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In a story in the Buddhist canon, a grief-stricken mother named Kisa Gautami loses her only child and carries the body around town, searching for some way to resurrect the child. When she encounters the Buddha, he asks her to collect several mustard seeds from a family that has never experienced death. Not surprisingly, Kisa Gautami is unable to find a single such family. She buries her child and decides to cultivate a spiritual life. I thought of Kisa Gautamis story when I first encountered the 2020 Korean documentary Meeting You, in which virtual reality technology is used to reunite a grieving mother, Jang Ji-sung, with her deceased 7-year-old daughter, Nayeon. While the virtual reunion was moving to witness, I wondered whether it was truly helping the mother to heal, or whether it was deepening an avoidance of grief and of the truth. Since the documentary first aired, the business of digitally resurrecting the deceased has grown significantly. People are now using AI to create grief bots, which are simulations of deceased loved ones that the living can converse with. There has even been a case where an AI-rendered video of a deceased victim has appeared to deliver a court statement asking for the maximum sentence for the person who took their life. As a Buddhist studies scholar who has experienced several bereavements this year, I have turned to Buddhist teachings to reflect on how creating a digital afterlife for loved ones may inadvertently enhance our suffering, and what alternative ways of grieving Buddhism might offer. Buddhisms view on suffering According to Buddhist thought, the root of all suffering is clinging to illusions. This clinging creates karma that perpetuates negative cyclesfor oneself and otherswhich endure lifetimes. In Mahayana Buddhism, the path to liberate oneself from this suffering begins by becoming a bodhisattva, someone who devotes their life to the liberation of self and others. Mahayana Buddhism, which introduced the idea of celestial bodhisattvas, is the most widely practiced form of Buddhism, particularly in East Asia and the Tibetan Himalayan regions. In the 37 Practices of All the Bodhisattvas, the 14th-century author Gyelse Tokme Zangpo wrote: The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to let go of graspingWhen encountering things one finds pleasant or attractive,Consider them to be like rainbows in the summer skies Beautiful in appearance, yet in truth, devoid of any substance. A digital avatar of the deceased may provide temporary comfort, but it may distort reality in an unhealthy way and intensify our attachment to an illusion. Interactions with a griefbot that responds to our every request may also diminish our memories of the deceased by creating an inauthentic version of who they were. Grief as a catalyst for compassion In the tradition of Buddhism that I specialize in, called the Great Perfectiona tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, which is a branch of Mahayanauncomfortable feelings such as grief are considered precious opportunities to cultivate spiritual insight. In a text called Self-liberating Meditation, a 19th century mendicant teacher of the Great Perfection known as Patrul Rinpoche wrote: No matter what kind of thoughts arisebe they good or bad, positive or negative, happy or saddont indulge them or reject them, but settle, without altering, in the very mind that thinks. The Great Perfection contends that all of our emotions are like temporary clouds, and that our true nature is awareness, like the blue sky behind the clouds. Grief and other challenging emotions should not be altered or suppressed but allowed to transform in their own time. In a culture where we are taught that negative emotions should be eliminated or pushed aside, not pushing away grief becomes a practice of great kindness toward oneself. By cultivating this awareness of our emotions, grief becomes a catalyst for compassion toward others. In Buddhism, compassion is the seed of awakening to the truth of interdependencethe fact that none of us exist as discrete beings but are deeply interconnected with all other beings and life forms. Communal rituals Compassion manifests outwardly in community rituals that process grief, such as the 49-day Buddhist service, common to the Great Perfection and other Buddhist traditions. Many Buddhists believe that it takes 49 days for the consciousness of the deceased to transition into their next life. During this time, the family sets up a special altar and recites prayers for the deceased, often with the support of ordained monks and nuns. Practicing generosity toward others is also recommended to accumulate merit for the deceased. These communal rituals provide much-needed outlets, time and support for processing grief and having it witnessed by others. The time and attention given to the grief process sharply contrasts to the situation in the United States, where bereavement leave is often limited to three to five days. Deepening relationship with impermanence In opting for digital avatars, we may undermine what Buddhism would consider to be critical moments for genuine transformation and connection. When I think of the family and friends who have passed away this year, I empathize