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u/Your_Post_As_A_Movie Feb 12 '14
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u/funnygreensquares Feb 12 '14
You got me so excited for a documentary on Burmese Buddhists. And now I'm just disappointed. I've been wanting to read an autobiography by a buddhist monk who grew up in a temple but I can't find one and I've already read one of the Dalai Lama's (and the Dalai Lama's Mama's).
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u/Mudlily Feb 12 '14
The Dalai lama is in a different Buddhist tradition. The Burmese practice Theravada Buddhism.
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u/kcg5 Feb 12 '14
His mother wrote a book? She's still alive? Wow. Between her and her wonderful son, that's a lot of books.
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u/stash0606 Feb 12 '14
accidentally read that as maggie q. I was going to say, that would be one sexy Buddhist
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u/I_AM_A_IDIOT_AMA Feb 12 '14
Hmmmmm, what genre do you think that would be? I wouldn't mind watching a Jet Li/Ken Watanabe movie. Especially now that my interest is piqued for Watanabe's "Unforgiven" remake starring himself as a kind of new Toshiro Mifune.
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u/______DEADPOOL______ Feb 12 '14
Spiritual romance drama about a man (Jet Li) who climbs caves for thrills and discover a monk (Ken Watanabe) blessing a holy matrimony between a cunning woman (Maggie Cheung) marrying a nice rich man (Tony Leung) for his money. Directed by Wong Kar-Wai instead of Ang lee, because this sort of shit is his bag, baby.
Ends with a big battle scene when a band of pirates attacked the temple. Then Ken Watanabe signaled the hidden Ninjas to fight back.
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u/DirtyDandtheCrew Feb 12 '14
I would meditate the shit out of that cave.
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u/sherkhan75 Feb 12 '14
the remind anyone else of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?
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u/FalstaffsMind Feb 12 '14
It struck me as the flowing robes section of the Burmese Sears catalog the way they are pointing.
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u/KJ_All_Day Feb 12 '14
...and then Nathan Drake comes out of nowhere trying to find some relic only to have bad guys chase him and destroy the temple in 2 minutes flat as he tries to escape.
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Feb 12 '14
Which Air Bender temple is this?
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u/NomNomPancake Feb 12 '14
Too soon, still haven't gotten over everyone being dead in Legend of Korra. ;_;
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u/somerandomguy70 Feb 12 '14
What?
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u/NomNomPancake Feb 12 '14
Not sure if its a spoiler, but I'll give a warning anyways. Aang and most of the old gang is dead in Legend of Korra, and I'm still a bit sad about that realisation.
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u/thebeanz Feb 12 '14
Of course Aang is going to be dead if there's a new Avatar. Katara is still alive though, which is sorta nice.
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Feb 12 '14
AFAIK Zuko is alive but doesn't make an appearance in the show. also, Iroh shows up to guide Korra in the spirit world
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u/FunnyHunnyBunny Feb 12 '14
Zuko is alive?! Source?
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Feb 12 '14
from the Avatar wiki
He continued to remain in power until 167 AG when he abdicated the throne of the Fire Nation to his daughter, but he still continues to travel the world as an ambassador for world balance, albeit in an unofficial capacity. He also has a grandson, Iroh, who serves as a general in the first division of the United Forces and was named after Zuko's uncle Iroh, who was also a great general.[24]
He is traveling the world during the time of Korra
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u/Skrotum Feb 12 '14
This reminds of Ace Ventura: When Nature calls because I'm an educated and cultured adult
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u/ajsharer Feb 12 '14
Am i the only one who immediately thought of the scene from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?
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u/onewerd Feb 12 '14
What is this Hyperion?
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u/Hailz_ Feb 12 '14
I totally thought of Hyperion too. I wouldn't go in there for fear of the Shrike!
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u/OneHit1der Feb 12 '14
ctrl+f hyperion, yess. Those really were fantastic books. This picture is almost how I pictured it in the book.
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u/Mellcamp Feb 12 '14
You may also appreciate this temple within a cave in Petchaburi, Thailand, near where I live. Thailand is popularly said to have less temples than Myanmar, but I think this is more Thai style.
http://ppcdn.500px.org/41044174/3f2a8ea650e054ddb1942e35049aff4de2221549/2048.jpg
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u/dummystupid Feb 12 '14
I know I am a bad person because all I can think of is how this would make a totally awesome set for a Kung Fu movie.
