My favorite television night of the year is Oscar night. I love movies, and I love seeing the personalities who make the movies come out and interact. It is a chance to watch them be themselves rather than their characters. Last night I was particularly impressed with how genuine people seemed to be. I have been watching these shows most of my life and it seems to me people used to walk in with personas as finely crafted as their gowns – smile to the camera, don’t give away anything real or personal, pretend you don’t care who wins; and they often looked more like a deer caught in the headlights than an actual person. Now people seem more comfortable in their own skins, or if not then comfortable enough to say how nervous they are. Maybe we are growing up as a species, not so afraid to be honest and real.

During the ceremonies as the winners, and therefore those who didn’t win, started to be revealed it occurred to me that moments like these force people to find their Buddha natures more than most other moments of their lives. They have to find that space to accept the win or the loss and carry it off as gracefully as possible. If they can’t find it, they will suffer and then be forced to find it to stop the suffering. And it seems to force everyone else to do it with them and for them, even those of us sitting at home watching; that is if we care at all about the people and outcomes. I think it is a wonderful exercise in discovering Buddha nature. I wish all of us well with grounding that going forward.