The Long Search
S01E09: Buddhism: The Land of the Disappearing Buddha
If the Buddha of India met the Buddha of Japan, would they recognize each other? To find out, this program talks to the staff in a Tokyo restaurant who keep regular Zen meditation schedules as part of their job, then on to the classical Zen calligraphy, swordfighting, archery and tea ceremony.
Overview
The Long Search was a 1977 BBC documentary television series spanning 13 episodes. Presented by theatre director Ronald Eyre, the series surveyed several major world religions, including Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic Christianity. Other episodes surveyed Theraveda and Zen Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and even the New Age movement. Location filming took place in India, England, Italy, Japan, Israel, Romania, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United States, Egypt, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Scholar of religion Ninian Smart acted as editorial consultant to the show, and also authored a companion book by the same name. The series was re-issued on DVD, and is currently distributed by Ambrose Video.