inception - buddhist interpretation of the film

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Ince pt ion - Buddhi st interpretatio n of the fi lm The inception of an idea: "An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you." "Now in a dream our mind continuously does this. !e create and perceive our world simultaneously and our mind does this so well that we dont even know its happening. That allows us to get right in the middle of that process." #If youre going to perform inception you need imagination. $ou need the simplest version of the idea % the one that will grow naturally in the su&'ects mind. (u&tle art.) *ompare the +uddhas description: "I say that even the inception of a thought ,cittuppado- concerned with wholesome things is of great importance not to speak of &odily acts and words following it. T herefore the thought should &e produced...) http:www.accessto insight.org tipitakamnmn.//0.nypo .html  #!hatever a monk fre1uently thinks and ponders upon that will &ecome the inclination of his mind.) http:www.accesstoinsight.orgtipitakamnmn./23.than.html  Ariadnes dou &le mirrors 4 sho wing infinite re gress going i n &oth direction s ,layers upon l ayers of consciousness and of deception avijja-: "$ou never really remem&er the &eginning of a dream do you5 $ou always wind up right in the middle of whats going on." Remem&ering how one came into a dream 6 sati  ,recollection- which &rings us &ack to reality. 7ro'ections 4 compare 8adhupindika (utta ,categories of proliferated perception attack the person who started the process-: Dependent on eye & forms, eye-consci ousness arises [similarly with the rest of the six senses]. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite conditi on, there is feeling. tarting with feeling, the notion of an !agent! " in this case, the feeler " acting on !o#$ects,! is introduced%  What one feels, one perceies 'la#els in the mind(. What one perceies, one thin)s a#out. What one thin)s a#out, one !papa*ci+es.! Through the process of papa*ca, the agent then #ecomes a ictim of hisher own patterns of thin)ing%  ased on what a person papa*ci+es, the perceptions & categories of papa*ca assail himher with regard to past, present, & future forms cogni+a#le ia the eye [as with the remaining senses]. What are these perceptions & categories that assail the person who papa*ci+es Sn 4.14 states that the root of the categories of papa*ca is the perception, !/ am the thin)er.! 0rom this self- 1

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8/13/2019 Inception - Buddhist Interpretation of the Film

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Inception - Buddhist interpretation of the film

The inception of an idea:

"An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can

grow to define or destroy you.""Now in a dream our mind continuously does this. !e create and perceive our world simultaneously and ourmind does this so well that we dont even know its happening. That allows us to get right in the middle of thatprocess."

#If youre going to perform inception you need imagination. $ou need the simplest version of the idea %the one that will grow naturally in the su&'ects mind. (u&tle art.)

*ompare the +uddhas description:

"I say that even the inception of a thought ,cittuppado- concerned with wholesome things is of greatimportance not to speak of &odily acts and words following it. Therefore the thought should &eproduced...)

http:www.accesstoinsight.orgtipitakamnmn.//0.nypo.html

 #!hatever a monk fre1uently thinks and ponders upon that will &ecome the inclination of hismind.)http:www.accesstoinsight.orgtipitakamnmn./23.than.html

 Ariadnes dou&le mirrors 4 showing infinite regress going in &oth directions ,layers upon layers ofconsciousness and of deception avijja-:

"$ou never really remem&er the &eginning of a dream do you5 $ou always wind up right in the middle ofwhats going on."

Remem&ering how one came into a dream 6 sati  ,recollection- which &rings us &ack to reality.

7ro'ections 4 compare 8adhupindika (utta ,categories of proliferated perception attack the person whostarted the process-:

Dependent on eye & forms, eye-consciousness arises [similarly with the rest of the six senses].

The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as a requisite condition, there is feeling.

tarting with feeling, the notion of an !agent! " in this case, the feeler " acting on !o#$ects,! is

introduced%

 What one feels, one perceies 'la#els in the mind(. What one perceies, one thin)s a#out. What

one thin)s a#out, one !papa*ci+es.!

Through the process of papa*ca, the agent then #ecomes a ictim of hisher own patterns of

thin)ing%

 ased on what a person papa*ci+es, the perceptions & categories of papa*ca assail himher

with regard to past, present, & future forms cogni+a#le ia the eye [as with the remaining

senses].What are these perceptions & categories that assail the person who papa*ci+es Sn 4.14 states

that the root of the categories of papa*ca is the perception, !/ am the thin)er.! 0rom this self-

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reflexie thought " in which one conceies a !self,! a thing corresponding to the concept of !/!

" a num#er of categories can #e deried% #eingnot-#eing, menot-me, minenot-mine,

doerdone-to, signifiersignified. 1nce one2s self #ecomes a thing under the ru#ric of these

categories, it2s impossi#le not to #e assailed #y the perceptions & categories deried from these

#asic distinctions. When there2s the sense of identification with something that experiences,

then #ased on the feelings arising from sensory contact, some feelings will seem appealing "

worth getting for the self " and others will seem unappealing " worth pushing away. 0rom thisthere grows desire, which comes into conflict with the desires of others who are also engaging

in papa*ca. This is how inner o#$ectifications #reed external contention.

http%www.accesstoinsight.orgtipita)amnmn.345.than.html

*o&&s effort to escape from *o&ol agents and to get himself ac1uitted from the crime which he isaccused of % compare Nanaviras analysis of 9afkas Trial which is almost identical:http:www.scri&d.comdoc/;<;=3>/A%+uddhist%Interpretation%of%9afka%s%?@istential%!ritings

im&o 4 the sphere of non%percipient &eings ,asaññi - or prolonged bhavanga state.

Cobb: !e drop into im&o.

Arthur : [angry]  Are you serious5B

Ariadne: im&o5

Arthur : Cnconstructed dream space.

Ariadne: !ell what the hell is down there5

Arthur : Dust raw infinite su&conscious. Nothing  is down there. ?@cept for whatever that might have

&een left &ehind &y whoevers sharing the dream who was trapped down there &efore. !hich in ourcase is 'ust you.

Ariadne: +ut how long could we &e stuck there5

 Yusef : Not even think a&out waking up until 4

Eames: How long5B

 Yusef : EecadesB It could &e infiniteB I dont knowB Ask him hes the one whos &een thereB

#+ut I donFt want to go among mad people" Alice remarked.

"Gh you canFt help that" said the *at: "weFre all mad here. IFm mad. $ouFre mad.""How do you know IFm mad5" said Alice."$ou must &e" said the *at or you wouldnFt have come here.)

#How puling all these changes areB Im never sure what Im going to &e from one minute toanother.)

