Tripitaka - The Movie

[camerata]

Coming soon: Tripitaka the Movie

Published on January 23, 2006

Massive undertaking to get Buddhist canon on film to cost about Bt97m. The Tripitaka – the Buddhist Holy Canon – will soon be made into a series of feature movies in an unprecedented move for instructional purposes, a monastic spokesperson said yesterday. “Tripitaka the Movie” was likely to be approved to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King’s ascension to the throne, said Phra Tham Kitti Maythee.

He said a proposal seeking all Buddhist temples across the country to have at least one set of the movie for use as an instructional guide was awaiting backing from the Sangha Supreme Council, which has approved the movie project initiated by Mahamakut Buddhist University.

The 250-part series, to be featured on VCDs and DVDs, is expected to attract great interest in the Buddhist teachings, as they would be shown in a more interesting way. Each disc would be priced at Bt200.

The Bt97-million cost of producing the series would be shouldered by Trai Rattana Co Ltd, a movie production company authorised to implement the project with the council’s approval. Production is expected to begin soon and would take around four years.

The content of the movie would be based strictly on the Pali-language version of the Tripitaka, which would be divided initially into 1,250 parts – then summarised into 250 segments during the screenwriting. Some 1,250 selected monks would be responsible for the Pali-Thai translation.

The Buddhist University will soon set up a working committee to supervise production of the series to make sure that the Holy Canon is featured appropriately and accurately. Selection of the cast would also be carefully done.

The Council will set up a monastic panel soon plus a lay panel to coordinate the production and public-relations work for the project. The latter panel would be chaired by the prime minister.

Sanan Sukdee, of Trai Rattana, said he would meet with the university on Wednesday to get “Tripitaka the Movie” included as one of the council’s many projects to mark the 60th anniversary of his HM the King’s ascension to the throne.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/01/23...s_19721831.html

[chownah]

Interesting. Since I am more or less Theravadin I'm both excited and concerned that a lot of resources will be focused on the Tripitaka (have I seen this spelled "Tipitaka" before?). At first I was excited because I was hoping that some of the Suttas not translated into English yet would be....but then I started to think about the quality of the translation given that 1,250 selected monks would be doing the work. Translating Pali text into modern language is a very very difficult thing and it is unlikely that there are 125 monks in Thailand who are knowledgeable enough to be able to do a good job.....especially since this "movie" is meant to be a teaching aid for Thai Buddhists. Thai Buddhism is Theravada Buddhism and in this school of Buddhism the accuracy of the translation is crucial if the real philosophy of the Buddha is to be maintained.

The danger of a bad translation is that this "movie" may become a major teaching tool in Thailand it may influence the entire future history of Thai Buddhism.....it may take Thai Theravada Buddhism whose main philosophical emphasis is its maintenance of the purity of the translations of the original Buddhist scriptures and dilute its focus or move it off target.

[chownah]

I'm concerned that the quality of the translation and depiction will be poor. This coupled with its wide distribution and the authority it will be given because it is available in temples will corrupt Thai Theravada Buddhism.

[sabaijai]

Sanskrit --> Tripitaka

Pali --> Tipitaka

[chownah]

Sanskrit --> Tripitaka

Pali --> Tipitaka

Thanks for the clarification. My posts are being delayed so pardon me if this comes at a late date and seems out of rythme with the conversation.

[Abandon]

WE already did a Buddhist Study aid for the modern era in the Mae Fae Luang Triple cd rom. 4 years in translation and the thai version is still not published. Nor had the English version been passed on to a distributer. Pathetic. I have little hope for the movies.