Earth Day Celebrations at AZC – BuddhaFlix screening of Nausicaa Valley of the Wind

Join us on April 20th at 6:00pm for a screening of this spectacular film, written, animated and directed by legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The film depicts the life of a young Princess Nausicaä in a dystopian future set 1000 years after an apocalyptic war referred to grimly as “the Seven Days of Fire” destroyed most of civilization. For Nausicaä and the surviving inhabitants of the Earth, life is dominated by interactions with the ever-growing Toxic Jungle that was spawned in the aftermath of the war. The Jungle and the massive insects that evolved to protect it threaten humankind with extinction as they relentlessly consume the remaining human kingdoms, which are plagued by war and starvation. Confronted with this bleak reality, Princess Nausicaä devotes herself to understanding the mysteries of the Toxic Jungle to see if there is any hope for humanity to coexist with the Jungle and its giant insect guardians. More than 30 years later, “Nausicaä” remains a must-see for anyone with a taste for epic storytelling, quality science-fiction or just film in general. If you limit yourself from seeing this film because you “don’t like anime,” then you are missing out on a true work of art. Although the teachings of the film should resonate strongly with mindfulness and Buddhist practitioners, it is also a wake-up call to our wider community. With the truth of our interconnectedness to each other and Earth so evident in science and the Dharma, are we (especially as Buddhists) appropriately and fully engaged in the transformation to a more life-sustaining approach to civilization? If not us, then who?