I think you are asking a question about Buddhists who wear robes (obviously lay Buddhists can do any of those things anyway).
They aren't saints, are monks. That just means you follow a particular rule of conduct. Mainly, non violent, not killing, and that they can't have sexual partners - pretty much like Western monks in that respect.
The full set of a Buddhist monk's vows are very strict, and they wouldn't be able to do any of those things if they followed them exactly. But there are hundreds of them and the Buddha said that some are major ones you have to follow and others are minor ones you don't have to follow. The problem is, that nobody knows which were the major rules and which were the minor rules. According to the sutras, he was never asked this question.
So we simply don't know. Rules include, that you can't eat after midday for instance - many Buddhist monks do eat after midday. Can't handle money. Have to wear the monk's robes. Many rules like that. Some monks in Sri Lanka and such like countries - the Therevadha monks - the ones that wear yellow robes - most of those keep the rules rather strictly, even many of the minor rules.
But in Tibet and most of the monks that wear the red robes have a less strict approach to the rules. Obviously still keep to non violence and no sexual partner but many of the other ones they don't keep, because they feel that in modern society they don't apply as they did in the Buddha's time. Some don't wear the monk's robes either. So the monks may not always be just the ones wearing the robes.
The red robed monks follow a path that emphasizes compassion for others - not that the yellow ones don't - compassion is very important throughout Buddhism - but there is a slight change of emphasis in how it enters into the teachings - and this is linked to the difference in the style of practise of the monks.
So the main motivation for relaxing the rules like that is out of compassion for others that it is easier to live in society and in some ways less of a nuisance to others if you behave more like the others in society. Also helps you to understand others in society better if you do things like go to cinemas etc.
So - Tibetan monks that do things like go to the cinema, use money, eat after midday etc are behaving totally properly according to their Tibetan monastic tradition following the example of other monks before them for centuries in the past.
But a monk in Sri Lanka (say) would probably think that doing exactly the same things was going against his vows.
Oh and is no reason why a Buddhist holy person as in someone regarded by many as someone with great compassion and wisdom couldn't do any of those things. This is a different question from the one about what a monk or nun can or can't do. Many Buddhist "holy people" the closest to Western saints were not monks or nuns.
In Buddhist teachings anyway the idea of compassion is acting to relieve others of suffering, bring joy to others, and to help others to find lasting happiness - not just the temporary happiness that we most usually aim for. Which is not to say converting others to Buddhism, but just that they find happiness in whatever way is appropriate for them, help others along their own path of discovery and fulfillment whenever one can.
So - it is the motivation and wisdom that makes you a Buddhist holy person - and it is something that is often invisible. Because they may not care at all what others think of them, especially the "holy mad men" - people sometimes who do crazy seeming things out of compassion. They can sometimes do the most extraordinary hard to understand things - motivated by compassion, and others who meet them may find this hard to understand and they may sometimes seem to others around them to be just confused crazy people. This "crazy wisdom" is a path that hardly any Buddhists follow, even in Tibet.
Again this is something you get more so in Tibetan Buddhism, and less so in places like Sri Lanka. You get some of this rather enigmatic hard to understand crazy wisdom approach in Zen Buddhism also.
More generally, many Tibetan Buddhists especially do indeed think of the Dalai Lama as a tremendously wise and compassionate person who is following the Buddha's teachings in his whole life in everything he does - but they don't see any conflict between that and him e.g. watching cinema, making home movies (as he did as a child) or whatever it is he does.
There is no notion of canonization though, no "certificate of holiness" such as you get in the Catholic church. The Buddha made it clear that we shouldn't set up anyone as a leader of Buddhism like that. So you can't say objectively that anyone "is a saint" and indeed also - is strange - but for the holy people in Buddhist teachings - they don't really think of themselves as like that - instead they think of everyone else as enlightened :). That's how they help us, by seeing us as already enlightened. At least according to one way of teaching about this.
And when the Dalai Lama is compassionate, that's just showing the same compassion that all of us have in ourselves also. Sometimes a Tibetan Buddhist will say that the Dalai Lama is Chenrezig (Tibetan word for the personification of the essence of pure compassion) - but they might also say the same of anyone else who does something kind or compassionate in their lives. The ones who think of the Dalai Lama as a kind of a saint, just think he shows this compassion in a particuarly clear and pure way.