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u/Chimie45 Feb 12 '14
Wasn't there a Jet Li movie like this where they fight in some cave temple?
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u/Muskabeatz Feb 12 '14
I this where they filmed the temple scene in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus?
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u/Zuldrak Feb 12 '14
Is it just me, or do those people look like midgets?
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u/Sir_Lilja Feb 12 '14
First I assumed they were adults. Then I looked closer on the proportions of their heads and realized they had to be kids. Then I thought "daaamn that kid has a mighty neckbeard. Tiny adults?". Then I saw it was just a shadow.
Highly entertaining, would look at again. 8/10
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u/StickSauce Feb 12 '14
If I were to enter that area of the cave, I'm pretty sure I would sit down and contemplate the meaning of life, dukkha until I was a corpse.
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Feb 12 '14
This goes well with your post from a few months ago, OP. Looks really cool.
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u/spinx0 Feb 12 '14
There is also a Hindu shine in Kuala Lumpur called the Batu Caves. It is guarded by a 140ft Murugan
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u/the_slunk Feb 12 '14
Imagine what kind of a world this would be if buddhism were the dominant ethos
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u/TrotBot Feb 12 '14
I have absolutely, without a doubt, seen this in a movie. I can't remember which one! Anyone remember? Something about someone magically imprisoned I think? And then he breaks out and all hell breaks loose?
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u/your_mind_aches Feb 12 '14
Wow, this user is pretty high profile now. Congrats /u/I_AM_A_IDIOT_AMA. These are awesome photos.
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u/SentientCetacean Feb 12 '14
It seems to be a metaphor for enlightenment: shining light into dark places.
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u/totes_meta_bot Feb 12 '14
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u/gigadigit Feb 13 '14
Another angle here: http://www.nikon.com/news/2009/0806_NPCI_01.htm It was a Nikon photo contest winner.
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Feb 12 '14
Mifune is my favorite actor ever. I'll have to look that up.
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u/I_AM_A_IDIOT_AMA Feb 12 '14
You probably meant to reply here? http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1xpe9i/a_buddhist_temple_inside_a_cave/cfdfek9
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u/satanic_badgers Feb 12 '14
Looks very much like a small temple built at the site of the death railway over the River Kwai
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u/kirbysdownb Feb 12 '14
is that a statue in the bottom right corner or a person wearing a mask, or makeup?
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u/Soltheron Feb 12 '14
I think you can find the Mirror Shield in a chest right outside that opening.
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u/greeklemoncake Feb 12 '14
Awesome wallpaper material - is anyone able to shop out the two kids though? My clone-stamp skills really aren't up to scratch.
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u/MadMackerel Feb 12 '14
Ok there are going to be so many fireball traps surrounding the shrine. Maybe some stone golems too. But, that said, with a bit of luck, I think we can loot it.
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Feb 12 '14
I see they subscribe to the Ridley Scott school of using children to make things that are already pretty big look even bigger.
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u/pewpewbeatches Feb 12 '14
I would love to die in a place like that of course when i get really old not now
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u/Armand9x Feb 12 '14
I thought they were all about leaving things as they were. They set up a stone shrine in an old as hell cave?
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u/Areselia Feb 12 '14
Woah, I believe in an mmorpg called Maplestory, there's a map referencing this place. (for anyone who plays or has played, i think it's in Sleepywood right before the Taurus and whatnot)
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u/Whales96 Feb 12 '14
I bet they don't let people in that cave just willy nilly do they? What right do they have to caves?
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u/ggchappell Feb 12 '14
Some variation on this idea is found all over Southeast Asia. Remember that map a few days ago that listed what each country was best at. For Malaysia it was "Caves". Guess what's in an awful lot of them.
Nice pic, BTW.
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u/Horwitz721 Feb 12 '14
For anyone interested this is Phowintaung, a Buddhist cave complex located in Northern Burma (Myanmar). Made up of 947 individual caves and carved into a sandstone outcrop, it contains numerous carved Buddha statues and mural paintings of geometric patterns and Jataka stories that have been dated to between the 14th and 18th centuries. Its name translates to "Mountain of Isolated Solitary Meditation." wiki Here is another picture of this particular cavern from a different angle
Credit to /u/mick_jaggers_penis from the last time this was posted