Reno Rangan Just said wow after a watch, this was the true masterpiece. One of a must see biography movie from Japan. This movie is more than entertainment, about life, faith, honesty. It sets in time 12th century when Japan is obsessed with the evil power by the strong and powerful samurais where poor people pays for it when they are suffering from poverty.It was the story of Dogen Zenj, a Japanese monk who brought the true Buddhism to his country. You might remember the Indian monk Bodhidharma, father of Shaolin who passed Hindu herbal medicine system and martial arts to China. In this case it was like similar quest by an another person from the Japan. The movie tells a young man from Japan travel to China in order to find and learn the true Buddhism and take back to his country to spread it among his people.The movie was inspiring, Dogen Zenj is one of a great man lived on the earth. I am not a religious type but I liked this movie very much. This movie might be about Buddhism but there is a lot everyone to learn from it. You no need to travel to India to discover yourself or if you are already in India (an Indian), this life story of Zen master Dogen will teach something good. Some scenes and its meanings were so good especially when Dogen handles his ruler (king) and when he sends a mother of a dying baby to everyone's house in the village. Hope you will love it as much I did.

micropotato This is a very interesting movie. And it runs rather deep into the culture and religious background of Japan around the 12th century.I know a bit about Buddhism and the Chinese culture and so this movies comes as quite a stunner. The simplicity of it is incredulous. Starting with a young boy seeking Buddhism because of his mother and later meeting a wise man on the road; ending with a girl taught by Dogen teaching young children to understand Buddha and walking on the same road. Everything comes full circle. Like the teaching from Buddha. And the idea of Dogen's new Buddhism is also very simple. Sit. Meditate. Give up other thoughts and focus on experiencing the Buddha in you. Which brings us to the core differences in values between the Eastern and Western culture. The eastern (Chinese/Japanese) way is to self reflect and discover the inner self and in time discover the goodness in yourself. The western way, however, men are sinners from birth and need to rely on a supernatural source to convert the person, making men good.One of the more important themes of the movie is influencing other people and passing on the wisdom and knowledge. Like a spark it grows into a larger flame and its heat draws more and more people in. There are quite a few subplots on that theme and they are executed very well and ties onto the circle flawlessly.There are however quite a lot of references and symbolic meanings (for instance, butterflies and moths are considered spirits) that people who have no experience with the Chinese/Japanese culture may not understand, which may make the movie less inspiring than it is.

dbborroughs Medatative story of a monk in search of enlightenment.Based upon a novel which is based upon the life of a monk named Dogen who left Japan and traveled to China. He returned to Japan bringing with him a form of Zen teaching.A good film that I think is going to be of interest to people with an interest in Zen and Buddhism. Others I think are going to be bored and wonder what its all about.If there are any real flaws its some of the visual motifs-the moon for example are used a bit too much.If you're interested in the subject give it a go.

8thSin This movie is difficult for an ordinary man like me with little knowledge of Zen Buddhism and Japanese religious history.In my Chinese history class in college, I learned Dogen was a Japanese monk who traveled to China in 13th century, whose travel diary is one of few surviving record of what life was like for peasants back in the day in China.I felt the pace of this movie was WAY too fast, especially in the beginning where characters appeared without any introduction or background information. The story just progressed without informing us who those characters really were. We get a nice flow of Dogen's life though, from childhood introduction, travel to China, conflicts upon return, climax in Kamakura, and death. Also, the Zen Buddhism from Dogen's view.With my limited knowledge of religious history, I can't be certain if the story is historically accurate. But one thing I know is that the moon was definitely overemphasized throughout this film. The size of it in few scenes were ridiculous (if that happened on Earth), and the multiple moon reflections in pond is simply physically impossible unless zazen power near the temple somehow bent light. The CG of ancient Chinese and Japanese cities and buildings were wonderful, but the ghost CG were really fakey and poorly produced.Casting of the protagonist was wonderful. Nakamura Kantarou made a convincing monk, and his Chinese was borderline discernible. As a Uchida Yuki fan, this movie was a treat as well. Her screen time was limited, but she played her part very well and left an impression. I had major problems with Nishimura Masahiko (Chief priest in China) and Sasano Takashi (the cook). As someone who understands both Japanese and Mandarin, it was agonizing to see supposedly Chinese characters' Mandarin were far worse than a Japanese traveler. Their pronunciations were so horrible that I understood less than half of what they were talking about without subtitle. I guess this doesn't concern most viewers of this movie, but it disturbed me how these actors probably only rehearsed an hour before the scene, because as Nakamura Kantarou proved, it IS possible for a Japanese actor to speak understandable Chinese with a script. Also, Fujiwara Tatsuya should be banned from historical films. To be polite, his face is too "unique" for that era, and he was simply out of place, totally unsuccessful in the role.I got a nice idea of Zen Buddhism from Dogen's view in this film, but there were too many Buddhist terms spoken in this movie for me. I also failed to connect with any of the main characters in this film. Still, it may be a nice idea to try this movie out as a cultural piece.