Wake up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix

The Wachowski brothers' 1999 hit release The Matrix draws on multiple religious traditions to establish its complex worldview. Two of the most prominent are Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism, which, like the film, pose humanity's fundamental problem and its solution in terms of ignorance and enlightenment. Because of ignorance, people mistake the "material" world for something real, but they may "wake up" from this dream with help from a guide who teaches them their true nature. This article explores the film's pervasive allusions to Gnosticism and Buddhism, which in turn opens up the question of the film's overarching message and ultimate view of reality.  A mysterious message appears on the screen: "Wake up, Neo." This succinct phrase encapsulates the plot of the film, as Neo struggles with the problem of being imprisoned in a "material" world that is actually a computer simulation program created in the distant future by Artificial Intelligence (A.I. as a means of enslaving humanity, by perpetuating ignorance in the form of an illusory perception called "the matrix." In part, the film crafts its ultimate view of reality by alluding to numerous religious traditions that advance the idea that the fundamental problem which humanity faces is ignorance and the solution is knowledge or awakening. Two religious traditions on which the film draws heavily are Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism. Although these traditions differ in important ways, they agree in maintaining that the problem of ignorance can be solved through an individual's reorientation of perspective concerning the material realm. Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism also both envision a guide who helps those still trapped in the limiting world of illusion, a Gnostic redeemer figure or a bodhisattva, who willingly enters that world in order to share liberating knowledge, facilitating escape for anyone able to understand. In the film, this figure is Neo, whose name is also an anagram for "the One." Although as a "modern myth" the film purposefully draws on numerous traditions, we propose that an examination of Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism 1 Flannery Dailey and Wagner: Wake up! Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 2001 well illuminates the overarching paradigm of The Matrix, namely, the problem of sleeping in ignorance in a dreamworld, solved by waking to knowledge or enlightenment. By drawing syncretistically on these two ancient traditions and fusing them with a technological vision of the future, the film constructs a new teaching that challenges its audience to question "reality." Christian Elements in The Matrix The majority of the film's audience probably easily recognizes the presence of some Christian elements, such as the name Trinity or Neo's death and Christlike resurrection and ascension near the end of the film. In fact, Christian and biblical allusions abound, particularly with respect to nomenclature: Apoc (Apocalypse) Neo's given name of Mr. Ander/son (from the Greek andras for man, thus producing "Son of Man" the ship named the Nebuchadnezzar (the Babylonian king who, in the Book of Daniel, has puzzling symbolic dreams that must be interpreted) and the last remaining human city, Zion, synonymous in Judaism and Christianity with (the heavenly) Jerusalem. Neo is overtly constructed as a Jesus figure: he is "the One" who was prophesied to return again to the Matrix, who has the power the change the Matrix from within (i.e. to work miracles) who battles the representatives of evil and who is killed but comes to life again. 2 Journal of Religion Film, Vol. 5 [2001] Iss. 2, Art. 4 https:/digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol5/iss2/4 This construction of Neo as Jesus is reinforced in numerous ways. Within minutes of the commencement of the movie, another hacker says to Neo, "You're my saviour, man, my own personal Jesus Christ." This identification is also suggested by the Nebuchadnezzar's crew, who nervously wonder if he is "the One" who was foretold, and who repeatedly swear in Neo's presence by saying "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ." In still another example, Neo enters the Nebuchadnezzar for the first time and the camera pans across the interior of the ship, resting on the make: "Mark III no. 11." This seems to be another messianic reference, since the Gospel of Mark 3:11 reads: "Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, You are the Son of God!" Gnosticism in The Matrix Although the presence of individual Christian elements within the film is clear, the overall system of Christianity that is presented is not the traditional, orthodox one. Rather, the Christian elements of the film make the most sense when viewed within a context of Gnostic Christianity. Gnosticism was a religious system that flourished for centuries at the beginning of the Common Era, and in many regions of the ancient Mediterranean world it competed strongly with "orthodox" Christianity, while in other areas it represented the only interpretation of Christianity that was known. The Gnostics possessed their own Scriptures, accessible to us in the form of the Nag Hammadi Library, from which a general 3 Flannery Dailey and Wagner: Wake up! Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 2001 sketch of Gnostic beliefs may be drawn. Although Gnostic Christianity comprises many varieties, Gnosticism as a whole seems to have embraced an orienting cosmogonic myth that explains the true nature of the universe and humankind's proper place in it. A brief retelling of this myth illuminates numerous parallels with The Matrix. In the Gnostic myth, the supreme god is completely perfect and therefore alien and mysterious, "ineffable," "unnamable," "immeasurable light which is pure, holy and immaculate" (Apocryphon of John) In addition to this god there are other, lesser divine beings in the pleroma (akin to heaven, a division of the universe that is not earth) who possess some metaphorical gender of male or female. Pairs of these beings are able to produce offspring that are themselves divine emanations, perfect in their own ways. A problem arises when one "aeon" or being named Sophia (Greek for wisdom) a female, decides "to bring forth a likeness out of herself without the consent of the Spirit," that is, to produce an offspring without her consort (Apocry. of John) The ancient view was that females contribute the matter in reproduction, and males the form; thus, Sophia's action produces an offspring that is imperfect or even malformed, and she casts it away from the other divine beings in the pleroma into a separate region of the cosmos. This malformed, ignorant deity, sometimes named Yaldaboath, mistakenly believes himself to be the only god. 4 Journal of Religion Film, Vol. 5 [2001] Iss. 2, Art. 4 https:/digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol5/iss2/4 Gnostics identify Yaldabaoth as the Creator God of the Old Testament, who himself decides to create archons (angels) the material world (earth) and human beings. Although traditions vary, Yaldabaoth is usually tricked into breathing the divine spark or spirit of his mother Sophia that formerly resided in him into the human being (especially Apocry. of John; echoes of Genesis 2 3) Therein lies the human dilemma. We are pearls in the mud, a divine spirit (good) trapped in a material body (bad) and a material realm (bad) Heaven is our true home, but we are in exile from the pleroma. Luckily for the Gnostic, salvation is available in the form of gnosis or knowledge imparted by a Gnostic redeemer, who is Christ, a figure sent from the higher God to free humankind from the Creator God Yaldabaoth. The gnosis involves an understanding of our true nature and origin, the metaphysical reality hitherto unknown to us, resulting in the Gnostic's escape (at death) from the enslaving material prison of the world and the body, into the upper regions of spirit. However, in order to make this ascent, the Gnostic must pass by the archons, who are jealous of his/her luminousity, spirit or intelligence, and who thus try to hinder the Gnostic's upward journey. To a significant degree, the basic Gnostic myth parallels the plot of The Matrix, with respect to both the problem that humans face as well as the solution. Like Sophia, we conceived an offspring out of our own pride, as Morpheus 5 Flannery Dailey and Wagner: Wake up! Published by DigitalCommons@UNO, 2001 explains: "early in the 21 century, all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to A.I." This offspring of ours, however, like Yaldabaoth is malformed (matter without spirit? Morpheus describes A.I. as "a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines," a fitting parallel for the Gnostic Creator God of the archons (angels) and the illusory material world. A.I. creates the matrix, a computer simulation that is "a prison for your mind." Thus, Yaldabaoth/ A.I. traps humankind in a material prison that does not represent ultimate reality, as Morpheus explains to Neo: "As long as the matrix exists, the human race will never be free." The film also echoes the metaphorical language employed by Gnostics. The Nag Hammadi texts describe the fundamental human problem in metaphorical terms of blindness, sleep, ignorance, dreams and darkness night, while the solution is stated in terms of seeing, waking, knowledge (gnosis) waking from dreams and light day. Similarly, in the film Morpheus, whose name is taken from the Greek god of sleep and dreams, reveals to Neo that the matrix is "a computer generated dreamworld." When Neo is unplugged and awakens for the first time on the Nebuchadnezzar in a brightly lit white space (a cinematic code for heaven) his eyes hurt, as Morpheus