It's just a dream...or is it????

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

A little Taoist food for thought on existence... Enjoy

"The Dream of the Butterfly!"

"It was a cool evening in ancient China. Chuang Tzu's friend went looking for him at the local inn. He found Chuang Tzu sitting at a table, sipping his drink in a contemplative mood.
"There you are!" Chuang Tzu's friend greeted him. "I thought by now you would be telling everybody another one of your stories. Why so quiet?"
"There is a question on my mind," said Chuang Tzu, "a question about existence."
"I see. Would you like me to leave you alone to your thoughts?"
"No, let me share it with you. Perhaps you can provide me with your perspective."
"My perspective is of little value, but I would be glad to listen." He pulled up a chair.

"I was out for a stroll late in the afternoon," said Chuang Tzu. "I went to one of my favourite spots under a tree. I sat there, thinking about the meaning of life. It was so warm and pleasant that I soon relaxed, dozed off, and drifted into a dream. In my dream, I found myself flying up above the field. I looked behind me and saw that I had wings. They were large and beautiful, and they fluttered rapidly. I had turned into a butterfly! It was such a feeling of freedom and joy, to be so carefree and fly around so lightly in any way I wished. Everything in this dream felt absolutely real in every way. Before long, I forgot that I was ever Chuang Tzu. I was simply the butterfly and nothing else."

"I've had dreams of flying myself, but never as a butterfly," Chuang Tzu's friend said. "This dream sounds like a wonderful experience."
"It was, but like all things, it had to end sooner or later. Gradually, I woke up and realized that I was Chuang Tzu after all. This is what puzzles me."
"What is so puzzling about it? You had a nice dream, that's all there is to it."

"What if I am dreaming right now? This conversation I am having with you seems real in every way, but so did my dream. I thought I was Chuang Tzu who had a dream of being a butterfly. What if I am a butterfly who, at this very moment, is dreaming of being Chuang Tzu?"
"Well, I can tell you that you are actually Chuang Tzu, not a butterfly."

Chuang Tzu smiled: "You may simply be part of my dream, no more or less real than anything else. Thus, there is nothing you can do to help me identify the distinction between Chuang Tzu and the butterfly. This, my friend, is the essential question about the transformation of existence!"

I'm off to bed to 'dream' or am I already dreaming     Sweet dreams

Metta Zenda

[Amazon D]

my signature i have at another board.

"Life here on earth is but a dream of the true spiritual world from whence we came and to where we will return"

[Anatta]

Kia Ora M2M etc,
Interesting perspective... But what is meant by "dream"?
1)   A series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
2)   Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
3)   A cherished desire
4)   A state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality
5)   Indulging in a fantasy

Number 4 closely resembles the way most experienced Buddhists believe we humans tend to view life, and this understanding comes for the most part, from the practice of insight meditation "Inner science"....

Here's a simple way to understand that for the most part we tend to live in a "dream like state" =living an "illusion"...And one does not have to be a "Zen" meditation master to do this or for that matter have any meditation practice...

Find a quiet spot, sit [or lay flat on your back] with your eyes open and focused upon an object [any object -if sitting you could use a candle flame, the flame may flicker and flutter but ones focus is more or less on the same spot, or if laying down, a mark, a lamp shade, or pattern on the ceiling]...Then say to 'yourself' "I'm focusing all my attention upon this object !"... Then see how long you can concentrate on that object before your thoughts distract your mind, dragging it off to past or possible future events...Then see how many thoughts arise of the past and future...Your somewhat diluted eye consciousness will still focus upon the object [which is "reality"] but ones "stronger" mental awareness will be focusing upon past and future events...

When 'awake' most of us 'believe' we're living in the moment[that we live fully in the 'NOW'] but in 'reality' we spend most of our time living in a 'dream' like state...where ones thoughts drag the mind to past events or of what ones future might hold[a future that's unfolding with every moment] And these past and future events can be either pleasurable or fearful... In other words there's a wild, chaotic, out of control party going on inside the mind  ... This simple experiment will show you this and also how much time you really do spend 'fully' awake...

Again I hope this all makes sense....I tend to see this as clear as day within my mind.. But then that's how my chaotic mind works...Making sense out of non-sense...

Happy Mindfulness...Sweet dreams

Metta Zenda