Buddhist Atomism and Film

It appears that many filmmakers may attempt to illustrate Buddhist atomism (though they might not use the label "Buddhist atomism" to describe reality) as bits of flashing light or energy, or flashing atoms, flashing in and out of existence. The Indian Buddhist view, following Dharmakirti, is one where the flashing happens at such a rate that the non-nirvanic mind is unaware of this emptiness (i.e., this lack of persistence and endurance) of reality. Click here to see an example of a film of Buddhist atoms. (My article, "The R-theory of Time, or Replacement Presentism: The Buddhist Philosophy of Time", coming out in the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, is all about these issues--especially the first part of the conclusion [section 5.1].) Some filmmakers demonstrate that reality is made up of Buddhist atoms by the use of television snow in their films. Films that may be examples of this appear to be Kundun, Lost Highway and Fire, Walk With Me, both of the latter two mentioned are by David Lynch (also, parts of Lynch's film Mullholland Drive may involve many elements of Buddhism, but that is more debatable). Here is an example of a short "television snow" Buddhist atomism film (this film works on most computers, but if the film below is not moving it is not working on your computer):