This is the first of two street performances recorded in Japan I will be showing here. This one tells the traditional life of the Buddha and was recorded at a number of performances held by the Lila Players in 2014.
It short form it tells of the birth of the Buddha, his seeing of the four sights which drove him to renunciation, his ascetic practices and eventual awakening. Along the way we also get woven into the story the life of Kisāgotamī and the dead infant.
The stories are adapted, and – apart from some insertions about an Eternal Buddha – mainly follow the traditional story. They were performed mainly in the open air, with curious by-passers for audience.
Personally I would like to see more of this sort of show put on, and it seems to me to have a more immediacy than a lot of the Bollywood and Hollywood type movies that have been made, carrying a closer connection to the audience.
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