#I wonder if Ive &een changed in the night. et me think. !as I the same when I got up thismorning5 I almost think I can remem&er feeling a little different. +ut if Im not the same thene@t 1uestion is !ho in the world am I5 Ah thats the great puleB)

#Im afraid I cant e@plain myself sir. +ecause I am not myself you see5)

#I cant go &ack to yesterday &ecause I was a different person then. )

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#It was much pleasanter at home" thought poor Alice "when one wasnt always growinglarger and smaller and &eing ordered a&out &y mice and ra&&its. I almost wish I hadnt gonedown the ra&&it%hole%%and yet%%and yet%%...)

ewis *arroll Alice in !onderland

*f. Jaddula (utta simile of the painter and the "motion picture" which is fashioned &y the citta even morevariegateddiversified:

We read in the 'Atthasalini' (a commentary to the Dhammasangani, which is the first book ofthe Abhidhamma !ook ", #art "", Analysis of $erms, %4&

ow is consciosness (i.e.mind ca)able of )rodcing a *ariety or di*ersity of effects in

action+

$here is no art in the world more *ariegated than the art of )ainting. "n )ainting, the )ainter'smaster)iece is more artistic than the rest of his )ictres. An artistic design occrs to the

 )ainters of master)ieces that sch and sch )ictres shold be drawn in sch and sch a way.$hrogh this artistic design there arise o)erations of the mind (or artistic o)erations

accom)lishing sch things as sketching the otline, )tting on the )aint, toching ), andembellishing... $hs all classes of arts in the world, s)ecific or generic, are achie*ed by the

mind. And owing to its ca)acity ths to )rodce a *ariety or di*ersity of effects in action, the

mind, which achie*es all these arts, is itself artistic like the arts themsel*es. ay, it is e*en

more artistic than the art itself, becase the latter cannot e-ecte e*ery design )erfectly. or

that reason the !lessed /ne has said, '0onks, ha*e yo seen a master)iece of )ainting+' 'es,

ord.' '0onks, that master)iece of art is designed by the mind. "ndeed, monks, the mind ise*en more artistic than that master)iece.'

SN 22.100 Gaddula Sutta

"Unimaginable, bhikkhus, is a beginning to the round of births [and deaths]. For beings obstructed byignorance and fettered by craving, migrating and going the round of births, a starting point is not evident.

"Just as a dog, bhikkhus, tied with a leash to a strong stake or post if he moves, he moves towards thatstake or post if he stands still, he stands close to that stake or post if he sits down, he sits close to that

stake or post if he lies down, he lies close to that stake or post.

"!imilarly, bhikkhus, the uninstructed ordinary person looks upon the body as, #his is mine, $ am this, #hisis myself,... %e looks upon feeling... perception... mental activities... consciousness as, #his is mine, $ amthis, #his is myself. $f he moves, he moves towards these five aggregates of grasping if he stands still, hestands close to these five aggregates of grasping if he sits down, he sits close to these five aggregates ofgrasping if he lies down, he lies close to these five aggregates of grasping.

"%ence, bhikkhus, $ say one should constantly reflect upon ones own mind thus& For a long time this mindhas been corrupted by greed, aversion and delusion. #hrough a corrupt mind, bhikkhus, beings arecorrupted from purity of mind beings become pure. %ave you seen, bhikkhus, an elaborate painting'"

"(es, !ir."

")ow that elaborate painting, bhikkhus, was devised by mind. #herefore mind is even more intricate thanthat elaborate painting. %ence, bhikkhus, $ say one should constantly reflect upon ones own mind thus& For

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a long time this mind has been corrupted by greed, aversion and delusion. #hrough a corrupt mind,bhikkhus, beings are corrupted from purity of mind beings become pure.

"$ perceive no other single group, bhikkhus, so diverse as the creatures of the animal world. #hese creaturesof the animal world are diversified by mind.[*+] #herefore mind is even more diverse than the creatures ofthe animal world.

"%ence, bhikkhus, $ say a bhikkhu should constantly reflect upon his own mind thus& For a long time this

mind has been corrupted by greed, aversion and delusion. #hrough a corrupt mind, bhikkhus, beings arecorrupted from purity of mind beings become pure.

"Just as a dyer or a painter, with dye or lac or turmeric or indigo or madder, and a wellsmoothed woodenpanel or wall or piece of cloth, can reproduce the form -ruupa of a woman or a man complete in everydetail / similarly, bhikkhus, the uninstructed ordinary person brings body into e0istence too... bringsfeeling... perception... mental activities... brings consciousness into e0istence too."[*1]

Notes:

[*+] #hey are diversified by the results of kamma, volitional acts of mind.[*1] #he five aggregates are produced -and reproduced by kamma.

http:www.dhammawheel.comviewtopic.php5f6=Kt6L/=3

*omment &y Men. 9. Ñanananda:

$n a number of sermons we had to bring up the simile of themotion picture. #he simile is not our own, but only a moderni2ation of a canonical simile used by the 3uddha himself. #hepoint of divergence was the 4uestion the 3uddha had addressedto the monks in the 5addula !utta.

Di ha vo, bhikkhave, cara a nāma citta ?  ṭṭ ṃ ṇ ṃ ṃ  "6onks,have you seen a picture called a movie'" #he monks answer in

the affirmative, and so the 3uddha proceeds&

Tampi kho, bhikkhave, cara a nāma citta citteneva cin-ṇ ṃ ṃ

tita . Tena pi kho, bhikkhave, cara ena cittena cittaññevaṃ ṇ

cittatara .ṃ  "6onks, that picture called a movie is somethingthought out by the mind. 3ut the thought itself, monks, is evenmore pictures4ue than that picture."

#o say that it is more pictures4ue is to suggest its variegatedcharacter. #hought is intrinsically variegated. 7e have no ideawhat sort of a motion picture was there at that time, but themodern day movie has a way of concealing impermanence bythe rapidity of pro8ections of the series of pictures on the screen.#he rapidity itself gives an impression of permanence, which is

a perversion, vipallāsa.http&99www.beyondthenet.net9calm9nibbana:;.htm

Moving Between Thought Worlds - Ven. Thanissaro

!eve all had the e@perience when were asleep of finding ourselves in a dream and for a while&elieving that whats happening in the dream is real. Then something alerts us that something is wrongwith the dream and finally to the fact that were dreaming. Csually thats enough for us to wake up to pullout of the dream.

