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Sarah Masters reviews the film

The Life of Buddha

Prince Siddhartha’s spiritual journey and transformation into the Buddha are envisioned and described in this film by local storytellers, monks, archeologists who roam the sites known to have been visited by the Buddha during his wanderings, by religious scholars and by school children.

Visually, it is a lovely film that captures his life as the camera journeys chronologically along the journey to enlightenment.

Director Martin Meissonnier’s The Life of Buddha chronicles the Buddha’s palace life, his ascetic life and the way of life in northern India at the time of the Buddha. There are many interesting asides, such as the possible interaction between Prince Siddhartha and Mahavira, the last of a long series of prophets of Jainism.

Though I felt that the beginning of the film dwelled too heavily on myths about Prince Siddhartha and his birth, many fascinating details of his life come to light as the film progresses.

The presence of commentator Thich Nhat Hanh is a lovely feature of this film. The Vietnamese Buddhist explains both in the film and in the DVD’s extra features various tenets of Buddhism and speaks of his vision of the Prince who achieved enlightenment.

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Completed: 2004
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Director: Martin Meissonnier

If you are interested in purchasing this film, you can do so at www.hartleyfoundation.org. Just click on “Masterworks” on the homepage for more information. The cost of the film series is $24.99 for a DVD.

Book Review

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Nolen reviews

Spiritual Caregiving: Healthcare as a Ministry

Carson and Koening examine the spiritual vision or “calling” that many healthcare providers have that motivates and nourishes their concept and provision of medical caregiving. While examining that vision, the authors look at healthcare not as a business but from the perspective of a ministry rooted in spirituality. The authors maintain that ministry is an essential component of everyone involved in the care of patients as they use their God-given talents and skills to provide comfort and healing to those in need.

Spiritual Caregiving is divided into ten chapters that describe the current condition of healthcare, what an ideal healthcare institution would look like, and some of the preparations a caregiver needs to consider as he or she prepares for and provides spiritual healthcare. Several chapters are dedicated to providing spiritual healthcare to patients with chronic illness and pain, the dying patient, and other special populations. The concluding two chapters deal with the issues of self nurturing of the spirit and the David-and-Goliath Match of taking on the healthcare system as it now exists. At the end of each chapter is a “Reflections” section that asks questions for deeper thought. I found them especially pertinent as they assisted me in internalizing and personalizing the material I was reading.

Carson and Koening provide an innovative and holistic approach while reminding all caregivers that we are not just curing broken bodies, but “broken minds, hearts and souls.” The authors illustrate this approach with personal narratives of physicians, nurses, chaplains, healthcare educators, community resource workers, administrators, therapists, psychologist, and social workers. These professional caregivers represent a wide range of religious traditions including Protestant Christianity, Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Spiritual Caregiving and highly recommend it as a must read for chaplains. It has the potential of impacting the way chaplains visualize healthcare as it is now and the potential of what it could be. This is not a book that should remain on a chaplain’s bookshelf, but is an effective tool that needs to be shared with fellow healthcare providers, and especially with their institution’s administration.

Carson, Verna B. & Harold G. Koening. Spiritual Caregiving: Healthcare as a Ministry, Templeton Foundation Press, Philadelphia, 2004, 242.

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