[Theory] Fake Buddhism, the untold story of people of PanAmerican origin, complex symbolism of NC & FF:06:B5 mystery (again!)

[Fatalist]

Stage 1. Fake Buddism
The first thing I would like to start with on this complex and controversial topic is the statement: There is no real Buddhism in Night City!

Despite the numerous “Buddhist” monks encountered throughout the city and periodically featured in the game's storyline, this is not Buddhism.
Theoretically, the Buddhist terminology, as briefly outlined in Cyberpunk, is correct, but only at first glance. Yes, the monks in the game use Buddhist terms and concepts such as “bhikkhu,” “pratimoksha,” and “Vinaya” quite skillfully, but that's about it.

For example, “bhikkhu” literally means “beggar.” How does the idea of a beggar monk, who has left all earthly attachments far behind, manifest itself in the form of a personal growth coach who looks after V-corporate and works for Arasaka? Or a mysterious monk who teaches V meditation on the four elements?
Yes, in Budda's study among the numerous meditation techniques, there is meditation on kasinas, i.e., the four basic elements of the human body and the world. However, the whole practice never starts with this, and secondly, in the orthodox approach, there are not four but six elements: consciousness, earth, water, fire, air, and space.

Next, how does the statue in front of which the monks are praying represent Buddha? Is this Buddha? What are those mystical balls in his hands?
Where and in which Buddhist texts is Buddha depicted with many arms?

Or this way:

Here is historical Buddha, find 10 differences:

This is prohibited due to the obvious influence of Hinduism, which Buddhism has opposed for centuries. Furthermore, where and when was Buddha ever depicted with weapons in his hands, let alone mysterious balls? Finally, Buddha is never depicted hiding his face, as his commandment is well known: “Three things shine openly upon us: the Sun, the Moon, and the Teachings.”

In other words, what we see in Night City is not Buddhism, but a parody of it or something else entirely.

Then what could the mysterious statue be, with which the painful secret of Night City is connected, still not fully understood?
One variant of literal translation from machine code gives us the image of the answer “you,” (or "al of yu") i.e., the person or people looking at the statue is, in theory, looking at themselves.

Then we can assume that it is a mirror. The object you are looking at returns your own image to you in Cyberpunk. I personally associate this with the fact that in Cyberpunk, all three versions of the game begin with a mirror—the nomad, the corpo, and the street kid all look at themselves in the mirror at the very beginning of the game, which is symbolic.

It is also interesting that across the street from the main statue in the corporate square is a glass cube with the inscription “Night City.” That is, the system of images is as follows: "Here you are, living in Night City with your brain chipped, then there is the road—the virtual surface of the mirror—and then your own image, which the game shows you over and over again".

 

[Fatalist]

Okay, so can we make an assumption about who exactly the statue in Night City is dedicated to?

Since in a bleak dystopian future humanity has largely “left its old gods in Haiti”

and the world is going crazy over neuro-cybernetic technologies, the statue must apparently be some kind of Deus ex machina, i.e., a modern techno-punk reinterpretation of some ancient deity (or a syncretic representation of a number of deities!), revived in Night City in the form of a malicious, harmful AI.

Let's assume that this is the case, but where can we find the original source? Where is the original image?

This is probably the weakest link in my narrative, as I am not an archaeologist, historian, or demonologist, and I know relatively little about the ancient cults of the past:
However, I think that Hindu images of ancient deities are not very useful for identifying them as the basis for the statue in Night City. They are depicted completely differently than in Cyberpunk, and I have not encountered any carriers of Hindu mystical ideas in the game, and there are probably not many of them.
But what there are many of in the game, among the main plot NPCs, are people from Central and South America!
Rogue, Padre Ibarra, Santiago, Muammar El-Capitan, Panam, Judy, the Peralez couple — the list is very long and could go on.
So, wouldn't it be more logical to try to find the origins of the cult not described in Cyberpunk or echoes of an ancient religion on the American continent?
I think so, but you could try to interpret the symbolism of the statues in Night City as a syncretic, techno-modernized perception of ancient Aztec deities (perhaps not only them, but also the Mayan, Inca, and other cultures), which may be indicated, in particular, by the sword that the statues hold. A mirror sword? - Pure obsidian. An obsidian mirror in which the main protagonist sees himself, and along the blade of which he, like a true edgerunner, runs from one sphere to another - for example, from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Or vice versa, as in the case of Saburo Arasaka or D. Silverhand.


The list of Aztec and other ancient American gods may be long, but I would recommend that people interested in the subject start with Xolotl, the god with a dog's head.
Xolotl is the god of the setting sun, patron of the Evening Star, and guide to the world of the dead(!).
Xolotl, guardian of the sun at night. He sent the sun disc into the ocean, he controlled the sunset, and he watched as the sun moved through the underworld...
The Olmecs became the founders of the first major civilization in Mexico. They also knew Xolotl. They feared this god. They considered him an ancient monster from the depths of the universe. He spawned other monsters that could destroy everything around them...
P.S. Of course, Xolotl was usually depicted with the head of a dog (“The black dog in my head” ), and we cannot see it in the game, but instead we can see that the deity's face is hidden by a bandage - similar to those worn by members of Latin American criminal circles

And by the way, the pseudo-Buddhist monks of Night City can find an analogue in the form of Latin American magicians who practice so-called “stalking.”

In the works of Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born anthropologist and writer who was considered a father of the New Age movement, specifically detailed in The Second Ring of Power and Journey to Ixtlan, "Stalking" is the art of controlling one's own behavior and emotions to break free from ordinary perception. It involves self-observation to eliminate self-importance, fear, and pity, acting as a counterpart to "dreaming" to master everyday life.

Stalking is the art of controlling one's own behavior, emotions, and perceptions, aimed at changing one's personality (“erasing one's personal history”) and hiding oneself from the world. It is the art of replacing one's personality with another, very similar to oneself, but not oneself. The art of psychological camouflage, so to speak