“Prayer Is Not Enough”: Movie Review For The Stem Ladies | Dalai Lama — Scientist
For those of us who are interested in science and technology, as well as its intimate relationship with politics and the arts, Dalai Lama — Scientist is an interesting watch. The film is currently in preorder, with wide release beginning May 19th on all streaming platforms. The film tracks Tenzin Gyatso — the fourteenth Dalai Lama (a central figure of Buddhism) from his youth in 1940s Tibet, as a child who loved science to his years as a spiritual leader, merging the worlds of spirituality and science throughout his work. It’s an interesting look into how being a leader in one field doesn’t bar you from being able to take a swan dive into another field.
The movie will mostly appeal to science lovers, as there’s some huge information dumps throughout the movie. So, if that’s not usually your cup of tea, it’s best to go into the flick with your thinking cap on. It’s not really a movie to be watched passively. First and foremost, after all, this is a documentary.
The Dalai Lama was on the lookout for scientists who could meld the worlds of scientific theory with Buddhist Dharma, something he felt could gift someone with a broader understanding of the two overall. It’s also made clear that he wanted to use this understanding of the two to make strides toward bettering the world. As a woman of color who was interested in STEM, even before the big push for women, intersectionality in the science lab is murky water. The Dalai Lama’s spiritualism only helps make it clearer than day for viewers and those also involved in STEM careers. This understanding, in his own opinion, was a rarity.
The film was created by writer/director, and 14 time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Dawn Engle along with Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin and author of The Emotional Life of your Brain. The two embarked on the making of this film to highlight how the Dalai Lama’s interest in modern scientific theory influenced his Buddhist philosophy over the years. It also shows the amazing dichotomy of the two belief systems and how they matched so well together through the Dalai Lama’s research.
As said before, the film holds a lot of information. It also presents information in large chunks, partnered with video clips that shows visual aides that make things easy to understand and digest. Though the overall message is clear, the details may get lost in the sauce if the watcher isn’t fully invested. This is why it’s good to watch this movie with a certain level of mindfulness.
One of the most interesting parts of the film is watching how all of these acclaimed and well-renowned scientists and people in the scientific field reacted to this high ranking spiritual leader speak with such love and affection for scientific theory. The Dalai Lama was always ready with a question or a theory of his own in these conversations. It was like watching a great friendly verbal sparring match.
As a woman, and one who loves scientific research along with being in touch with my spirituality, this film’s dedicated approach to detail is interesting, rivaling the His Holiness himself.
On one hand, it’s commendable that the Dalai Lama is dedicated to research and theory in this way. On the other hand, there have been off the cuff remarks made by the spiritual leader that would give one pause. These are remarks, that he’s since apologized for, but nonetheless things that stick in the mind. Last month, he pleaded with the world in a Time Magazine address, that prayer would not be enough in our current times, but compassion.
“We are all the same as human beings, and we experience the same fears, the same hopes, the same uncertainties.”-Daila Lama
All in all, the film is an interesting look into not only the life and interests of the Dalai Lama, but also how the melding of science & spirituality can lead to a better understanding and harmony with the world around us.He’s always preached tolerance, peace, and equality and his actions reflect that. Something that the office of the Dalai Lama reiterated in a statement, in which it was also mentioned that the Dalai Lama supports gender equality under his leadership and that he pushed for Tibetan nuns in exile to be able to earn Geshe-ma degrees. These degrees were previously only able to be earned by male monks at one time.
In the spring of 61 years ago, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet following the Tibetan uprising in his city against Chinese rule. He embarked on a 15 day journey on foot over the Himalayan mountains to India where they had been offered asylum. On March 30th, he crossed into India.
He was followed by around 80,000 Tibetans who settled in the same area of India, leading to it becoming known as ‘Little Lhasa’. Tibet remains under Chinese rule, and the Dalai Lama continues to try to find a peaceful negotiation for Tibetan self rule.
In order to overcome our obstacles, we must love, always. We all have a responsibility to exercise grace and compassion, amongst our institutional and structural setbacks, regardless of policy and partisanship.
The Sunflower Girl Collective is a multimedia matriarchal + poetic space designed to champion femme and gender nonconforming voices across the country, with mad intentional love to the East Coast. And yes, of course, we think in another life, the Dalai Lama could be a woman.
