To the Land of Bliss Format: DSL - Digital Site License DSL + DVD - Package DVD License: Institutional K-12 Public Library Home Use Price: $320.00 Filmmaker Name: Wen-jie Qin Film Length: 47 min Film Year: 2001 Duration: 46-75 min Decade: 2000s Color: color Region: Asia ABOUT CREDITS & INFO RESOURCES & LINKS To the Land of Bliss is an intimate portrayal of the Chinese Pure Land Buddhist way of dying and living. In 1998, filmmaker/anthropologist Wen- jie Qin returned to her home region in Sichuan Province in southwest China to research the post-Mao revival of Buddhism. During her fieldwork on the sacred mountain Emei, an eminent monk named Jue Chang passes away. Wen- jie Qin captures the poignant time following his death when community members mourn the departure of their beloved teacher. The film follows those same people as they gather to escort the monk's body through a rite of fire, and to ultimately observe his consciousness rise to a paradise known as the Land of Bliss of Amita Buddha.

The filmmaker encounters intricacies of wonder and mystery alongside the Chinese Pure Land Buddhists as she searches for the door to Amita Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life.

"...The film is done with candor and sensitivity. It is informed enough to respect the voices of the people being filmed, but edited with a certain innocence that lets the humanity of its subjects shine through... [It] gives us a short peek into Buddhism on the ground, as seen by contemporary Chinese Buddhists". —Professor Luis O. Gomez, University of Michighan

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS Northeastern Anthropological Association Film Festival, Burlington, Vermont, 2003 Durango Film Festival, Colorado, 2003 Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany, 2002 Beeld voor Beeld Festival, Amsterdam, 2002 New England Film & Video Festival, Boston, 2002 Boston Museum of Fine Arts Film Program, 2002 4th Annual Roxbury Film Festival, Massachusetts, 2002 is an intimate portrayal of the Chinese Pure Land Buddhist way of dying and living. In 1998, filmmaker/anthropologist Wen-Qin returned to her home region in Sichuan Province in southwest China to research the post-Mao revival of Buddhism. During her fieldwork on the sacred mountain Emei, an eminent monk named Jue Chang passes away. Wen-Qin captures the poignant time following his death when community members mourn the departure of their beloved teacher. The film follows those same people as they gather to escort the monk's body through a rite ofand to ultimately observe his consciousness rise to a paradise known as the Land of Bliss of Amita Buddha. SCREENINGS & AWARDS Algonquin Indiefest, Pennsylvania & New Jersey, 2003 Harvard Film Archive, 2003 RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, London, 2003 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, New York, 2003 American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Canada, 2003 EthnoFilm Fest, Germany, 2002 International Festival of Cinema & Religion, Italy, 2002 Award of Commendation, SVA Film Festival, 2002 Silver Medal in Documentary, New York EXPOsition of Short Film & Video, 2002 Documentary & Ethnographic Film Festival of Belo Horizonte, Brazil Coming Soon

RELATED FILMS

Forest of Bliss

Funeral Festivities

One Precept

The Lover and The Beloved

The Ona People

We Are Not Beggars