0 votes
by (190 points)

I get bored if I don’t watch shows or movies but I know they are unwholesome and can lead to a bad rebirth unless you are a stream enterer or once returner. Non-returner and arahants won’t even watch them. One of the bhikkhu 227 rules seem to suggest that sense pleasures are an obstacle to heaven.

https://en.dhammadana.org/sangha/vinaya/227/92pa7.htm#ch----68

Not to affirm that things such as sexual pleasures are not an obstacle to the development of ariyāstage or to jhāna realisations, nor to rebirth in the deva world, when the Buddha explains that these things are precisely an obstacle to those, and not to maintain erroneous views. 

3 Answers

+1 vote
by (18.8k points)

These Vinaya rules are for monks. Lay people are only expected to keep to the Five precepts. Watching movies and entertainment are not prohibited for lay people. However, if you wish to dedicate your life to spiritual development even as a lay person, you can keep to a higher Sila like the Eight precepts

Indulgence in sensual pleasures is the first of the five hindrances that impede spiritual development. You can practice Satipatthana meditation and be mindful of sensual desire whenever it arises. 

+1 vote
by (1.6k points)
If you want to get rid of it, engage in sutta study, watch dhamma talks.

Reflection on the negetive points will help you lot.

This is my own experience.
0 votes
by (940 points)
No need to get rid of anything.

Just be mindful of how you feel when you're watching a show or film. Ask yourself constantly about the quality of the experience and whether or not it's actually making you happy. If not, why not? Reflect on the impermanence of the entertainment, the non-self of the activity, the dukkha inherent in when your favorite show ends, gets cancelled, has a bad season, has an actor or actress die or get written off, etc and so forth. When reflecting on these qualities of existence you will feel appropriately and do what you should do at that time: no need to get the ego involved in forcing yourself to suppress desire for entertainments.
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