Life as Cinema

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche on film as a metaphor for the Buddha’s teaching about samsara, nirvana and life itself.

Just suppose that we have been born in a cinema\r\nhall. We don’t know that what is going on in front of us is just a projection.\r\nWe don’t know that it is just a film, just a movie, and that the events in the\r\nmovie aren’t real — that they have no true existence. Everything we see on that\r\nscreen — love, hate, violence, suspense, thrills — is in fact just the effect\r\nof light projected through celluloid. But no one has ever told us this, so we\r\njust sit there watching, fixated on the film. If somebody tries to attract our\r\nattention, we say, “Shut up!” Even if we have something important to do, we\r\ndon’t want to do it. We are completely engrossed and blind to the fact that\r\nthis projection is completely futile.

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Now suppose that there is someone in the seat next\r\nto us who says: “Look, this is just a film. It’s not real. This is not really\r\nhappening. It’s really just a projection.” There’s a chance we too might\r\nunderstand that what we are seeing is in fact a movie, that it is unreal and\r\nessenceless.

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This doesn’t automatically mean we get up and leave\r\nthe cinema. We don’t have to do that. We can just relax and simply watch the\r\nlove affair, the crime thriller or whatever. We can experience its intensity.\r\nAnd if we have a certain confidence that this is just a projection, then we can\r\nrewind, fast forward or play the film again as we like. And we have the choice\r\nto leave whenever we like, and to come back at another time to watch again.\r\nOnce we are certain that we can leave any time we like, we may not feel\r\ncompelled to do so. We can choose to sit comfortably and watch.

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Sometimes a sequence in the movie can overwhelm our\r\nemotions. A tragic moment might hit our soft spot and we are carried away. But\r\nnow, something in our heart is telling us that we know it’s not real, that it’s\r\nnot a big deal.

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This is what the dharma practitioner needs to\r\nunderstand — that the whole of samsara, or nirvana, is as essenceless or untrue\r\nas that film. Until we see this, it will be very difficult for dharma to sink\r\ninto our minds. We will always be carried away, seduced by the glory and beauty\r\nof this world, by all the apparent success and failure. However, once we see,\r\neven just for a second, that these appearances are not real, we will gain a\r\ncertain confidence. This doesn’t mean that we have to rush off to Nepal or\r\nIndia and become a monk or nun. We can still keep our jobs, wear a suit and tie\r\nand go with our briefcase to the office every day. We can still fall in love,\r\noffer our loved one flowers, exchange rings. But somewhere inside there is\r\nsomething telling us that all this is essenceless.

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It is very important to have such a glimpse. If we\r\nhave even one glimpse in the whole of our life, we can be happy for the rest of\r\nthe time with just the memory of that glimpse.

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Now, it could happen that when someone whispers to\r\nus, “Hey! This is just a film,” we don’t hear them because we are distracted.\r\nPerhaps just at that moment there is a big car crash in the movie, or loud\r\nmusic, so we just don’t hear the message. Or else maybe we do hear the message,\r\nbut our ego misinterprets this information. We remain confused and believe that\r\nthere is something true and real in the movie after all. Why does that happen?\r\nIt happens because we lack merit. Merit is incredibly important. Of course,\r\nintelligence, or prajna, is important. Compassion, or karuna, is important. But\r\nmerit is paramount. Without merit, we are like an ignorant, illiterate beggar\r\nwho wins a multi-million-dollar lottery but does not know what to do with the\r\nmoney and loses it straight away.

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But suppose we do have a little merit and we\r\nactually get the message from the person whispering to us. Then, as Buddhists,\r\nwe have different options. From the point of view of Theravada Buddhism, we get\r\nup and leave the movie hall, or we close our eyes, so we are not carried away\r\nby the movie. We put an end to suffering in that way. On the Mahayana level, we\r\nreduce our suffering through understanding that the movie is not real, that it\r\nis all a projection and empty. We don’t stop watching the movie, but we see\r\nthat it has no inherent existence. Moreover, we are concerned about the others\r\nin the cinema. Finally, in the Vajrayana, we know that it is just a movie, we\r\nare not fooled, and we just enjoy the show. The more emotion the movie evokes\r\nin us, the more we appreciate the brilliance of the production. We share our\r\ninsights with our fellow viewers, who, we trust, are also able to appreciate\r\nwhat we see.

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But to implement this in real life, we need merit.\r\nIn Theravada Buddhism one accumulates merit through renunciation. We see that\r\nthe movie is making us suffer and we have the sense to stop watching it. In the\r\nMahayana we accumulate merit with compassion. We have a big and open mind that\r\nis more concerned with others’ suffering.

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On the other hand, this transformation — from being\r\ncaught up in the movie, to seeing the emptiness of the events in the film, to\r\ncaring solely for the welfare of others — might take a very, very long time.\r\nThis is why in the Vajrayana we move into the fast lane and accumulate merit\r\nthrough devotion. We trust the person who is whispering to us and who has an\r\nunderstanding that has set him free. Not only do we assimilate the information\r\nhe is giving us, but we also appreciate his freedom of mind and the depth of\r\nhis being. We know we have the potential for such liberation too, and this\r\nmakes us appreciate him even more. A single moment of such devotion, just a\r\nsplit second, just a little bit of such devotion, has immense merit. If we are\r\nin tune with the person whispering to us, he might help us discover the true\r\ninner movie-lover. He might make us see how the rest of the audience is caught\r\nup, and how unnecessary it all is.

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This person brings us to an understanding of what it\r\nis we are seeing. We then become someone who can sit back and enjoy the show.\r\nAnd maybe we might whisper to some others as well.

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Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche - Lion’s Roar