DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Prajna (Prahj-nah as in Taj) is a Sanskrit word for radiant wisdom.  In Buddhism this is understood to be indwelling in everyone, waiting to be awakened.

This yatra visits spiritual intersections in Southeast Asia where Buddhism meets with its origin of Hinduism. These two great Indian faiths were brought to Cambodia, Bali & Java by traders in the first millennium. Together they joined with the indigenous animist worship of the power of nature. These traditions often cross-fertilized and produced new spiritual concepts that saw sacred nature existing both in the environment and within all living beings.

Because of war and conquest in Cambodia and forced conversion to Islam in Indonesia, many of these unparalleled understandings about the spiritual potential of humanity were lost. Yet their portrayal endures in the elaborate stone carvings of its greatest monuments.

We are now witnessing an analogous time of new beginnings in our own culture.   Newly arrived spiritual disciplines originally from India like Buddhist meditation and Hindu yoga have become complementary practices for many westerners. Together they join with modern science where the causal powers of the natural mysteries are continually being revealed.

The making of film is a deeply collaborative art. I am grateful for the many gifts generously shared in this film by special artists: Sharon Stone for believing in this work and offering her clear and unaffected narration; The singer and composer David Hykes for the deeply evocative Harmonic Chant score he created for the entire trilogy; The Ramayana kirtan of the chant master of American yoga – Krishna Das; the trilogy’s highly talented editor Dónal Ó’Céilleachair for his lyrically poetic Irish vision. Finally, I am forever indebted to the profound insights and spiritual choreography of our creative consultant and my partner, French-born Nadine Helstroffer.

John Bush, Producer & Director of The Yatra Trilogy