The Singer on the Screen

For example, we can imagine that there is a white screen in a hall, and that there is an eye looking at the screen. The eye senses that there is nothing on the screen. In the back of the hall there is a roll of film and a lightbulb. The lightbulb shines through the film and projects the image of a person onto the screen. A sound system produces sound and music. The screen, the film, the electric light, and the sound system are all conditions that come together to create the image of someone singing a song on the screen. At that moment the eye sees a singer. The singer singing is what we call the fruit or the result; it is a manifestation, just like ice, a flame, a nun, or a novice monk is a manifestation. We cannot say that the image of the singer is not real. In the same way, we cannot say that ice or flames are not real. If we put our finger in the flame, we will get burned; if we put ice in our mouth, our tongue will go numb. We cannot say that these manifestations of ice and flame do not exist. They are objects capable of interacting with other objects around them. The same is true for the image of that singer - it is capable of interacting with other objects around it. That image can make us feel happy, or it can make us feel sad so that we sob. Anyone who has watched a film knows this. Many people cry at the cinema.

To think that the image is something that exists of itself is not correct, because the singer needs to have all the conditions we have mentioned to manifest. … This example helps us to see that although it seems there is nothing real on the screen, the image there still has an effect on people. … We cannot say that this movie does not exist. It is truly there, and it has a strong effect on its surroundings, just like fire or ice.

Whether we are a young girl, a young man, or an old person, we are like that. We are created by the coming together of many different conditions; we do not have an independent self-nature.

Thich Nhat Hanh

from Cracking the Walnut; Understanding the Dialectics of Nagarjuna