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That process is very similar to the way we create mental worlds and emotional states during our wakinglife &ecause our picture of the world around us is always partial. Its always stitched together out of &itsand pieces of what weve encountered through the senses. !e have a notion of what makes sense andas long as it makes sense and seems to &e real we can stay stuck in that state of mind. Then somethingstrikes us as incongruous as not fitting in. !e realie "Gh that was an imaginary world." Thats when wepull out. +ut then we find ourselves in another world which may &e &etter and may not.The a&ility to recognie whats incongruous whats wrong with a world: Thats an important skill. !ithoutit we get stuck in states of mind what the +uddha called &hava or &ecoming where we can suffervery intensely. !e focus on certain things in the world around us certain ideas a&out who we are in thatworld and everything else gets filtered through that particular picture. Gther peoples actions fore@ample get filtered in this way so that someone acting with perfectly good intentions may seem to &eevil sneaky unrelia&le. Gr vice versa. They actually may &e evil sneaky and unrelia&le yet we seethem as &eing perfectly reasona&le perfectly trustworthy. +ut &ecause the mental world we inha&it hasits own inner coherence we think its accurate and real. ...8indfulness is what creates the &ridges &etween these different states. $ou remem&er that you were inone state and now youre in another. And the possi&ility of slipping &ack into another distracted state isalways there so youve got to keep on top of things to &e alert for any signs of the mind preparing to slipaway. It has its tricks. It has its slight moment of &lanking out after which you wake up in another world.+ut if you can use mindfulness as a &ridge across that &lanking out its a lot easier to direct the mind

from one state of &ecoming into another when you want to. And its a lot easier to stay in a state of&ecoming when you want to stay.In this way you dont need an outside power. All you need is your own a&ility to recognie "Theressomething wrong here and I can get out." This "something wrong" is the fact something is creating a&urden on the mind that doesnt have to &e there. To get out you dont need an outside power. $ou 'ustneed to remem&er that you have the a&ility to create a different sense of who you are and to create adifferent world to inha&it one thats healthier.

The ultimate goal of the practice of course is to &e a&le to get out of all these worlds entirely. Thatswhat it really means to wake up. +ut in the meantime you can have your little awakening when you wakeup in the middle of one of your created worlds and say "Gh this is suffering. It doesnt have to &e here." And you look in the right place instead of placing the &lame on other people in the past or in the present.

The suffering doesnt come from them. The suffering comes from the way the mind thinks a&out things. Itcreates impossi&le situations and then &urdens itself with them. It doesnt have to do that. 8indfulnessconcentration and discernment form the way out.http:www.accesstoinsight.orgli&authorsthanissaromeditations=.htmlOmoving&etweenthoughtworlds

Seeds of Becoming - Ven. Thanissaro

Ive said a num&er of times how the +uddhas teachings on causality arelike modern teachings on chaos theory. Gne of the &asic principles of chaos theory is called scale invariance. That whats happening on the

macro level is the same thing as is happening on the micro level nomatter what the sie of your frame of reference no matter what your focus its always the same things happening simply writ large or writsmall. And its convenient for us &ecause when this principle appliesto our awareness it means we can watch the small things happening righthere right now and they teach us the lessons we need to know a&out the&ig things.

 And so this is why we come into the present moment not &ecause itssimply a nice place to &e &ecause thats not always the case sometimesthe present moment can &e pretty misera&le. +ut the important issuesthat are happening in life are happening right here. The +uddhas

teachings on bhava or &ecoming get played out right here. Thats the&asic condition for &irth and the whole round of aging illness anddeath.

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Its a hard word to translate &ecoming isnt ideal &ut its hard tofind a &etter word. Its &asically a state of &eing and it can &eeither at the micro level the little worlds the mind creates for itself or at the macro level the human realm as a whole thats a&hava and seeds for the large one are right here in the small ones.These are the worlds the mind creates. $ou can think a&out say your home and there it appears right in your mind the world of your home.Not the whole thing &ut enough of a facsimile to say $eah thats myhome.

 And then you can enter into that little world and ad'ust it andinteract with the various elements in there. And then after a while youmight lose interest and the mind creates another state of &eing for itself another little world and it goes from world to world to worldlike this. Gr a &etter way saying it is these worlds appear and thenthey disappear and another one appears in its place. And its &ecausethe mind does this that it takes &irth that it provides the causes for larger levels of &ecoming and then it takes &irth in them.

(o this is the process we want to understand if we want to get &eyondaging illness and death not go through the cycles again and again andagain we have to know whats going on. How the little cycles &ehaveand that way we learn how the &ig cycles &ehave what e@actly is theprocess that keeps these things going. As the +uddha once said at themoment of his awakening "House &uilder I have seen you throughcountless &irths &uild these homes. And now Ive seen the house&uilder and taken apart the house and now the house &uilder will never &uild another one again." $ou want to see that process of how the mindcreates these little homes for itself with such force of ha&it that if it cant create a good one for itself itll create a &ad one for itself. All it asks is that you have that place to go. +ecause the

mind has a fear for having no place to go. This is whats called&hava%tanha its one of the forms of craving that leads to suffering.Mi&hava%tanha thats a more controversial term &ecause it its notdefined anywhere in the canon. (ome passages indicated that its desirefor annihilation in other words that you dont have anything that hasto go anywhere youre tired of going to these different places &ut youwant to end up in a place where everything gets destroyed or everythingstops so theres no more &ecoming. And the +uddha said that kind of desire leads to suffering as well &ecause what it does is it takes themind to a strange kind of &ecoming. It doesnt end the process it 'ustfreees it for a while. Its like those cy&orgs in science fictionmovies that get froen for a num&er of centuries and then come out still

functioning. And the mind goes into these strange states you canfreee the process &ut that doesnt end the process it can start upagain.

+ut the macro level is &eing played out here on the micro level solets look at it lets create a state of &ecoming. Its what weredoing as we practice concentration we create a little inner world for the mind. Pirst its 'ust a spot in the &ody and then you e@pand it tofill the whole &ody. And then you try to maintain it. And in doingthat you engage all the forms of fa&rication: physical ver&al mental.In other words theres the &reath and thats the physical fa&ricationthen theres directed thought and evaluation those are the ver&alforms and then theres feeling and perception. And these are the &asic&uilding &locks from which you create this world the world of aconcentrated mind. ...

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The larger issues of &irth aging illness and deathQand re&irth re%aging re%illness and re%deathQ they get played outhere moment &y moment &y moment right here in the present moment. Andif you learn how to look right here you can see them. The more stillyou can make the mind the easier it is &oth to &e in a position tolook and also 'ust to see if youve got what youre looking at stil aswell. $oure in a much &etter position to see even the slightestmovements. Its those slight movements that &uild up get re%iteratedagain and again to &uild up into large movements. And small states of &eing and &ecoming in the mind &uild up eventually into large ones whenyou leave this life and everything in this state of &ecoming &egins tocome rushing in at you and youve got to get out of the way the mindwill naturally try to create another state of &eing it will go for another state of &eing whatever comes up in the mind if you haventtrained the mind to &e mindful and alert you 'ust 'ump right atwhatever comes.

