Enlightenment Guaranteed is the movie filmed by a director Doris Dorrie. It tells the viewers a story of two brothers, who at a first sight live usual life in Germany. One of them Gustav tries to follow Zen and practices some meditation. At the hard time of their lives, both of them go to the monastic temple opposite to Tokyo to seek enlightenment. The author of the movie emphasizes the illusion that westerns see in trying to reach for real Zen and enlightenment.
The way Gustav saw Zen Buddhism before going to the temple and after differs. For him at first, Zen was more of an illusion to escape the reality of his life. He tried to fill in his life with different kinds of "typical" Buddhist things that he could find or easily follow. He read about Zen, tried to meditate, he even had a sandbox to calm him down. He has been shown more a fanatic of a popular mainstream to help him deal with stress. His brother, Uwe, on the other hand, was mocking Gustav for his interest in it. Yet during his hardship, he begged him to take him to the temple as well. Even on their way to the temple Uwe was reading Gustav's book on Zen Buddhism and saying some of the key concepts of it: about suffering, illusion, meditation, and idea of 'self' or 'no-self'. There were no particular Sanskrit names for all these concepts, yet they have been illustrated in the way it would be perceived by the usual Western.
The pilgrimage to the temple and the life with the monastic community was for them the source to find the inner peace. Yet for both of them, it came differently. The film shows how hard both of them to bear the monastic life within the monks. At some point of the movie, Gustav even says: "And then I think to stay cool, Gustav. You came here to find inner peace".
The monastic life has been shown with great details, yet realistic, because of the struggles that alienated Gustav and Uwe go through. They have to wake up at 4:30 AM, clean the temple, participate in the practices and meditations, eat by the rules and repeat the cycle over and over again. The movie seems to be very accurate in this sense. It shows the small details, which are a part of Zen monastic life: they procedures before they are allowed to eat, the way the take chopsticks and even the method of "shock" during the meditation to achieve satori(enlightenment). Both of them do find this trip significant though: Gustav finally accepts him as being gay and Uwe seems to be ready to let go the situation that happened with his wife Petra. The sangha community did not help to become truly spiritually enlightened, but they did for sure found the peace and courage to come back to their lives and fight (or meditate) through the struggles. As Gustav said crying about his talk with Abbot: "He said that I could make mistakes and he'd still care for me".
The movie is anthropological, unique and very visual. By the usage of different filming techniques (or not using them) it did not felt like a film or a documentary, it felt like an honest diary. In this sense, it is phenomenal in showing the inner side of the monastic community, the struggle a 'new' monk can go through and the way Zen Buddhism can be seen by the Western people.
The way Gustav saw Zen Buddhism before going to the temple and after differs. For him at first, Zen was more of an illusion to escape the reality of his life. He tried to fill in his life with different kinds of "typical" Buddhist things that he could find or easily follow. He read about Zen, tried to meditate, he even had a sandbox to calm him down. He has been shown more a fanatic of a popular mainstream to help him deal with stress. His brother, Uwe, on the other hand, was mocking Gustav for his interest in it. Yet during his hardship, he begged him to take him to the temple as well. Even on their way to the temple Uwe was reading Gustav's book on Zen Buddhism and saying some of the key concepts of it: about suffering, illusion, meditation, and idea of 'self' or 'no-self'. There were no particular Sanskrit names for all these concepts, yet they have been illustrated in the way it would be perceived by the usual Western.
The pilgrimage to the temple and the life with the monastic community was for them the source to find the inner peace. Yet for both of them, it came differently. The film shows how hard both of them to bear the monastic life within the monks. At some point of the movie, Gustav even says: "And then I think to stay cool, Gustav. You came here to find inner peace".
The monastic life has been shown with great details, yet realistic, because of the struggles that alienated Gustav and Uwe go through. They have to wake up at 4:30 AM, clean the temple, participate in the practices and meditations, eat by the rules and repeat the cycle over and over again. The movie seems to be very accurate in this sense. It shows the small details, which are a part of Zen monastic life: they procedures before they are allowed to eat, the way the take chopsticks and even the method of "shock" during the meditation to achieve satori(enlightenment). Both of them do find this trip significant though: Gustav finally accepts him as being gay and Uwe seems to be ready to let go the situation that happened with his wife Petra. The sangha community did not help to become truly spiritually enlightened, but they did for sure found the peace and courage to come back to their lives and fight (or meditate) through the struggles. As Gustav said crying about his talk with Abbot: "He said that I could make mistakes and he'd still care for me".
The movie is anthropological, unique and very visual. By the usage of different filming techniques (or not using them) it did not felt like a film or a documentary, it felt like an honest diary. In this sense, it is phenomenal in showing the inner side of the monastic community, the struggle a 'new' monk can go through and the way Zen Buddhism can be seen by the Western people.