Samsara 2001

From childhood, Tashi is drawn to the monastic path, beginning his training as a Buddhist monk at the age of five. Two decades pass before he emerges from a demanding three-year solitary meditation, earning the degree of khenpo from his rinpoche. Yet a private test follows as he begins to have wet dreams, and these experiences strain the relationships within the temple, challenging the routines and expectations of monastic life.

During an official visit, he stays with a farmer and meets Pema, the farmer’s daughter. This encounter becomes a turning point: Tashi leaves the monastic life behind, returns to the farm, and joins the migrant workers who gather for the harvest. After a subsequent meeting with Pema, the two marry, forming a new family that will later include a son named Karma.

As the ex-lama grows into a farmer and landowner, he finds financial success by bringing the harvest to the city rather than selling it to the local merchant Dawa, a man who has historically cheated the valley’s farmers. This shift provokes tension with Jamayang, Pema’s former fiancé and the valley’s stone mason, who resents Tashi for disrupting the long-standing ties between the community and Dawa.

Amid these tensions, Tashi grapples with his sexuality and an attraction to Sujata, a migrant worker who returns to the farm year after year. As Pema travels to the city to sell their harvest, Tashi and Sujata begin a sexual relationship, an arrangement Sujata says has long been discussed between Sujata and Pema. This revelation adds another layer of complexity to the couple’s dynamic and to Tashi’s sense of loyalty and desire.

A visit from a friend from his lama days brings news of Apo’s death, a loss that deepens Tashi’s sense of guilt over his infidelity and the mentor’s passing. Overwhelmed by these conflicting loyalties and the weight of his choices, Tashi ultimately leaves the farm and returns to the monastery, seeking solace, forgiveness, and a path to reconcile the different paths his life has taken.