How
did an impossibly serene Dane wind up in the middle of a struggle for the soul
of Tibetan Buddhism? Along with her husband Ole, Hannah Nydahl earned a place
at the table as arguably the religion’s busiest Twentieth Century evangelists. She
was scrupulously spiritual rather than ideological, but Nydahl’s travels took
her to some of the most politically contentious corners of the globe. Marta György-Kessler
& Adam Penny chronicle her life in Hannah:
Buddhism’s Untold Journey (trailer here), which has three more special screenings this
Friday and Saturday at the Rubin Museum of Art.
The
Nydahls were basically hippies when they somehow beamed themselves to
Kathmandu, but thanks to the innocence of youth, the revered Bhutanese lama
Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche first took them under his wing, before entrusting their
studies to His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, one of the most
venerated lines of reincarnated lamas in Tibetan Buddhism. Before his death,
the Karmapa sent them back to the west to share their teachings. After a bit of
scuffling, the Nydahls soon found they had a talent for outreach, becoming
tireless road warriors.
Some
of the film’s most intriguing sequences contrast the guileless Nydahls with the
extreme socio-political climates they blithely walked into. Bizarrely, the
Communist government granted the Nydahls permission to visit pre-Marital Law Poland,
in the vain hope Tibetan Buddhism would undermine the Catholic Church. Needless
to say, it was a tense trip, but the bonds of some lasting friendships were formed
then.
However,
Untold is truly newsworthy for its
insider account of the disputed elevation of the 17th Karmapa. It is
a case Westerners might be hazily aware of. Communist China (Tibet’s atheist
occupiers, who had previously denied the legitimacy of reincarnation)
officially recognized one Karmapa, while leaders in exile recognized another. György-Kessler
& Penny provide full context to the controversy, explaining the implications of each development, while largely relying on footage of the
Nydahls recorded in-the-moment.
To
their credit, the Nydahls did not rush to judgement. However, when the time
came, they acted decisively to protect His Holiness, Trinley Thaye Dorje, the
rival of China’s compliant candidate. Just when you thought the Communist government
could not sink any lower, György-Kessler & Penny document thuggish behavior
that manages to lower the bar even further.
For
those who are fascinated by Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese geo-politics, the
Karmapa crisis is clearly the film’s centerpiece. However, for the more
right-brained and sentimentally inclined, the grand romance shared by the
Nydahls always takes center stage. As a former friend and student of Hannah
Nydahl, György-Kessler clearly has a deep appreciation for them as individuals.
The portrait that emerges is sensitively rendered, but still quite intimate.