Review: Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World— with Bettany Hughes

"Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World" is a beautiful exploration into the complex history and the dynamic presence of Buddhism through the exploration of seven key places.

A documentary that recently caught my interest was The Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World. In it, Bettany Hughes narrates and invites the viewer to explore the Buddhist world through its seven most notable landmarks. Written and produced in 2016, Hughes takes us on a journey through a landscape and a tradition that is broad in scope and whose followers span across the globe. The architecture, the various people along the way, and the land itself are all encountered through this documentary. With several million followers across the globe and practitioners from nearly tongue you can think of, Buddhism is a practice whose insights are thousands of years old but are still relevant.

Both the narrator and the footage do a tremendous job sharing the legacy of Buddhism and the impacts its followers had on the world. As someone who is also interested in religion and its connection to culture and the physical world around us, I admired Hughes' approach. She went to the heart of Buddhism and introduced us to the sacred sites where you can encounter the community. This approach leaves the viewer open to encountering the world without the feeling that someone is trying to push a religion down their throat. Hughes herself vocalizes in the documentary that she doesn't consider herself a Buddhist. What she does though is create a place to understand and learn from the believers that is both respectful and engaging. She also delivers detailed bits of information in a way that is easier on the brain to remember.

Hughes also includes interviews with Buddhists and scholars (both Buddhist and not). Ultimately, Buddhism is a religion that focuses on individual human experiences and one's ability to overcome their own obstacles. The themes of the documentary center on connection, community, and individualism. What I appreciated most about this journey was that Buddhists were allowed to be complex and human. Most information we encounter in the media likes to depict them as mystical and otherworldly. While they themselves do believe that there is something more that can be experienced beyond the material world, Buddhists are very much human. As you watch it, you get a sense of how the surrounding land played a role in the religion's development and the communities.

The documentary is available to watch for free on YouTube. You can watch it in full here.