+ut if youve trained it you dont have to 'ump. $ou can step aside

get out of the way. Not 'ump on these things as they happen and thatopens up lots of new possi&ilities in the mind. If you havent yet seenthe deathless may&e at that point of death thats the possi&ility thatwill open as you keep yourself mindful and alert not to 'ump at statesof &eing and &ecoming as they form. +ut thats a skill which has to &edeveloped.http:dhammatalks.orgArchive/<222//(eeds/of/+ecoming/The.mp<

A quote from Ajahn Thate about bhavanga:

"The mind coming to its own level: the bhavanga. In this moment everything has reference

only to the mind. ?ven though life may still &e going on the mind when it reaches this levellets go of all attachments to the &ody and goes inward to e@perience nothing &ut its owno&'ect all &y itself. This is termed bhava-citta the mind on its own level. The mind on its ownlevel still has a refined version of the five khandhas complete within it and so can stille@perience &irth and states of &ecoming and give rise to continued &irths in the future.Reaching this state is somewhat like doing off and dreaming. The difference depends onhow much alertness there is. Misions and signs whether or not they arise intentionally arecomposed of a great deal of mental concocting and attachment and are therefore unrelia&le &ecause the visions and signs arising when the mind is in the bhavanga are like thedreams of a person who lies down to sleep or simply does off."

http:www.dhammatalks.net+ooksA'ahnSThateS(tepsSAlongStheS7ath.htm

*onstructed dream worlds with la&yrinths 6 states of &ecoming ,feeding on manosancetana ahara foodof mental intention-.

The layers of the su&conscious mind in Inception correspond to the layers of &ecoming ,bhava- which arecreated all the time &y the mind either deli&erately or on the deeper level of the latenttendencieso&sessions ,anusaya-:

Cetana Sutta: Intention SN 12.38

!taying at !avatthi... [the 3lessed <ne said,] "7hat one intends, what one arranges, and what oneobsesses about -or& what lies latent&[=] #his is a support for the stationing of consciousness. #herebeing a support, there is a landing [or& an establishing] of consciousness. 7hen that consciousness

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lands and grows, there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. 7hen there is theproduction of renewed becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging > death, sorrow,lamentation, pain, distress, > despair. !uch is the origination of this entire mass of suffering > stress.

"$f one doesnt intend and doesnt arrange, but one still obsesses [about something], this is a supportfor the stationing of consciousness. #here being a support, there is a landing of consciousness. 7henthat consciousness lands and grows, there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. 7henthere is the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging > death,sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, > despair. !uch [too] is the origination of this entire mass ofsuffering > stress.

"3ut when one doesnt intend, arrange, or obsess [about anything], there is no support for thestationing of consciousness. #here being no support, there is no landing of consciousness. 7hen thatconsciousness doesnt land > grow, there is no production of renewed becoming in the future. 7henthere is no production of renewed becoming in the future, there is no future birth, aging > death,sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair. !uch is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering >stress."

)ote =. #he seven obsessions -or& latent tendencies, anusaya are& the obsession of sensual passion,

the obsession of resistance, the obsession of views, the obsession of uncertainty, the obsession ofconceit, the obsession of passion for becoming, and the obsession of ignorance.http&99www.accesstoinsight.org9tipitaka9sn9sn=:9sn=:[email protected]

The recurring scenes in the film showing the &uilding and constructing activities , sankhara- of the people onvarious levels of &ecoming 4 compare the (atta (utta:

!6ny desire, passion, delight, or craing for consciousness, 7adha% when one is caught up there,tied up there, one is said to #e 2a #eing.2

! Just as when #oys or girls are playing with little sand castles%[4] as long as they are not freefrom passion, desire, loe, thirst, feer, & craing for those little sand castles, that2s how longthey hae fun with those sand castles, en$oy them, treasure them, feel possessie of them. ut

when they #ecome free from passion, desire, loe, thirst, feer, & craing for those little sandcastles, then they smash them, scatter them, demolish them with their hands or feet and ma)ethem unfit for play.

!/n the same way, 7adha, you too should smash, scatter, & demolish form, feeling, perception,formations, consciousness and ma)e it unfit for play. 8ractice for the ending of craing forconsciousness " for the ending of craing, 7adha, is 9n#inding.!

http%www.accesstoinsight.orgtipita)asnsn:;sn:;.33:.than.htmlhttp%what-#uddha-said.netdrops//andcastles.htm

(hort scenes from the film:

Inception - Ep!aining the dream "or!dhttp:www.youtu&e.comwatch5v6M<%a=0!ttk

Inception - Ariadne #earns $o" To Bui!d %reams

http:www.youtu&e.comwatch5v6LyshCm@u?'?

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Thank goodness this doesnFt seem technologically via&le at the momentU though it does seem possi&le in the nearfuture5 If so may this movie &e a cautionary tale for what may come to &eB This is especially relevant in thisinformation age when the conceiving of the slightest ideas &y the powerful can mushroom into world%changingactions.

In the story dreams are ela&orately crafted &y architects who have an eye for detail and creativity 4 so as to trickthe dreamer into &elieving the dream se1uences to &e real. This reminds me of the +uddhaFs teaching in theEiamond (utra that all conditioned phenomena ,including real life- is dream%like due to their ethereal and transient

nature.

?ven more confounding yet rich than the 8atri@ movies the dream hackers are a&le to delve deeper into thesu&'ectFs mind &y con'uring a dreamU within a dreamU within a dreamB !ith intriguing cross%interaction over layersof dreams even the hackers are at times unsure of whether they are still in a dream which and whoseB

In the 8atri@ universe it is possi&le to die when hooked to the 8atri@ when oneFs mind is weak enough toe@perience the illusion of simulated pain as real. In the dream world of Inception however one cannot die in adream 4 simply &ecause it is 'ust a dream. $et a dream is never 'ust a dream 4 especially when it is perceived asreality in the moment. The hackers in the real world are synchronised to awaken together upon accomplishing theirmissions with a common wake%up call 4 which is heard as music fed through earphones that penetrates all thelayers of dreams. Por a 1uick awakening their sleeping &odies are 'olted awake &y dunking them into waterB AlmostVennish 4 as in the sudden schoolB +uddhists use realisation of the Eharma as the spiritual wake%up callB

It is also proposed that an idea is the most resilient parasite. As they say thoughts &ecome words which &ecomeactions which &ecome ha&its which &ecomes character which &ecomes destiny. The +uddha would concur as hetaught that the mind is the forerunner of all things. Ideas clung to can shape reality or sustain delusion. !hile thehackers admit that it is not easy to plant an idea in someoneFs mind without the person realising an idea that isfirmly implanted can &e difficult to let go off. Dust recall your favourite delusionB Also discussed was planting theessence of an idea as a simple mantra%like phrase so as to let it grow naturally as one &ecomes one with it. !hatmantras or taglines do you live &y5 Jood ones I hopeB

In lucid dreaming one is mindful enough to know one is dreaming and is thus a&le to play with the matterF in thedream. The possi&ilities would &e limited only &y oneFs imagination. The more sharp oneFs mind is the moreintricately detailed and functional can oneFs dream &e. This would &e control. However for most dreamers we are

controlled &y our delusional thinking instead 4 &oth when awake and asleepB The Avatamsaka (utra says Themind is like a master painter e@perienced at painting all sorts of things.F Inception proposes the same when it saysthe mind works so fast that it can simultaneously create and perceive scenes in dreams. Eespite dreams andespecially dreams nested within dreams &eing inherently unsta&le they can seem so solid due to the power of themind.

