The Buddhist Monk Who Adopted 85 Children: Filmmaker Andrew Hinton on His Documentary ‘Tashi and the Monk’

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Contemplify, the basecamp for budding contemplative whose pursuit is to kindle the examined life through conversations with creatives, scholars and practitioners. My guest today is Andrew Hinton, filmmaker and co-director of the sublime Emmy-nominated documentary film, Tashi & the Monk. If you haven’t seen Tashi & the Monk, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s moving, funny, wise and at times heart-breaking. This film follows former Buddhist monk Lobsang (who was trained under the guidance of the Dalai Lama by the by) who created a community of orphaned and neglected kids in the foothills of the Himalayas and a precocious 5-year old, Tashi, who just joined the community and is trying to find her way. I can’t say enough about this film, it brought tears to my eyes and a shot of joy to my soul. Andrew shares the serendipitous story of how he came to meet Lobsang thanks to an email from billionaire Peter Thiel’s foundation, the impact Lobsang and Tashi had on him, and how he got started in filmmaking by interviewing people in the lobby of an apartment building. Andrew Hinton makes beautiful films, and you can see this one, Tashi & the Monk, for free by going to this episode’s shownotes at contemplify.com/andrew. See this film, actually pause what you are doing now and watch it and come back around to this interview later….okay, you’re back, you should also head over to tashiandthemonk.com to find out how you can support this community that Lobsang created and the children bring to life.