A World of Dream

A sutra relates the story of a king who made the following dream: he was a poor man living in absolute destitution who was trying to meet the king of the country to ask him for some help. He was told that the king was over there, so he rushed there, but each time he arrived, he was told that the king was elsewhere, that he had gone. In fact, this dream was a true nightmare. He knew unconsciously, in his dream, that the king could help him, but the king always shied away. And so, when he woke up from this nightmare, he became aware that he was the king. He became aware that he was the king, but that he did not have the attitude, the behaviour, the mind of a king.

From then on, he decided to be up to his duties: he decided to free himself from everything that prevented him from being a true king, he decided to give up fear, to become strong, wise and compassionate.

We are all lost in a dream that makes us forget what we really are. It makes us forget our true Buddha nature; it makes us forget that to control one’s life, to live one’s life requires giving up all fear, becoming strong, wise, compassionate.

This world of dream in which we live, this is what we call in Buddhism samsara. In samsara, we are very far away from our true nature. For some, the dream in which they live is a victim’s dream, a dream of failure; for others, it’s a dream of glory. But in all cases, these dreams cause us to feel dissatisfied.

Because we have made our Buddha mind smaller – we have become a little me – we harvest dissatisfaction. To practice the Way is to come back to our Buddha mind, a mind without limits, without defilement, beyond beliefs, beyond superstition. It is to live one’s life like a king in his kingdom, without fear, with strength, wisdom and compassion, liberated from all the dreams of samsara.

Taiun JP Faure, September 2023