Eue to the reality of their imagination &eing limited the dream architects use visual parado@es ,such as the 7enrose(taircase- to create the illusion of vast or interconnected spaces. Nice touchB !e too are already tricked &y illusionswhen awake 4 what more when dreamingB It is interesting too that we seldom remem&er the &eginnings of ourdreamsQ as we tend to end up smack in the middle of them. ItFs a lot like life too 4 how we seem to &e e@istentiallystranded in the thick of (amsara once we realise we are. !hat we know for sure is that we do have layers ofdream%like delusions to &reak through &efore finally surfacing to reality. Inception offers powerful entertaining andenlightening imagery for thisB

The plot suggests a time when those disillusioned with life pay to immerse themselves within dreams. However ifthey are in too deep they risk falling into the lim&o of infinite unconstructed dream space. How vaguely reminiscentof the teaching that &eings too attached to their deep meditation can &e fruitlessly stuck in the plane of neitherperception nor non%perceptionF for eonsB +eing an altered state of mind dream time is su&stantially slower than thatof real life too which is similar to how meditators who enter samadhi ,states of concentration- often lose track oftime. Ereams feel real while weFre in them. ItFs only when we wake up that we realise something was actuallystrange.F IndeedB Insight via hindsight. The enlightened always readily smile when they look &ack to reflect on howdeluded they once wereB

!hile dream architects use their illusions to &eguile others they are also mindful not to lose their grip on reality to&e tricked &y their own illusions. This is done &y never pro'ecting familiar or common places which others might

have mastery of. 8aes are created too should their dreams &e hacked into &y others 4 so that they know e@actlywhere to flee within them to lose their tails. The lead character however was so attached to his deceased wife forhaving FcausedF her suicide that she continually appears to sa&otage him in his dreams. This is reminiscent of howthe wrathful demons of hell in +uddhist cosmology are really manifestations of oneFs negative karma and guilt.

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+ecause he shared dreams with fellow hackers his personal delusions threatened their safety too. As in real lifeoneFs delusion can spill over to harm others too via the interplay of collective karma.

(everely hauntedF &y his wife he decides that reality is no longer enough as he creates an addictive dream toimprison his memories of her in which he tries to create an alternate realityQ or rather alternate delusion. He hade@perimentally implanted the idea within her mind that she might &e in a dream while she was alive which &ecamea delusion so firmly lodged that she made a leap of &lind faith to deathU in order to wake upF.

+uddhism would say she is not gone forever though as there is re&irth &ut the hus&and clings on to the pastversion of her to relive their happier days and to make up for his mistakes. This he did till he realised it didnFt &ringhim true happiness as he knew it was an illusion that continually punished him instead. Ereams then &ecame notas worthy as reality as he strived to wake up.

 As in the 8atri@ trilogy the audience is left e@istentially wondering if this very life is &ut a dream%like illusion. 8oreperple@ing than Vhuangi pondering if he is actually the &utterfly he dreamt who is now dreaming himself to &e aman we ponder which of many dreams we might &e in insteadB The hackers each fashion a uni1ue totem forthemselves which they always hold on to 4 an o&'ect such as a chess piece that is crafted and weighed in amanner that only one knows.

!ith it they would know if they are in someone elseFs dream 4 as another hacker would &e una&le to create thee@act totem. 8ethinks Inception has a perfect endingU the totem of the lead character which is a top spins on &utwo&&les a littleU and weFre unsure if it will fall. In a dream world it could spin on indefinitely if one wills it toQ in thereal world no top spins forever. An open%ended scene that summarises the state of our uncertain andunenlightened livesB

http:moonpointer.comnew/2//Ldharmacinema%the%inception %of%illusion%or%reality 

What makes a movie a “Buddhist?” movie? There’s been some talk recently about Christopher

Nolan’s film Inception and its relationship to Buddhism. A good case has been made that the

movie looks honestly at the way that the human mind works and the way it deceives itself.

Other writers have said the film is anti-Buddhist since it hinges on the hijacking of another

person’s mind.

What exactly makes a work of art “Buddhist?” Images of Buddha? Could be. That would be a

visual cultural clue, but sometimes culture and spirituality get confused for one another. A

shaved head does not make one a monk. Or does the exploration of the inner mind make a

work of art “Buddhist”? Could be. ...

Once the idea reaches the culture at large that a movie is “Buddhist,” it becomes difficult to

dislodge that idea. Inception is not any more Buddhist than The Shining... but that’s not to say

it isn’t  Buddhist either. The Matrix too served as a metaphor for a Buddhist view of reality and

delusion, although Inception takes it a step further with an invitation for the viewer themselvesto participate in the enlightenment. Are dreams as “real” as reality from the perspective of the

mind? Is life itself a dream? If so, who is The Dreamer? Like all great art, the audience is

asked to interpret for themselves, knowing all perception is personal; The Matrix strives to be

good; Inception strives to be great.

Ultimately, the foremost allusions to Buddhist philosophy in Inception are the radical ideas

that “reality” is not what it usually appears to be and our minds have ingenious ways of

fooling themselves, no matter how big the house-of-cards. Has Cobb merely created a world

of illusion for himself to exist in? That too shall pass. Nolan wisely leaves us wondering,

knowing that in art the questions are far more important than the answers. Allowing that open

ending to remain open is perhaps its purest expression of Buddhist philosophy.http:www.prapanca'ournal.comv2ireview%movie.php

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“Dream is the personalized myth; myth is the depersonalized dream.” -oseph !ampbell http:thousandhp.wordpress.com/2//L2 inception %the%ocean%of%dom%co&& 

The Labyrinth of Inception

 Inception itself, however, contains so little direct reference to the brain (I counted about three lines) that you haveto do some pretty flexible interpretation to draw firm parallels with brain science. Perhaps, most tellingly, for a filmsupposedly about neuroscience, the dream entry devices don’t even connect to the brain and nothing is made of howthey achieve their interface. But for those familiar with the theories of arl !ung, the psychoanalyst and dissenterfrom "reud’s circle, the film is rich with both implicit and explicit references to his wor#.

 $s with all psychoanalysts, !ung was concerned with the subconscious mind and believed that it contains powerful

emotional processes that, when malformed or disturbed, can brea# through and cause immense distress to our

conscious lives. %o protect us, the subconscious tries to hide these forces behind symbols, which appear, most

 vividly, in dreams. %his is why "reud called dreams &the royal road to the unconscious' and !ung’s wor# is also

 based on this core assumption.

imilarly, in Inception, dreams are a way of accessing the subconscious of the dreamer, to the point where they can

 be used to steal secrets. %his dream invasion wor# is not easy, of course, primarily because the subconscious mindattempts to defend against invaders (a defense mechanism in psychoanalytic terms) and the dreamspace needs to be

explored and interpreted by the invaders to get to the secret itself. %his is not the only challenge, as other people in

the dream are proections of the dreamer’s subconscious where, in line with the definition from psychoanalysis,

personal feelings are perceived as residing in other people.

