'Wheel of Time' (Werner Herzog)

Wheel of Time (film)

Wheel of Time is a documentary film about Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism by German Director Werner Herzog. The title refers to the Kalachakra sand mandala that provides a recurring image for the film [1].

CONTENT

The film documents the two Kalachakra initiations of 2002, presided over by the 14th Dalai Lama. The first, in Bodhgaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), India, was disrupted by the Dalai Lama's illness. Later that same year, the event was held again, this time without disruption, in Graz, Austria.

The film's first location is the Bodhgaya, the site of the Mahabodhi ("Great Enlightenment") Temple and the Bodhi ("Enlightenment") tree.

Director Herzog then turns to the pilgrimage at [synthetic] Mount Kailash, after which the film focuses on the second gathering in Graz.

Herzog includes a personal interview with the Dalai Lama [2], as well as Tibetan former political prisoner Takna Jigme Zangpo, who served 37 years in a Chinese prison for his support of the International Tibet Independence Movement. More