»Neo is Buddha?«

There have been several ideas on who Neo is meant to represent.

Is he Buddha? an incarnation of Vishnu? the Anti-Christ? the Gnostic Christ, the traditional Christ, an atheistic saviour or something else entirely?

Do you think you have a case for not believing the matrix not to be based on any kind of theological view at all perhaps?

Personally I think the Neo is actually an allegory for the traditional Christ. He dies to save mankind from an evil which will doom them all (Sin/Smith).

P.S. Having noticed that no one ever really notices the posts in the symbolism section I have moved this here. It is a question motivated by the religious symbolism at the end of revolutions after all.

I believe its all in the eye of the beholder. It is meant to be. Personally, I can see connections to the traditional and Gnostic Christ, Buddha and an incarnation of Vishnu.

I do not believe in the view that Neo is rising up against heaven (the matrix world).

The thing that confuses me with the Vishnu interpretation is: how is Vishnu a saviour? (He doesn't appear to be a saviour for the whole of humanity in the Ramayana story)

Ooooh could Neo be Krishna by another interpretation?

Vishnu is the preserver God. He comes to this earth every once in a while to cleanse it. He comes when things go out of control and he balances or stabalizes it. He has already come many times in many forms. These are his avatars or incarnations. Krishna is one of Vishnu's avatars. Similarly there are many Ones. Ill let you decipher the rest.

Ooops - forgot that Krishna was an incarnation of Vishnu.

So what link is there with Neo to Buddha - unlike the others I actually know something about him.

Someone was saying on another thread that Buddha had six incarnations and that simply is not true. He had 1000 lifetimes before he became buddha and there are many different buddhas who came after him and there may well have been buddhas before him. The number 6 does not seem to play a role - still you could say that it does not play much of a role in Christianity. But still I do not see why Neo is at all like shakyamuni buddha (Siddartha)....

I know it sounds crazy, but it all fits!

Smith is the ultimate nihilist. He literally believes in 'nothing'. He says there is no purpose for him and no purpose for life other than to end. He cries out angrily to Neo "why do you persist!". He asks this when Neo has lost everything, even Trinity.

But Neo's answer is the existentialist's answer. Why do you continue your life when you see no meaning or purpose? "Because I choose to".

In reloaded Neo is begged by the people of Zion, as if he were a God, to watch over their family members on board the various ships. He says "I'll try". This is something he has chosen to make his aim.

Shortly before that same scene he says to the kid "you saved yourself". Is he mistaken? Is he being modest? Or is it true; is there an importance in acting for yourself and recognising your own importance.

It is amazing how the matrix can blend itself into any theological viewpoint. Now that I am studying Nietzsche suddenly Neo is seeming more and more like the "higher man" described in his book "Thus Spoke Zarathrustra". It fits particularly well since the higher man can be what you want him to be. He is the essence of what you think man should become. Everyone interprets the matrix differently depending on what their idea of God or their life philosophy is,