上星期（2007/7/2）USA Today選出影響好萊塢的25部電影，標題是：Hollywood highlights: 25 movies with real impact。這是為了慶祝該報即將發行25年的紀念。

駭客任務（Matrix）被選上了。文章寫著：The first sci-fi thriller that felt like a portal into a 21st-century mind-set. The Wachowski brothers melded new (hacker culture, time-freezing action moves) with old (Buddhism, Lewis Carroll) for a cool high-tech aesthetic.（備註：Lewis Carroll是愛麗絲夢遊記的作者）

短短的解說告訴我們「駭客文化」、「時間凝結的停格動作」、「愛麗絲夢遊記」與「佛教」是構成這部電影的四個元素。顯然，USA Today編輯小組也認為Matrix與佛教的關係。如果再回到時代雜誌的資深影評家Richard Corliss當年（1999）訪問了導演Wachowski兄弟，他們也承認佛教思想影響了這部電影的創作，訪談中也提到「量子力學」。

要不要透由「量子力學」來討論《金剛經》是個很有趣的構思，我想嘗試，但有其困難度。很有挑戰，如何把很難的量子力學講清楚，試看看囉！！

我又想起當時在Matrix官方網站（official movie web site）有一篇學術性的討論，佛教與駭客任務的關係。這篇文章以”Wake up, Neo.”展開，「醒來」（wake up）與「覺醒」（awareness）是多麼直接的比喻。很可惜，已經不在Matrix官方網站上了。還好，有偉大的Google，我找到這篇文章，被放在Southwestern University 學的教授資料簡介。作者是該校的教授Rachel Wagner所寫（Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion）。

文章標題是”Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix,”。Gnosticism（靈知）即是諾斯底思想，是達文西的密碼裡的grandfather所信奉的教派，它可以與佛教裡的密教思想（Tantraism）做比對。

我將作者的簡介與文章放在讀書會的網站，大家暑假沒上課的時候可以去瞧瞧。動動大腦！！

Rachel Wagner的介紹：
http://www.southwestern.edu/whoswho-archive/0311fac.html
Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix的文章：
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_wakeup.html

而導演Wachowski兄弟在時代雜誌接受Richard Corliss的訪談文章內如是：

The brothers explain, ”There’s something uniquely interesting about Buddhism and mathematics, particularly about quantum physics, and where they meet. That has fascinated us for a long time” (Wachowski chat). In the Time interview with Richard Corliss, Larry Wachowski adds that they became fascinated ”by the idea that math and theology are almost the same. They begin with a supposition you can derive a whole host of laws or rules from. And when you take all of them to the infinity point, you wind up at the same place: these unanswerable mysteries really become about personal perception. Neo’s journey is affected by all these rules, all these people trying to tell him what the truth is. He doesn’t accept anything until he gets to his own end point, his own rebirth.” The film’s presentation of the Matrix as a corporate network of human conceptions (or samsara) which are translated into software codes that reinforce one another illustrates this close relationship.