Extremely Tiny and Indivisible Dust: Cinematic Buddhist Studies and the Spatial Experience of Seeing Hans Richter’s Rhythmus 21

This article uses wufen weichen (extremely tiny and indivisible dust) in Buddhist studies as a philosophical methodology for re-examining the rectangles’ sizes and the viewer’s spatial experience of seeing Richter’s film Rhythmus 21. This theory-based analysisleads to an alternative epistemological understanding of noabsolute-size, helping readers understand how Buddhist studies can add a new ontological interpretation to the current understanding of spatial experience in film studies, and how it is different from Orientalist readings of abstract or absolute film. This article provides clear rationales for a rereading of Richter’s film Rhythmus 21 and for the choice of an abstract or absolute film.

It explains why an engaged Buddhist reading is important in the context of some scholars’ Orientalist readings of abstract or absolute film, placing Richter’s film in the historical context of the 1920s. Additionally, given that the Buddhist logic of Sakya Paṇḍita is not always comprehensible for scholars in film studies, this article builds some ramps and bridges to make visible how these logical links work together. Moreover, not only does this article push its argument further by engaging with the meta ontological implications within a Buddhist context, but it also examines how Buddhist dust theory can be applied to any types of films and connects these logical issues to aesthetic contentions. Furthermore, from the perspective of the linguistic choices, this article clarifies why a specific language—such as the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet (Hanyu Pinyin), the Wylie Transliteration (Tibetan Script) or the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST)—is used for one term but not the other. These linguistic choices are also helpful in signposting different Buddhist schools throughout the entire article.