In the film, the young architect, $riadne is hired to build dreams in the form of ma*es, and the labyrinth forms one

of the central symbols in the film (the name, $riadne, by the way, comes from the +ree# legend where she leads

%heseus out of the inotaur’s labyrinth - !ung referred to being lost in life as losing the $riadne thread’). In

!ungian psychology the labyrinth is one of the most powerful symbols of the subconscious. In his boo# an and /is

ymbols’, he explains its meaning0

?%he ma*e of strange passages, chambers, and unloc#ed exits in the cellar recalls the old 1gyptian

representation of the underworld, which is a well2#nown symbol of the unconscious with its abilities. Italso shows how one is &open' to other influences in one’s unconscious shadow side and how uncanny

and alien elements can brea# in.'

 $riadne is hired because 3on obb can no longer create dreams, owing to the fact that the subconscious

representation of his ex2wife, who #illed herself due to obb’s dream wor#, appears and attempts to violently stop

him. obb names her his shade’, directly referencing the !ungian concept of the shadow  where we are haunted by

the parts of ourselves which we are most ashamed and which we most try to repress.

 4hile obb’s main obective is to get bac# to his children, his main challenge is to overcome his shadow that causes

conflicts in his subconscious. 5ormally, if you wrote a sentence li#e that about a film you would be using a !ungian

interpretation, but in the case of Inception this is also the literal state of affairs.

http:mindhacks.com/2//3/=the%la&yrinth%of%inception

6fter all, eery one of us is met with dilemmas and challenges, dou#t and hesitation, thoughts thatforce us to question the alidity and morality of what we do, in the same way <o## questions thereality of the memories and images that manifest in front of him, whether in reality or a dream.While in Inception the totem is used to distinguish dream from reality especially when one feels lostor confused in one=s own mind, for a uddhist it seems as though we use uddhism as our totem tohelp us distinguish the s)illful from uns)illful.>et how is a totem different from a #asic sense of human $udgment seemingly inherent within us 6characteristic of a totem that seems to ma)e it so useful in /nception is its a#ility to actindependently of its owner. o while <o## traels in and out of dreams, enisioning ?al and hischildren in #oth worlds, the spinning top is a neutral indicator detached from his mind. The top spinsinfinitely in a dream and stops in reality. That does not change no matter what <o## sees, does, orthin)s. imilarly, it seems as though for uddhists, uddhism acts as that remoed agent, that

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 @totemA, that proides the wisdom to guide us outside of the distractions that cloud our $udgmentand delusions that cause us suffering.http:dharmafolk.com/22/22/whats%your%inception %totem 

!hat is your totem or anchor of reality that you hang on to5 Now you might think the top idea seems

pretty cool and worka&leU &ut the truth is any such totem would not &e totally accurate in helping you to

discern dream from reality. This is so &ecause you can also make use and will totems to work in certainways in your dreamsB In other words life &eing dreamlike and dreams &eing lifelike there is no way to

determine that yours is a dream or real totemB If you think of it since dream elements are often

e@tensions of our su&tly yet e@actly willed perceptions and intentions *o&& could very well

su&consciously will his totem to stop spinning in a dream tooB

Is there any hope of having a &enchmark for a reality check then5 !hen the +uddha deeply o&served the

nature of the universe throughout space and time he realised that the entire spectrum of unenlightened

physical and psychical e@perience can &e summed up &y the Three Cniversal *haracteristics

,TilakhannaTrilakshana- or the Three 8arks ,(eals- of ?@istence ,Eharma- which are AniccaAnitya ,the

truth of the impermanence of all mind and matter due to constant change- EukkhaEuhkha ,the

dissatisfactions that arise from clinging to the illusion that things are not of Anicca- and AnattaAnatman

,the truth of mind and matter to &e unsu&stantial or empty of a fi@ed self due to Anicca-. !hen thesecharacteristics are realised fully one &ecomes enlightened ,attains Ni&&anaNirvana- awakened to

ultimate reality.

 As such the Three 8arks collectively form a triple totem of reality which is so universal that it applies

even in dreamsB The dream world like the realF world is of Anicca too as no top can really spin forever.

?ven a dream top eventually stops when oneFs perception wills it to or when one awakes. It is of Eukkha

too as even the most fantastic dream has to &e awakened from with a &itter aftertaste. It is of Anatta as

oneFs self in the dream is 'ust as unsu&stantial as the one when awake. The way to awaken from

illusions &e it in dreams or realF life ,which is still illusory to some e@tent due to our skewed perceptions-

is to realise this. (o long as we mistaken any e@perience to &e the opposite of the Three 8arks we are

still e@istentially trapped in a dreamlike world where we ha&itually see things to &e permanent ,non%

 Anicca- fulfilling ,non%Eukkha- and of self ,non%Anatta-.http:thedailyenlightenment.com/22/2what%is%your%totem%of%reality

Inception and 7hilosophy: Taking a eap of PaithIn my last entry I pointed out that we all simply have to take a leap of faith when we &elieve that theworld is real and not a dream. The leap of faith was a large part of the work of the philosopher (Wren9ierkegaard and is also a reoccurring theme in the movie Inception.

Paith is often heralded as a virtue something no&le something you should have. +ut clearly this is notalways true. In the movie *o&& asks 8al and (aito to take a leap of faith%to &elieve that their world is notreal and to kill themselves so they can wake up. *o&& takes a leap of faith to &elieve that (aito candeliver on his promise to get *o&&s charges dismissed. $et when 8al asks *o&& to take a leap of faith%out of his hotel window%he doesnt. And we dont think he shouldQ we dont think its a good idea.,Although if they were dreaming...- (o o&viously we dont think that faith is always virtuous. Its notalways something you should have or act on. ...

The virtue of faith is often touted in religious circles &ut usually people dont think that its virtuous to

&elieve the tenets of other religions &y faith%only ones own. !hats virtuous is "&elieving the right

thing." (o when people say that faith is a virtue they really dont think that its the "&elief without

evidence" part that is virtuous. They 'ust think that believing the right thing is virtuous. I would agree.

Gf course the trou&le is figuring out what the right thing is. ...

