A 13-part worldwide series Presented by Ronald Eyre 9: The Land of the Disappearing Buddha
' The search began in a Tokyo restaurant five floors high and busy. Its nickname is the Zen restaurant and that's what intrigued me. Say Buddhism and Japan in one breath and people like me say Zen. Forty-five years ago during the Depression, starving and jobless, Mr Tani , the owner, could see no way out but to kill himself. Instead he sat quite still attempting to switch off the bombardment of his thoughts by listening to his breath. He stayed alive.
The word Zen I've heard described as a Japanese mispronunciation of a Chinese mispronunciation of a Sanskrit word which means something like meditation. But where's the Buddha? There's no image, no chanting, no scripture, no sermon, nothing a Westerner can nod to and say - " Ah yes - religion ..." '
Photography JOHN ELSE
Sound recordist RON BROWN Film editor DAVID THOMAS Associate producers
MISCHA SCORER, JONATHAN STEDALL Producer PETER MONTAGNON