Buddhist Spirituality and Disadvantaged Social Strata in the Films of Pema Tseden

Abstract

Thoughts on the relationship between Buddhism and Tibetans permeate Pema Tseden’s films. His early films focused on whether the Buddhist spirit, such as feelings, dedication, and self-sacrifice, was recognized in modern Tibet. Identity is a problem that Tibetans have always faced in the process of modernization. People in economically disadvantaged positions often face difficult choices between self-survival and maintaining moral and cultural traditions. Pema Tseden’s films, however, focus more on the philosophy of Buddhism and use an ethnic internal perspective to examine the problems in ethnic modernization, which provides his stories with a strong allegorical color.