TV Screen Metaphors

 When we see the world as like a television screen--and we are one of many actors on it--what effect does this have on the mind? Does it create a state of denial, in which a person dissociates from the action and doesn't respond as an actor in the story? I think of this as an analogy for karma, in the sense that we are definitely specific actors in the tv screen, yet at the same time, we are the screen as well. And, in a more radical sense, we are also the other actors. This is because, from the perspective of the screen, there is no separation of one actor from the other. All are essentially of the same basic "substance" as it were. So, if this were the case, why is is that when I eat, you don't get full, and vice versa?

   Chan Buddhism, at least as far as I understand, does not deny the existence of karma. What it tries to suggest is that the error of attributing our sense of embodiment to a separate "I", is the real problem. In daily life, there is this pervasive habit of taking the body to be mine, while the things surrounding the body are not me. This is what starts the delusion of becoming defensive when the self feels it is being attacked, and even getting paranoid when it feels that all the others are out to get it. We truly don't need this reified sense of an "I" because at the end of the day, this big ego or I has no real function. It's like an artificial 30 pound gold crown that sits on one's head, thinking it's the "top" of the head and therefore the all-important function, when in fact, it is merely an accessory or thought that continues to change from moment to moment.

   Facing criticism from the perspective of the screen is actually simple enough. It is to go beyond the self as a reference point. If you have ever watched a movie--depending on your level of commitment to the characters--you might be rooting for the protagonist or whomever, but then you forget that this character is not a real person; it's an image reflected in your mind, and it is another image reflected in other viewers' minds. It is so hard to get out of the habit of discriminating the characters one likes and dislikes, but this is because the habit of discrimination is so deeply ingrained. It is that arising sense of I that comes when we feel we are going to be annihilated by a threatening other. If we were even for a moment to transcend that dualism and see that the characters are all thoughts on a screen, we would no longer feel defended anymore. The thoughts would be seen as phenomena only, and we need not be so attached to their impact because there is no "self" that becomes a reference point for these thoughts.

   Put it this way: as long as there is a sense of self, thoughts are continuously judged as good (beneficial to the self), bad (detrimental to the self) and neutral (not really benefitting or harming the self). What happens when we realize no self? Then there is no more reference point by which to compare the different thoughts, and the thoughts are seen for what they are--"just thoughts"--and we function to work with those thoughts with the intention of awakening others to the same conclusion.