The monks in Tony’s coma dream barely say anything about Buddhism, and that’s kind of the point

The conversation with the monks is a construct of Tony’s mind, and he knows jack diddly squat about Buddhism. Of course they can’t teach him about the Noble Truths or samsara; They don’t know because he doesn’t know. However, the truth in different words is still the truth.

The critical line of dialogue from this scene is “When we die, we’ll be the same as that tree. No me, no you.” The first sentence is funny because I feel like it doesn’t really accurately portray how rebirth is thought about in Buddhism. But the second part, “No me, no you” is the linchpin to Tony’s dream.

Buddhism teaches the idea of “no-self,” that no permanent, unchanging essence can be found in anything that exists, even people. This fits into the core teaching of Buddhism that all that exists is subject to change. This directly contrasts Tony’s belief that people can’t change. (You’re born into this shit: you are who you are)

This conversation happens when Tony is in the middle of a crisis of identity: he is losing who he is because the life he lives in the real world and who he wants to be are in direct conflict, and he is desperately trying to keep grip on his sense of self. He wants to be a different person, but feels like he can’t give up everything he’s gotten through immoral acts. It would completely uproot his life. The dream is his mind telling him that he can change.

Tony wakes up from the coma with a new lease on life. But then he realizes that life is still hard, and he has to put in effort to change. More effort than he thinks is worth it. So he breaks the lease and trashes the apartment, spiraling further into degeneracy than ever before with drugs, gambling, rage, and vindictiveness, and it culminates in his murder of Christopher.

The point of the show wasn’t that people can’t change: It was that Tony could’ve changed and decided not to because it’s hard.