Forms part of a series on world religions in which theater director Ronald Eyre travels around the globe asking people basic questions about their religious beliefs and practices. Vol. 8 visits the Torajas of Indonesia to investigate the experience of primal worship. Explores the reasons for the remarkable survival of the Torajas' religion at a time when other primal, animist religions are dying out as a result of contact with the outside world. Shows...

Presents the life of an Albanian girl, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, who became known as Mother Teresa and spent most of her life serving "the poorest of the poor" in Calcutta, India.

Historian Michael Wood chronicles the history of the Indian subcontinent, focusing especially on the diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes. The world's largest democracy and a rising economic giant, India is now as well known across the globe for its mastery of computer technology as it is for its many-armed gods and its famous spiritual traditions. But India is also the world's most ancient surviving civilization, with unbroken continuity...

The seventeen pieces in Ficciones demonstrate the gargantuan powers of imagination, intelligence, and style of one of the greatest writers of this or any other century. Borges sends us on a journey into a compelling, bizarre, and profoundly resonant realm; we enter the fearful sphere of Pascal's abyss, the surreal and literal labyrinth of books, and the iconography of eternal return. More playful and approachable than the fictions themselves are Borges's...

An overview of ancient India's myths and beliefs; contains a glossary, further reading list, and index.

In this program, Dennis Wholey has a conversation about Buddhism with Hyon Gak Sunim, guiding teacher of the Seoul International Zen Center at Hwa Gye Sah Temple in Seoul, South Korea. Topics of discussion include the principle of nowness; the meaning of dukkha; the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path; Buddhist resonances with the teachings of Jesus and Socrates; the Buddhist temple experience; how Hyon Gak Sunim, raised a Roman Catholic...

Fully 80 percent of India's vast population follow the way of Hinduism, an ancient yet vibrant religion. This overview-filled with evocative images of India and its people, architecture, and sacred works-provides a stimulating glimpse of a spiritual way of life that is expansive yet tolerant, sublime yet practical, and supportive of individual expression. The history of Hinduism's development and reformation; spiritual concepts such as karma, dharma,...

Abutting the border of Pakistan, the state of Rajasthan is the home of the Jains, a relatively small but influential indigenous religious group founded by Vardhamana Mahavira, said to be the last Tirthankara. This program profiles Jainism, which espouses salvation by conquering material existence through strict ascetic discipline. The imperative detachment from worldly existence necessary for liberation is explained, as is ahimsa, the doctrine of...

Filmed in Allahabad, this captivating program captures the 2001 Maha Kumbh festival, a 43-day event that drew tens of millions of devotees to the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythic Saraswati Rivers to honor the creation story of Hinduism and to pray for release from the cycle of reincarnation. The program provides a kaleidoscopic view of the pageants, rituals, and ceremonies that make up the festival, as well as the sadhus and sadhvis, pandits,...