Harold Ramis’ “5 Minute Buddhist” pocket primer

Harold Ramis was a kind, wise, hilarious, brilliant guy with a buddhist heart. So grateful to have worked for him. Sending love to his fam. — olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) February 24, 2014

Though born and raised Jewish, successful comedy actor and filmmaker Harold Ramis famously followed Buddhist teachings and once visited with the Dalai Lama.

The influence of Buddhist thought can be seen in several of his films, most notably Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray, directed by Ramis and co-written with Danny Rubin.

Ramis was known by his friends and colleagues to carry a pocket “Buddhist primer” he created himself, which he would occasionally copy and give to friends such as Judd Apatow.

I carefully reproduced this PDF of his personal primer – font, spacing and all – from an online photograph of a laminated, autographed version Mr. Ramis provided for the annual Shambhala Sun Foundation auction in 2009.

Download Harold Ramis’ “The 5 Minute Buddhist” pocket primer (PDF)

Print it, laminate it, and tri-fold it “like a Chinese takeout menu” for ultimate authenticity.

Carry it around, share it with your friends, and maybe it will inspire you to look at life through the lens of calm and laughter.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Ramis. You are already missed.

Harold Ramis (1944-2014)

UPDATE: Amidst all the attention this post has generated, I received a nice letter from a reader with some suggestions for improvement to Ramis’s original document:

Dear Mr. Kuhns:

I am glad to see that Harold Ramis’s Buddhist primer is getting more
exposure — as it deserves to do.

Alas, Mr. Ramis made a mistake in his formulation of the Four Noble
Truths; you will find attached to this message my own, amended version
of the document, in which I have also Sanskritized the terminology —
so as not to introduce too great a bias toward the Pali tradition of
Buddhism — and added to the second-to-last thoughts the name of their
author, for the sake of both respect and thoroughness.

May it be of benefit.

Sincerely,
Windsor Viney
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada