Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (달마가 동쪽으로 간 까닭은? - Dalmaga dongjjok-euro gan ggadakeun?) (1989) is an award-winning South Korean film written, produced and directed by Bae Yong-kyun, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul. Known principally as a painter, Bae spent seven years making this film with one camera and editing it by hand. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.Synopsis
A meditative film dealing with Seon Buddhist views on life, Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? follows the lives of three Buddhist monks: a child, an adult, and an old man.