They aren't saints, are monks. That just means you follow a particular rule of conduct. Mainly, non violent, not killing, and that they can't have sexual partners - pretty much like Western monks in that respect.
The full set of a Buddhist monk's vows are very strict, and they wouldn't be able to do any of those things if they followed them exactly. But there are hundreds of them and the Buddha said that some are major ones you have to follow and others are minor ones you don't have to follow. The problem is, that nobody knows which were the major rules and which were the minor rules. According to the sutras, he was never asked this question.
So we simply don't know. Rules include, that you can't eat after midday for instance - many Buddhist monks do eat after midday. Can't handle money. Have to wear the monk's robes. Many rules like that. Some monks in Sri Lanka and such like countries - the Therevadha monks - the ones that wear yellow robes - most of those keep the rules rather strictly, even many of the minor rules.
But in Tibet and most of the monks that wear the red robes have a less strict approach to the rules. Obviously still keep to non violence and no sexual partner but many of the other ones they don't keep, because they feel that in modern society they don't apply as they did in the Buddha's time. Some don't wear the monk's robes either. So the monks may not always be just the ones wearing the robes.
The red robed monks follow a path that emphasizes compassion for others - not that the yellow ones don't - compassion is very important throughout Buddhism - but there is a slight change of emphasis in how it enters into the teachings - and this is linked to the difference in the style of practise of the monks.
So the main motivation for relaxing the rules like that is out of compassion for others that it is easier to live in society and in some ways less of a nuisance to others if you behave more like the others in society. Also helps you to understand others in society better if you do things like go to cinemas etc.
So - Tibetan monks that do things like go to the cinema, use money, eat after midday etc are behaving totally properly according to their Tibetan monastic tradition following the example of other monks before them for centuries in the past.
But a monk in Sri Lanka (say) would probably think that doing exactly the same things was going against his vows.
Oh and is no reason why a Buddhist holy person as in someone regarded by many as someone with great compassion and wisdom couldn't do any of those things. This is a different question from the one about what a monk or nun can or can't do. Many Buddhist "holy people" the closest to Western saints were not monks or nuns.
In Buddhist teachings anyway the idea of compassion is acting to relieve others of suffering, bring joy to others, and to help others to find lasting happiness - not just the temporary happiness that we most usually aim for. Which is not to say converting others to Buddhism, but just that they find happiness in whatever way is appropriate for them, help others along their own path of discovery and fulfillment whenever one can.
So - it is the motivation and wisdom that makes you a Buddhist holy person - and it is something that is often invisible. Because they may not care at all what others think of them, especially the "holy mad men" - people sometimes who do crazy seeming things out of compassion. They can sometimes do the most extraordinary hard to understand things - motivated by compassion, and others who meet them may find this hard to understand and they may sometimes seem to others around them to be just confused crazy people. This "crazy wisdom" is a path that hardly any Buddhists follow, even in Tibet.
Again this is something you get more so in Tibetan Buddhism, and less so in places like Sri Lanka. You get some of this rather enigmatic hard to understand crazy wisdom approach in Zen Buddhism also.
More generally, many Tibetan Buddhists especially do indeed think of the Dalai Lama as a tremendously wise and compassionate person who is following the Buddha's teachings in his whole life in everything he does - but they don't see any conflict between that and him e.g. watching cinema, making home movies (as he did as a child) or whatever it is he does.
There is no notion of canonization though, no "certificate of holiness" such as you get in the Catholic church. The Buddha made it clear that we shouldn't set up anyone as a leader of Buddhism like that. So you can't say objectively that anyone "is a saint" and indeed also - is strange - but for the holy people in Buddhist teachings - they don't really think of themselves as like that - instead they think of everyone else as enlightened :). That's how they help us, by seeing us as already enlightened. At least according to one way of teaching about this.
And when the Dalai Lama is compassionate, that's just showing the same compassion that all of us have in ourselves also. Sometimes a Tibetan Buddhist will say that the Dalai Lama is Chenrezig (Tibetan word for the personification of the essence of pure compassion) - but they might also say the same of anyone else who does something kind or compassionate in their lives. The ones who think of the Dalai Lama as a kind of a saint, just think he shows this compassion in a particuarly clear and pure way.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
4.8m answer views110.4k this month
Top Writer2017, 2016, and 2015
Published WriterHuffPost, Slate, and 4 moreHuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and Science 2.0