Happy Birthday, Buddha (more or less)
May. 23rd, 2026 07:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauradi7dwThe date seems to vary, but in some places today is the celebration of the birthday of Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism. 1
Possibly due to the date, a link to this little film from the National Museum of Korea showed up in my twitter feed
https://m.blog.naver.com/100museum/224294505078
Despite a lifetime of seeing statues and images of the Buddha, unfortunately one of the defaults of young Siddhartha in my head is Keanu Reeves. 2
There is a 1993 movie called "Little Buddha," the premise of which is that a little kid in Seattle (?) was the reincarnation of a Lama. In flashbacks, we have the origin story of Buddhism, featuring Keanu.
This is the first US scene in the movie. In some ways I think it's the best part of the film, because of the cleverness of having Iris Dement's "Let the Mystery Be" play on the car radio as the monks head to the kid's home.
Whole Iris Dement song, including the line "some say you're gonna come back" (live version, unrelated to the movie)
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha's_Birthday
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keanu_Reeves
He has a variety of genetic backgrounds, but nothing from Nepal, although a great grandparent was Chinese which is at least in the neighborhood. Still, I suspect a lot of bronzer was used. Not a good thing.
Possibly due to the date, a link to this little film from the National Museum of Korea showed up in my twitter feed
https://m.blog.naver.com/100museum/224294505078
Despite a lifetime of seeing statues and images of the Buddha, unfortunately one of the defaults of young Siddhartha in my head is Keanu Reeves. 2
There is a 1993 movie called "Little Buddha," the premise of which is that a little kid in Seattle (?) was the reincarnation of a Lama. In flashbacks, we have the origin story of Buddhism, featuring Keanu.
This is the first US scene in the movie. In some ways I think it's the best part of the film, because of the cleverness of having Iris Dement's "Let the Mystery Be" play on the car radio as the monks head to the kid's home.
Whole Iris Dement song, including the line "some say you're gonna come back" (live version, unrelated to the movie)
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha's_Birthday
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keanu_Reeves
He has a variety of genetic backgrounds, but nothing from Nepal, although a great grandparent was Chinese which is at least in the neighborhood. Still, I suspect a lot of bronzer was used. Not a good thing.