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?instein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and e@pecting different

results." In other words if you dont think the future will resem&le the past youre crayB In fact try

living without that assumption. Try &elieving that the ne@t time you put your hand on the hot stove it

wont hurt. $ou cant do it. (ince its impossi&le to avoid such a &elief and re'ecting it would entail

that you are cray Id say that &elief in induction &y faith is rational.

http:www.psychologytoday.com&logplato%pop/222 inception %and%philosophy%taking%leap%faith

In Ereams: *inema of the (u&consciousF *hristopher Nolan the writer%director of the movie InceptionF

says Por me one of the key components of dreaming is that you donFt feel yourself enter the dream.

$ou can feel yourself come out of it. $ou can very specifically wake from the dream and know e@actly at

what point in the dream youFve woken from itU And so in portraying dreams and the entry into dreams in

the film it was very important to me to try and really do it the way it felt. And the way it feels to me is that

you find yourself in the middle of a situation in the middle of an environment. And as the e@perience

ends you &ecome aware of where you are physically in the world a&ove the dream if you like. (o the

way we portray the dreams is we throw the audience into the middle of an e@perience and then they

&ecome oriented through coming out of that dream.F

ikewise due to lack of mindfulness we are unaware of how we entered smack into the centre of this

present life with our e@istential crises. !e canFt even recall our earliestF memory as children vividly what

more to say countless memories from many past lives. Though we are too deluded to know how we

&ecame dreamily deluded we can &ecome less caught up. Dust as we know when we awaken from a

dream we can &e aware of when ,and thus how- we awaken from this dream%like life of transient forms

and e@periences. As it is possi&le to dream within a dream there are layers upon layers like &u&&les

within &u&&les of delusion to &reak through. Though we are ignorant of how we came to have ignorance

we can know and see the ending of ignorance as we &ecome increasingly enlightened. Cnderstanding

this life to &e dream%like is the very means for awaking from it.

Gne of the intriguing ideas from Inception is that our mind works so intricately and swiftly that we can

create and perceive at ,almost- the same time in dreams which are fleshed%out three%dimensionale@pressions of our ha&itual stray and hidden thoughts which are as realF as they can get to fool us into

taking them for reality. This parallels e@actly with this life we e@perience which is simultaneously an

illusory shared yet distinct dream. The common e@periences we have are &ased on our collective skewed

perceptions while there are more minutely skewed ones for individuals. Indeed we donFt run on reality

&ut our dreamy perception of it. $et the rich mechanics of dreams speak of the infinite potential of the

mind to con'ure fantasy and to align with reality.http:thedailyenlightenment.com/2/2 inception %of%some%ideas%for%awakening 

7enB Descartes= Meditations on First Philosophy  was pu#lished in 4C5. The film Inception cameout rather more recently ':343(, yet in it the iewer explores the ery topics that Descartes wasphilosophi+ing a#out oer three hundred years ago.

Eae you eer #een sure that you=e awo)en from a dream, only to find out you are actuallystill sleeping Dreams within dreams happen sometimes, in the phase of sleep where 7F?'7apid Fye ?oement( is full-#lown. Descartes, who wanted to esta#lish what it is possi#le to)now #eyond dou#t, thought a#out whether we can eer tell for certain if we are dreaming ornot. /n fact, our minds could #e confused #y arious deceptions. /n his search for truth,Descartes considers the possi#ilities that he is madG is #eing totally deceiedG is dreamingG oreen is possessed #y a demon. This is where his radical s)epticism comes into play, for if wecannot een tell for sure whether we are dreaming, then how can we )now for certain any trutha#out the world in which we seem to lie Ee een wonders whether he is real or not. ThenDescartes reali+es that een if he were mista)en a#out everything, then he must #e thin)ing,for one can=t een #e deceied unless one is thin)ing. 6nd )nowing for sure that he thin)s, then

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it must follow that he existsG there must #e a Hthin)ing thing= 'Meditations, p.4I(. This is wherehis famous statement @/ thin), therefore / amA comes from, #ecause whateer else can or can=t#e )nown, this at least is #eyond dou#t.

Descartes= solution to the pro#lem of dreaming ersus reality was to argue that @our memorycan neer connect our dreams with each other and with the course of life, in the way it is in theha#it of doing with eents that occur when we are awa)e.A o to examine the possi#ility thatyou might #e dreaming, you need to #e awa)e. This is a way to distinguish dreams from reality,and so can proide a #asis for holding that you aren=t currently dreaming.

1n the contrary, the premise #ehind some of the action in Inception is ultimately a re$ection ofDescartes= solution to the Dream 6rgument. Fen when Jeonardo Di<aprio=s character, Dom<o##, is dreaming in the film, he=s fully aware of the possi#ility that he might #e dreaming. oin the film it is impossi#le to tell whether you=re dreaming or not, al#eit that in many dreamswithin the film we see things li)e the impossi#le staircase. ...

http:philosophynow.orgissues00 Inception

Chris Nolan's Inception: A rea! "Within a rea! "Within a rea!##

Inception is a tricky process with the team delving into yet lower and lower levels of dreaming toensure that the idea takes root. ?ach dream level is a different world and the 'o& takes the teamfrom ur&an settings to a surreal forsaken dreamscape. However%%in one of the movies more forcedideas%%anyone who dies in a dream%within%a%dream risks &eing trapped in a dream%world lim&o. Tomake things worse *o&& cant seem to prevent unwanted pro'ections of his deceased wife ,8arion*otillard- from trying to sa&otage the 'o&.

1ecursion in 0Inception0

Recursion is a key theme conceptually and visually in Inception. Recursion is simply put an infinite

loop like a dreamer dreaming a dream wherein the dreamer dreams a dream ,and so on with the

se1uence potentially continuing infinitely-. ess simply it is a loop of "functions in which the function

&eing defined is applied within its own definition...a process of repeating o&'ects in a self%similar

way".2 Por e@ample its like typing "recursion" in a Joogle search and &eing prompted to search for

"recursion" ,which &y the way is what happens-. Its like two opposing mirrors endlessly reflecting

each others reflections and also like 8.*. ?scher s infinitely looping staircases ,recursive mirrors

and 7enrose stairs are &oth depicted in Inception-.

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 An illustration of Inceptions dream levels contained in the real world frame.

The films conceit theoretically allows the nesting to go on infinitely. Note that

the nested &o@es are visually similar to infinite mirror reflections.

