I find it fascinating that once Neo is within the new ‘reality’ he is still basically the same person. “What’s needed now? What would be helpful?” This type of intuitive questioning draws on our dharma understanding and experience in meditation to work with our minds. You understand how the decisions you make relate to your overall spiritual purpose, from the important life choices to the momentary arisings in meditation practice. A related meaning to Sampajana is having a clear comprehension of your spiritual purpose. Sampajana means ‘clearly knowing or comprehending’ what is happening, and it works with Sati (mindfulness) to do this. In each moment ‘choices’ are being made, and here the mind quality of ‘sampajana’ can be very helpful to support wise and skilful actions. Over time hopefully, we more consistently choose wisdom and love. On some days we take the red pill, and the other days, unthinkingly we pop a blue one. Often it is a slow process from initial toe dabbling to deep immersion, with a million tiny drops altering our perspective and softening our hearts along the way. He is happy to live in a false reality as long as it is one of ease and pleasure and where he has (the illusion of) control.įor us, this choice is not just one decision to live a different kind of life, with new goals and changed values. He mouths the old cliché “ignorance is bliss, right?” to the sinister Mr Smith, and insists he wants his ‘rebirth’ to be as someone rich and powerful, perhaps an actor. He’ll betray his red pill companions if he can return to complete forgetting. He wants out of the dangers, difficulties and sheer dreariness of ‘true reality’ and so he strikes a bargain with his oppressors (of the blue pill false reality). The character of ‘Cypher’ is a vivid depiction of this self-delusion. And the blue pill represents ignorance, the habit of wilful of self-delusion.

We can see the red pill as standing for wisdom, for seeing more clearly how things ‘really’ are. There is a similar choice to be made in our dharma lives. However, if he takes the blue pill he will forget he’s ever met Morpheus and will carry on with his regular life. The red pill, Morpheus says, will show him an unimaginable reality. Two pills are set in front of him and he can choose just one. He is warned by Morpheus that it won’t be easy, and there will be no turning back. His intuitive doubts are affirmed and he is offered a chance to see a truer reality. His search leads Neo to a meeting with the mysterious and charismatic Morpheus. In Neo’s search, there are echoes of the Buddha and many a dharma practitioner’s lament “is this all there is?” There must be more. It’s a world that the main character, Neo, has never quite believed in. The Matrix – you may remember – starts off in a normal human, humdrum, pleasure and pain world.

Here is a take on just a few aspects of one. I’ve been exploring various films on a recent retreat looking at what they can helpfully reveal and illuminate for us as practitioners. I’m not sure about that, but I do think it works well as an allegory for aspects of the spiritual life. When the film, The Matrix was brought out in 1999, many of my friends were very excited and talked about it as a ‘Buddhist film’.

Blue and red pill matrix drawing