Little Buddha Movie Analysis Essay

The movie Little Buddha, the teacher of a Buddhist spiritual leader, Lama Dorje, has died. Lama Dorje’s pupil Lama Norbu has set out on a journey to find his reincarnation. After Lama Dorje’s death there is speculation that a boy who was born in Seattle is his reincarnation. Kenpo, a monk, flies to Seattle to talk to the boy's mother about their speculations. She doesn’t understand at first but eventually goes along with it. Her son, Jesse, is given a book with old Buddhist stories about Siddhartha Guatama, Buddha. We get to see his journey to becoming Buddha and Jesse’s journey to learning about Buddhism and being the reincarnation of Lama Dorje. Even though each of them go on a hero’s journey they end up in different situations. Their call to action was brought about in different ways and their journey’s end with different levels of ascension due to different circumstances even though both lead back to Buddhism.

Siddhartha lived a very sheltered life at first, he had no idea what was happening outside his palace. Growing up as a prince he was given whatever he wanted, he lived a life full of desire. Although he was not directly subjected to it Jesse also grew up in a home filled with desire. Jesse’s father desired money and was always working which impacted Jesse. Jesse would not have been able to reach enlightenment if his father had continued to disparage Jesse’s interest in Buddhism. Neither of them start off following the middle path. Without the middle path no one can reach enlightenment. 

From Siddhartha and Jesse’s lives full of desire they were given a call to action. This call to action was to destroy suffering. However their calls to action came about in different ways. One day when Siddhartha  went on a parade and saw a sickly old man asked one of his men to tell him why the old man looked like that. He received the response that they are old and age destroys beauty and strength. The old man sparks a purpose in Siddhartha to destroy suffering. Jesse’s journey starts when Kenpo tells Jesse’s mother about Buddhism and their speculations about Jesse being Lama Dorje’s reincarnation. His father initially discouraged Jesse and his mother from learning about Buddhism. The major differences of their calls to action are that Siddhartha starts his own journey with his own realization, and Jesse starts his journey with the help of Lama Norbu and the Dharma center in Seattle.

At the end of the movie we see the end of Siddhartha and Jesse’s journeys. Siddhartha’s journey led him along the two extremes. After learning about suffering and wanting to destroy it he started living a life of asceticism. He eventually realized that by doing this he would never destroy suffering and achieve enlightenment. Once he started living in between the two he finally reached enlightenment. Siddhartha ascends to a higher plane and becomes the Buddha. He was the creator of Buddhism making him the most important person to Buddhist monks.

Jesse on the other hand became enlightened but through different means and did not create a new religion. Since Siddhartha created Buddhism he had no guidance in how to reach nirvana, meanwhile Jesse is able to follow the teachings of Siddhartha that have been passed down through generations. These teachings help him reach enlightenment. Jesse being the reincarnation of Lama Dorje’s mind and being reunited with the other reincarnations helps him as well. When Jesse reaches enlightenment he chooses not to ascend to a higher plane, he instead decides to stay to be a bodhisattva. Becoming a bodhisattva means that Jesse wants to stay to teach others and wait for them to reach enlightenment as well.

Although they both follow the general path of a hero’s journey they don’t end up in the same place. Siddhartha chooses to ascend and become the Buddha while Jesse stays to become a bodhisattva. This is similar to how now everyone has to go to school, then once you finish school you can become almost anything you want. Some people choose to become teachers, showing kids how things work and why. This is similar to how Siddhartha could have ascended without telling anyone and been the only person to practice Buddhism. Jesse chose to not ascend even though there were others that could teach Buddhism. He chose to stay and become a teacher of Buddhism. They have both completed their paths and become enlightened, but they choose to show others the path to enlightenment.