DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET is a story that truly wanted to be told. It is also a story the Chinese government does not want to be told. Pressure has been brought to bear directly on universities and museums not to screen the film or lose cultural cooperation in other areas.

While most documentaries about Tibet are actually filmed in the Tibetan exile communities of neighboring Nepal, India or Bhutan, VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET is one of the few films entirely shot inside Tibet. We did not ask for permission from the authorities and none was given.

I was welcomed as a western pilgrim in this tradition. Doors seemed to open from the inside. We received extraordinary access to many seldom-seen places in Tibet. I felt the compelling need of Tibetans to share what remained of their culture with the rest of the world.

As a filmmaker who had been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for 35 years, I was eager to travel there to shoot VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET, completing the Yatra Trilogy I began in 2001. As the first two films explored the lost Buddhist traditions of Southeast Asia,
Tibet seemed to offer a look at a culture that was on the cusp of becoming yet another lost civilization.

I saw the Tibetan faithful responding to this repression with an indomitable devotion and resolve. I vowed to capture this dynamic in VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET – to show the painful absence of true religious freedom there; a fundamental violation of human rights. The cynical strategy of Chinese politicians to co-opt this 1500 year-old tradition is an attempt to smother the Tibetan Buddhist faith within its own home. I saw the Tibetan faithful responding to this repression with a defiant ardor and overt devotion. I vowed to capture this dynamic in VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET– to show the painful absence of true religious freedom there; a fundamental violation of human rights.

As the story of Tibet today is inextricably both political and spiritual, I have attempted to be true to both of these aspects. This film is not character or plot driven and has no interviews, but instead celebrates the experience of place as its central dynamic. On pilgrimage each place may reveal itself to pilgrims, sharing with them its mystery and essence. Likewise, the audience is invited to visit legendary places inside Tibet and to experience the living presence of these venues.

The film offers the audience an outer journey of pilgrimage and an inner journey of spiritual allegory. It is created to induce a meditative state where the exotic and familiar, the remote and intimate may interweave. The pacing, panning, pauses in narration, ambient sounds and music are calibrated to allow for a direct experience of sacred space.

My own teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, was one of the great meditation masters of Tibet and a teacher of The Dalai Lama. I was fortunate to have received his teachings as early as the 1970s. In Tibet, however, with nearly all the respected teachers in forced exile, the practice has weakened. Essential teachings now available in the west are no longer present in their homeland. Tibetans continually told me: “We want our teachers back.” Some had not seen their teachers in 50 years. Many younger Tibetans have never had a qualified teacher at all.

The film guides us through the majesty of this tradition - its temples, monasteries and festivals. After the “Free Tibet“ movement of the late ‘90s, the emphasis in the 21st century has now moved to “Save Tibet”.

The presence of Tenzin L Choegyal as one of our narrators lends another dimension to VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET. Not only is he a Tibetan in exile, he is also the nephew of The Dalai Lama. Dadon sings throughout the film. Her narration has the genuineness of
someone who escaped at the height of her career as one of Tibet’s most popular singers for freedom in the West.

With all of the many dire scenarios on the planet today, I trust VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET shows that this tradition's emphasis on wisdom and compassion offers some core concepts to lessen suffering and to help bring peace to the rest of the world.

John Bush, Producer & Director of The Yatra Trilogy