!hen we watch a film we are aware of &eing spectators to a kind of dreamQ even if we are lost inescapism we can never completely forget that were watching a constructed fantasy. ike the thecharacters in Inception a person watching a film is like a lucid dreamer  i.e. a dreamer who isconscious of &eing in a dream state. *o&& and company even carry tokens as reality checksQ in thedream world a token e@hi&its impossi&le properties such as a top that spins infinitely instead oflosing momentum and stopping. This is similar to dreamers pinching themselves to check whetherthey are awake or asleep. ,Por more thoughts on lucid dreams and this film see Hu&pagesarticle "Inception and ucid Ereaming".-http:irene.hu&pages.comhu& inception %movieO

Inception and $ucid rea!ing: Truth Behind the Movie

http:'ohn%&%&add.hu&pages.comhu& Inception %and%ucid%Ereaming

3hat0s the most resi!ient parasite2 An Idea4

*hristopher Nolan: I wanted to deal with the world of dreams and I realied that I really had to offer

the audience a more emotional narrative something that represents the emotional world of

some&odyFs mind. (o &oth the heroFs story and the heist itself had to &e &ased on emotional

concepts. That took years to figure out. ...I a!so "anted the dreams in Inception to ref!ect the infinite potentia! of the human mind. The

5e' noir reference is the character 6a!7 it "as +er' important to me that she come across as a

c!assic femme fata!e. The character and her re!ationship to Cobb)s ps'che is the !itera!

manifestation of "hat the femme fata!e a!"a's meant in fi!m noir8the neurosis of the

protagonist9 his fear of ho" !itt!e he 5no"s about the "oman he)s fa!!en in !o+e "ith9 that 5ind

of thing.

ired( In addition to genre%play Inception is also a classic heroic epica Doseph *amp&ell The

Hero with a Thousand aces type of story.

*o!an( IFve never read Doseph *amp&ell and I donFt know all that much a&out story archetypes. +utthings like The In!erno and the la&yrinth and the 8inotaur were definitely in my mind.

ired( ThereFs a character called Ariadne named after the woman who helped guide Theseus

through the la&yrinth and defeat the 8inotaur.

*o!an( $eah I wanted to have that to help e@plain the importance of the la&yrinth to the audience. I

donFt know how many people pick up on that association when theyFre watching the film. It was 'ust a

little pointer really. I like the idea of her &eing *o&&Fs guide.

http:www.wired.commagaine/2/22plSinceptionSnolan

%ree& Mtholog in Inception "Ariadne( Theseus( )irens# - Movie Analsis

http:thehumanfiction.wordpress.com/22/320 inception %movie%analysis%?0/3<%mythology%ariadne%theseus%sirens

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Inception and the Importance of Ariadne

$n a similar way, it is Ariadne in $nception who acts as a guide to Bobb through the labyrinth of his ownmemories. $nstead of being stricken with a proverbial BupidCs arrow, however, AriadneCs attraction toBobb is best described as fascination. !he not only finds the dream world fascinating, and the concept

of creating something without physical limitations, but also the mind of Bobb himself. !he, like theviewer in some ways, seeks to understand the layers of the comple0 man she sees before her. $t is notlove therefore, but rather a medley of admiration, curiosity, and pity.

#he crucial moment in the film where she metaphorically assists Bobb in navigating the ma2e is whenshe shoots his wife. Up until this point, Bobb had decided he wanted to stay with her in limbo, in hisown twisted mind, as some sort of penance for himself to overcome that guilt wracking him. $nstead ofletting the guilt go, he was ready to let it consume him. 3y shooting 6al, Ariadne figuratively getsBobb to wake up. As he watches 6al, or his twisted memory and dream of her, die before him, he hasa moment of clarity that he had sought the entire film. %e understands that he has nothing to feelguilty about because he and 6al did live the life he had promised they did grow old together. And hecould let her go and with it, let the guilt go, finally reaching the end of the twisted ma2e of his dreamsand his memories.

7hat prompts Ariadne to shoot 6al' $t is clear that she recogni2es the necessity of this D the necessityof eliminating BobbCs source of guilt. !he had 8ust been told that it was Bobb who had put the ideathat the world was not real into 6alCs mind. #his reali2ation, presented as the climactic revelation ofthe film, yet one that had lingered in the back of our minds throughout the film, allows the pieces tofit together in her mind like a pu22le. !he saw a way out of that ma2e, and 4uickly helped Bobbescape.

http:literaturemusings.wordpress.com/2//022inception%and%the%importance%of%ariadne

"nce)tion and Ariadne's abyrinth

$hree hors )ass by in a wrinkle of time when a film is *isally rich, fast@)aced, blended well with

arresting msic, and, most of all, )resents a meticlosly strctred montage that kee)s the storyline intact

within omnibs sb)lots and synco)ates the general nnecessary. After se*en years of writing and another

three in the making, ;hristo)her olan's  Inception trns ot to be a well@bilt labyrinth that takes the

adience throgh different le*els of the sbconscios re)resented by action@)acked worlds of dreams.

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All in all, the role of women in the film calls for attention. Ariadne is the designer and the wea*er of the

labyrinthine dreams the crew risk their li*es to 9m) in for action, in the middle of whose labyrinth is the

0inotar, 0al ;obb. Ariadne, whose identity is hardly re*ealed throghot the entire 9orney, is the

architect of an infrastrctre that )ro*es to be ot of her control, as it is rled by the ghost of a mch

more feminine monstrosity of 0al. ot far a)art from the feminine@beastly themes, one fndamental

<estion rolls into the )ictreB does the wea*er come first, or does the monster+ "t is not easy to answer

when each defines one another. Whether 0al ;obb e-ists in reality does not matter in the film, as is the

case with Dom ;obb and all characters, all ha))enings, all dreams. $he only trth to be reminded is that

*isal and aditory sensations that the cinematic de*ice )resents is real, that this reality contines on for agood three hors, and that when they are o*er, they linger in fragmented *isions and sonds.

http:www.so%rimlee.coma%lonely%impulse%of%delight/2/Linception%and%ariadnes%la&yrinth.html

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8/13/2019 Inception - Buddhist Interpretation of the Film

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/inception-buddhist-interpretation-of-the-film 18/18

Christopher *o!an ta!5s about Inception "ith E!+is 6itche!!  ,a&out su&'ectivity and mystery and hisidea &ehind the film-http:youtu.&e@TN@I;'ldRo

ired : Inception9 Ep!ained ,graph-http:www.inceptionending.comtheorywired%inception%e@plained

*ompare the philosophical concept of "/ntersu#$ectiity! of Husserl et al.http:plato.stanford.eduentrieshusserlO?mpIntif 

The After!ife In+estigations ; - 1upert She!dra5e9 &h%

Mery interesting talk a&out the limitations of the materialistic view of science which holds that consciousness is

inside the &rain. Instead consciousness can &e seen as field phenomena which stretch out &eyond the &rain.

The dream &ody and &eing a&le to influence e@ternal reality in lucid dreams. Transfer of memories from past

lives to another &ody might &e due to morphic fields which shape our &ody after &irth and might also e@plain

&irthmarks in some children. !e know that our dreams are very influenced &y our preoccupations &y our fears our desires we can have

nightmares which are usually a&out &eing trapped or &eing chased &y some destructive force like a monster.

 All these things may happen after we are dead and it might &e like &eing in a dream from which you cannot

wake up. It is much &etter to start from our e@perience rather than from &rain physiology when we are

investigating the afterlife. http:www.youtu&e.comwatch5v6frDpThIims0

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