buddhahood there is no difference between man and woman because difference between the two is only physical. It is the mind which is the most important and there is no difference between a woman’s mind and a man’s mind.”
The 35-minute version of the documentary will be screened at the closing ceremony of Inner Path Festival at India Habitat Centre on April 11
