Documentary Into the Heart of the Mountain

In the face of oppression and threats female Zen Buddhist priest Joan Halifax strives to empower women and fight for gender equality in a male dominated culture and its impact on individuals and even entire societies. During an demanding medical pilgrimage, in the backdrop of the Himalayan mountains and the Tibetan plateau she starts to unravel the layers of deception and of gender-based violence that have shaped her life; started in her early childhood when she was taking care of an African American woman who's mother had been a slave. The issues that she transmitted to her, which where subliminal but they had to do with justice, love and also with joy. How one person can change someone's moral compass.

For 4 decades, the Nomads Clinic, an initiative created and led by Zen Buddhist spiritual leader Roshi Joan Halifax, has undertaken annual medical pilgrimages to some of the most remote and inaccessible mountain regions of the Himalayas in Nepal. Following ancient trails and crossing passes of more than 18.000 feet, the Nomads Clinic has facilitated urgent medical care for the indigenous people living there, as well as raising awareness about health and hygiene and empowering the preservation of their cultures. Equally, the lives and perspectives of the Western clinicians and supporters of these clinics have been transformed through their contact with the resilience, generosity and dignity of people living close to the earth and the elemental forces of the natural world.

‘Into the Heart of the Mountain’ is a multifaceted documentary that takes the viewer on a circuitous trail through Humla, a spectacular Himalayan mountainous district close to the Tibetan border. Secluded to a large degree from modern life even today, this area is home to the spiritual, pre-Buddhist, Bon culture. So far, these indigenous people have managed to preserve their social, cultural, economic, and political integrity. However, climate change together with their struggle for rights to their ancestral, nomadic lands and natural resources are undermining the very fabric of their existence. That is why many indigenous people are abandoning the land and migrating to urban areas in search of better living conditions, employment, and education for their children.

This film, as well as documenting the efforts of brave and committed clinicians, is also the portrayal of a way of life and a natural world in transition. It was a very challenging film to make in terms of the remoteness of the area, altitude, and logistics. Yet, the filmmaker is convinced that the mobilization of awareness around the role of indigenous people as stewards of the earth, and the preservation of their rich shamanic traditions, is of vital importance. The cultural and spiritual traditions of indigenous people have much to offer since they relativize a purely anthropocentric outlook in favor of a more respectful and sustainable exchange with the natural world we all share. ‘Into the Heart of the Mountain’ bears witness to one such interchange where modern science, indigenous life and the elemental forces of nature become a mutually enriching, inspiring and healing interchange. The circular route of the pilgrimage becomes a symbol for an ideal circle of life where each element is in balance and of equal importance. Roshi Joan Halifax, as well as participating in the Nomads Clinic, is the narrator of this documentary, and her words and teachings underscore this vision. Additionally she takes you along her life path, which is actively committed to gender equality. Gender bias is not unique to Tibetan Buddhism; it is in Japanese Buddhism, it is in the entire modern world, and it is global. As a Zen Buddhist priest, as a woman, she ask herself, why her religion? Why Buddhism? This is not what the Buddha taught. For too long in the West, and she is sure of it that in the East, gross misogyny has existed in the Buddhist world, a misogyny so deep that it has allowed the disrespect and abuse of women and nuns in our own time, and not only throughout history, and not only in Asia. As an elder within the global Buddhist community, she sometimes subjected to contempt and disrespect. It is no longer as direct as it used to be, but indirectly, through men with religious authority. Different from when she was young, then she really pissed her off! Now she especially feels compassion for the ignorance and stupidity of these men. She tries to approach them with respect, but she does not tolerate it and speak out. It remains an exercise for her not to be discouraged by psycho-social patterns that have existed for millennia, but to speak truth to power!