[Buddha-l] Withdrawal of the senses

[curt]

I made a point of avoiding that movie for years, until I went to an 
anti-war teach-in near the beginning of the present f*cked up mess in 
Iraq - one of the speakers was a high school student representing "Not 
In Our Name". I thought, "oh great - some Maoist punk teenager - this 
should be should really stupid." Instead he gave one of the most rousing 
speeches I've ever heard at a political event - and it was mostly based 
on the Matrix. By the end of the speech there were 10,000 of us (mostly 
old farts who had protested many wars already) all cheering and chanting 
"TAKE THE RED PILL TAKE THE RED PILL TAKE THE RED PILL!!!!" I rented the 
Matrix that night - it is a really great movie!

Here's how it goes - there are two pills you can take. One allows you to 
stay asleep and never even realize that you are dreaming. The other one 
wakes you up - and you can never go back to sleep again. Most people 
take the blue pill - and most of the people who take the red pill regret 
it. It is an almost perfect description of enlightenment. It is also an 
almost perfect example of what Richard Hayes is always saying: that the 
teachings of the Buddha aren't really all that complicated. Even 
Hollywood producers and Maoist teenagers can understand it.

- Curt

Richard Hayes wrote:
> On Friday 17 November 2006 01:58, Joy Vriens wrote:
>
>   
>> A very interesting passage and the first time I see a vague resemblence
>> with the movie "The Matrix". I guess every Buddhist is tired of hearing
>> about parallels between The Matrix and Buddhism, particularly Cittamatra,
>> but I can't help thinking of the choice between the red pill and the blue
>> pill here.
>>     
>
> I tried to watch The Matrix but was so put off by the violence that I never 
> got to the pills. Could you explain, for those of us who walked out of Bambi 
> because we couldn't stand to watch the forest fire scene, what the issue in 
> the Matrix is?
>
>
>