Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (156)

Is eating a bitter gourd in a dream really existent?

Original text: 大王。如人梦中。为饥所逼。得其苦瓠。并拘赊怛计子。毕租摩哩捺子。而便食之。心生恚恨。于意云何。是人觉已。忆其梦中。食苦瓠等。为实有不。王曰不也。

佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无苦瓠等。况复食耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: Great King, suppose a person in a dream, oppressed by hunger, obtains a bitter gourd, along with kuṣāṇḍa seeds, bījapūraka seeds, and other such things that are bitter and unpleasant to eat, and so eats them; after eating, his mind feels anguish and becomes displeased. What do you think? When this person wakes up and recalls eating the bitter gourd in his dream, is that event really existent? King Śuddhodana said: It is not really existent.

The Buddha said: Great King, if this person clings to what he dreamed as being really existent, is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why is that? Because in the dream there was, after all, no such thing as a bitter gourd, let alone the act of eating a bitter gourd. One should know that this person merely wearied his mind in vain; there was no real event whatsoever.