Selected Discourses from the Sutra on the Compendium of Father and Son (94)

Chapter Thirteen: The Dream Simile

Original Text: The Buddha said: "Great King, suppose a person, in a dream, embraces and enjoys the company of many beautiful women. After awakening, this person continuously recalls the wonderful sensations experienced in the dream. Is this real?" The King replied: "It is not."

Explanation: The Buddha said: "Great King, for example, a person dreams of amusing himself with many beautiful women. After this person wakes up, he still constantly recalls the wonderful tactile sensations experienced in the dream. Did this event truly exist?" King Śuddhodana replied: "It is not a real event." After this person awoke from the dream, he still regarded the events of the dream as real, continuously dwelling in the dream state, recalling it without cease, clinging to it with greed and unwilling to let go. This person lacks wisdom. He does not realize that the dream is not real, not true, and that he should not be infatuated with unreal illusions, pursuing illusory sensations and feelings. He should not be so deluded and confused, mistaking the false for the real. The sensations experienced in the dream are all illusory. How much more so are the feelings when recalling the dream after waking up! Do the things recalled in the mind still exist? They no longer exist; otherwise, it would not be called recollection. For example, I recall that the food I just ate was very fragrant, but the food has already been eaten. The fragrance no longer exists now; it is gone. No matter how much I reminisce, it has no actual effect and is utterly without benefit. What has vanished will not return. And dreams are even more illusory than past real experiences. Recalling them only demonstrates the mind's greedy clinging and unwillingness to let go, pointlessly immersing itself in illusory imaginings, merely wasting precious time and energy. Another example: when we recall words spoken by someone, are those words still ringing in our ears as we remember them? There are no sounds in our ears now. Sounds that have passed, words that were spoken, do not exist for the present and serve no purpose. If one still clings to those sounds, dwelling on them and clinging persistently, that is adding illusion upon illusion. The moment the sound existed was already illusory, how much more so after it has vanished—it is even more unreal and insubstantial. If one claims that past objects of the six senses (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects) still have an effect, that is actually just the mind producing false discriminations, thoughts, and imaginings. The mind then generates illusory feelings and clinging emotions again. In reality, they no longer have any effect. What has passed is gone. Clinging and unwillingness to let go only increase afflictions pointlessly. Sentient beings in their daily lives feel that their perceptions of the myriad phenomena of the six senses are very real. But are those feelings truly real? They are all unreal, like flowers in the sky or illusory shadows.