with the desire to hear their voices again, or to have conversations that provide closure where there was none. Rather than turning to a technological fix that promises a reunion with the deceased, I choose to deepen my relationship with impermanence and to savor the fleeting moments that I have with those I love now. As Kisa Gautamis story shows, the desire to bring back the dead is not new, but there is great benefit in allowing gief to run its course, including a felt sense of compassion for oneself and all others who have ever experienced similar forms of grief. Elaine Lai is a lecturer in civic, liberal, and global education at Stanford University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Some good news for moviegoers: Cinemark announced on Wednesday it plans to add 18 new panoramic, 270-degree ScreenX movie theaters in the U.S., with six slated to open in 2025, and the remaining next year. The deal expands Cinemark’s existing partnership with South Korea-based CJ 4DPlex to a total number of 26 Cinemark theaters. It will also add two more theaters in Latin America in 2026, introducing ScreenX to that region’s audiences for the first time. The two companies first partnered in 2022, with the launch of their initial ScreenX locations in California and Texas. Thats been a big goal for us, to get as many theaters open for the last part of the year for Wicked: For Good and, of course, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is such a seminal movie for all of the industry, Don Savant, CEO of CJ 4DPlex Americas, told CNBC. ScreenX creates a dynamic, 270-degree panoramic field of view by extending movie screens onto the left and right walls of the auditorium, filling the audience’s peripheral vision. Fast Company reached out to Cinemark for a list of new locations, but it said it is unable to share further information at this time, as it is “currently in a quiet period before reporting company earnings.” Movie theater attendance has fallen since the pandemic, with audience habits shifting to streaming home entertainment. According to Octane Seating, 63% of Americans now watch movies at home, as more people turn to their smartphones and other digital devices to consume movies and video instead of a trip to the multiplex.
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E-Commerce
Tesla launched ride-hailing in San Francisco’s Bay Area on Thursday but did not mention using self-driving robotaxis for the service. California has not permitted Tesla to offer robotaxi service, and the limited rollout highlights the regulatory hurdles the company faces as it looks to pivot to robotaxis amid cooling electric vehicle sales. The state’s rules could potentially delay Musk’s target of deploying robotaxis across half the U.S. by year-end. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said last week that Tesla was not allowed to “test or transport the public” with or without a driver in a self-driving vehicle. Tesla had notified the CPUC of its intent to include friends and family of employees, plus select public participants in the Bay Area service, but only in human-operated vehicles. But the regulator reiterated that Tesla must first complete a pilot phase without charging customers before pursuing full-autonomous permits, a process that has taken competitors such as Alphabet’s Waymo years to navigate. “You can now ride-hail a Tesla in the SF Bay Area, in addition to Austin,” Musk said in a post on X, without adding other details. Tesla, in a post on X, showed the service area would include the San Francisco area, San Jose and Berkeley. Tesla only has a permit from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to test self-driving vehicles with a safety driver on public roads. It does not have the permits needed to collect fares in robotaxis. For the Bay Area service, Tesla may be able to use its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature, which can perform many driving tasks but requires a human driver to pay attention and be ready to take over at all times. A CPUC spokesperson last week did not respond to a question on whether Tesla could use that feature, but such technology does not require an autonomous vehicle permit in California because the human driver is expected to be in control at all times. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for additional details. The EV maker will require permits from the CPUC and California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to launch a ride-hailing service competing with Waymo, Uber and Lyft, though the regulatory approval process is lengthy and can stretch for years. Tesla’s launch pits the company against Waymo on its home turf. The Alphabet unit surpassed Lyft’s market share in San Francisco this year, making it the city’s second-largest ride-hailing provider behind Uber, according to data from analytics firm YipitData. Musk said last week that Tesla was aiming to get the regulatory permission to launch robotaxis in several states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, but did not provide details on the approvals it was receiving. Gnaneshwar Rajan, Akash Sriram and Gursimran Kaur, Reuters
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E-Commerce
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