In the days since Everything Everywhere All at Once took home seven Oscars at the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, I’ve been delighted to see the film and its actors so widely recognized and honored. Watching actors Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan receive their awards was tremendously moving given how pervasive anti-Asian bias is in American culture and the film industry. Part of what folks have been celebrating is the kind-heartedness of the film and its cast, from Ke Huy Quan’s moving comeback after 30 years of being sidelined to the inspiration of seeing two women in their 60s in powerful leading roles, cheering each other on.

As a Buddhist practitioner, I immediately saw Everything Everywhere All at Once as a dharma movie. It radiates sincerity and warmth, with a core Buddhist message at it heart: everything is empty, but still meaningful. This is the classic Mahāyāna Buddhist view of the interdependence of wisdom and compassion, or nirvāṇan and saṃsāra. That the film manages to convince us of both without falling into either side as a fixed view is a rare feat. …

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