The most accessible and most popular elucidation of these beliefs relates to the spoon parable a young boy tells Neo in the Oracle’s waiting room. The story is specifically contrary to Christian belief systems and refers to an old Zen Buddhist koan (paradox) about freeing yourself from the logical mind and entering the “Buddha-mind”:

The wind was flapping a flag at the temple. One monk said the flag was moving, the other monk said it was the wind that was moving. They argued and pondered, but could not come to a conclusion. An elder passed by and they asked him which was moving. “It is neither the flag nor the wind that moves, but your mind.”

When Neo visits the Oracle for the first time, she jokingly gives him a cursory doctor’s exam. Even this action has a mythic dimension, as a certain sect of Buddhism believes that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama will be proven by a set of markings on his body.

The Matrix trilogy refers knowledgeably to certain aspects of Eastern religions while ignoring or contradicting others. Not many practicing Buddhists would carelessly fire any type of automatic machine gun. Similarly, true Buddhists, practicing proper virtues, have no enemies, though Morpheus clearly tells Neo that not only are the Agents enemies, but since Agents can turn into anyone in the Matrix, everyone is a potential enemy.

No one religion or spiritual discipline forms the backbone of the Matrix trilogy. Instead, parts of many religions are fused into a patchwork quilt of ideas and references that deepen and enrich the films.

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