The burning house matrix

Many liked the 1999 film The Matrix.  The main takeaway of this sci-fi film is our reality is an illusion, a matrix.  It is only a secondary reality.  Those who run it are trying to repress the first reality.  In fact, the secondary reality has almost managed to erase remembrance of the first reality which is most primordial.

Buddhism is actually paving a way to the first reality, the one most feared by those who run the second reality.  But even Buddhism has been changed by those who run the second reality.  They fear the transcendent which goes beyond nescience, formations, and consciousness (vijñāna).  These are the necessary prerequisites for rebirth: to become deeply involved once again in the suffering of the flesh and the second reality.  

But weaning people off of the the second reality proves almost impossible.  They are trained to be hostile to the transcendent and to the means of reaching the first or primary reality. 

Let us not forget that the Buddha reminds us in the Lotus Sutra that this world is like a burning house and we're like the children in this burning house who haven't yet been devoured by the flames.  We don't want to leave. We are too self-absorbed in the matrix.

Comments

[TheZennist]

Nice! I imagine that we are in the big city of Antarābhava facing a new rebirth; picking out our next life. Due to our previous karma, we are limited in what we can choose for the next simulation (except for the study of Buddhism). The good news, in our next rebirth there will be fries & hamburgers, marijuana, and lots of great sex!

[Wandering Enigma]

The thing about failing to find a way out of this Matrix, once you partially or fully realized its infallible ability to cause suffering in so many ways for anyone, despite possession or position, is the realization that you are going to be reborn, and thus so, forced to re-experience the bullshit of this samsaric matrix all over again.

I say this because however you label your life adventure and experiences, whether you have been a giver, a taker, or something in between, seen from a greater perspective it is all a zero-sum game, where the outcome is merely a transmigration of consciousness into another game of birth, life, and death. An endless reset of forgotten desires, fears, dreams, hopes, and all actions taken thereupon.

[Aryeh]

Another theory is that we volunteered to live as a human in this world to learn what it’s like to be a finite being that will grow old, get sick, feel lonely and eventually die. More like the movie Total Recall than the Matrix. If this theory is true it would be a mistake to try to transcend the world. Why waste a perfectly fine experience as a human when you can live and learn and help others on the way. After we die we can evaluate whether we accomplished our goals or not and decide if we want to return or not. I know this is not the gnostic point of view that you have where some diabolical being is trying to enslave us for some reason and we have to try to escape it or suffer.

Another way to look at it is that there is only one being in reality which created everything and we are all that one being/mind . An infinite mind creates infinite worlds and perspectives in order to know and understand itself. We all have the same source and consciousness as our true nature. Time is only an idea in mind of God. Everything is really happening at once. The mind of God and God are one and eternal. So our perceived reality is an illusion but we created it ourselves to understand and play. The same reason we play games and watch movies