Richard Miron’s documentary short focuses on Bruce Blair, the Buddhist chaplain at Yale University. Blair runs the nightly Indigo Blue service at the university’s Battell Chapel, which attracts practicing Buddhists and those who are curious about the faith. This endeavor is funded exclusively through alms – straightforward fundraising of the modern Judeo-Christian tradition is antithetical to this Buddhist movement.
The film provides a fascinating glimpse on the role of religion in a contemporary university setting and the alternative faith-based answers that Buddhism offers to today’s students. But at nine minutes, “Precious and Unseen” barely scratches the surface of Blair’s theological journey, the protocol of the Indigo Blue services, the impact of his chaplaincy on the university’s community and the insight that the congregants receive from their participation in this nightly event. Perhaps Miron will be able to return to the subject and expand this film with the degree of depth and scope that the subject deserves.
