Documentarian highlights the humdrum of monastery life

[Mr. G]

The remote reaches of the lofty, snow-clad Himalayan peaks have been home to Buddhist Monks for centuries. The lives of these ascetic monks have always been surrounded by an air of mysticism and a veneer of otherworldliness, and precious little is actually known about their ways.

In an endeavor to develop a deeper understanding of religious and cultural practices from across the globe, Vassar's Religion Department is presenting a screening of ALMS: A Short Film on Food in a Chan Buddhist Monastery. Directed by Edward Burger, ALMS is the first film in a series called The Dreaming Buddhas Project. The series showcases short documentaries that seek to shed light on the day-to-day routines of these monks in order to glean fresh insight into inherently commonplace tasks and chores that forge an integral but often ignored part of life in a monastery. Burger also strove to capture the deeply entrenched sense of community in the monastery.

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