The latest iteration of OpenAI’s video generator, Sora 2, spells troubling times for objective reality. Even before the introduction of generative AI, an increasingly polarised political atmosphere meant we could barely agree on the same set of facts.

But for Buddhists, reality has always been something to be sceptical about.

Take the heart sutra, a key passage of Buddhist teachings:

Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva,
while contemplating profoundly the Prajna Paramita,
Realised that the Five Skandhas are empty,
and thus he was able to overcome all suffering.

The thesis is that one of the Buddha’s disciples, Avalokiteśvara, realises that to overcome suffering he must recognise that the five skandhas – things that make up the human experience – are empty. The skandhas are:

Form, all the things our sensory organs can smell, taste, see, feel and hear.

Feelings that arise when we perceive things.

Perception is the lens through........

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