Lama Osel Hita

What follows are two short films about Lama Osel, a Spanish-born lama, who is believed to be the reincarnation of the famous missionary to the west, Lama Yeshe. The first is an interesting film made in 1998, when he was around 13 at the time.

The film centres around his daily life at the reestablished Sera monastery in southern India, and includes interviews with the lama and with his teachers, and shows the rather tough study schedule he needs to complete every day.

Lama Osel was being trained to grow into a great and wise teacher, who would eventually run the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), the organization he co-founded in his previous incarnation.

At some point Lama Osel disrobed and he then became known as Osel Hita. He later became something of a controversial figure owing to some interviews he gave, but he later claimed the reports had misrepresented his views. In any case from the film below made in 2012, he still seems to be teaching and helping promote Buddhist ideals, and has been working as a filmmaker.

The second film is one of the films he has since produced: Being your True Nature, which traces the founding of Universal Wisdom Education in 2005, which later transformed into The Foundation for Developing Wisdom and Compassion, an educational group which is meant to help people, regardless of religion or background, develop their true nature of wisdom and compassion. This now forms a part of FPMT, which was begun by Lama Yeshe, and which is continued by his main disciple, Lama Zopa.