'Zen'

I was one of those hippies who got into things Japanese via Zen back in the 1970s. I spent two years practicing zazen in Michigan and I had a first-row seat when Alan Watts — that early explainer of Zen to the West — spoke on campus. I even taped a photo of Shunryu Suzuki, the author of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" — still the best introductory book to Zen practice — on my wall.

Living in Japan, however, I soon realized that I was not Zen-monk material and that the local image of Zen is far removed from the West's often romanticized view. Instead of being mysterious embodiments of "Oriental Wisdom," Zen monks are figures of fun for Japanese TV comics, who put on bald wigs and bop each other with oversize versions of the paddles real monks use to keep drowsy meditators alert.

Banmei Takahashi's "Zen" is that rare serious film about this form of Buddhism, which has had a huge cultural influence but is little understood — let alone practiced — by ordinary Japanese. Perhaps it's a sign that, after decades of a single-minded focus on materialism, the culture is returning to its spiritual roots; or that one Baby Boomer director (Takahashi is 60) is getting religious in his old age.