Dreamers in dreams

Life is like a dream. In our dreams we meet people and we do things and they appear real. These people and things appear in various forms but they are still in our dreams, so we call this "form is emptiness" because these forms neither exist nor non-exist.

Next, let's say someone we love is also dreaming in our dreams. We want to wake that person up, so we tap on his/her shoulder. Do you think we can wake up a dreamer in our dreams when in fact we are dreaming? Since what we experience in our dreams appears so real, we call this "emptiness is form", i.e. the state that is neither existent nor non-existent appears in the forms of everyone and everything in our dreams.

So you think that I was talking about our dreams, huh? This in fact is the key to reality in life. What we call reality is but the fleeting moments in our dreams in which forms appear in emptiness and emptiness creates more forms. A Buddhist who knows prajna emptiness knows how this Buddhist tenet works through every facet of life.

人生如梦。梦中人物栩栩如生，有声有色，然仍是梦，故说色即是空，以其尘境不实也。次说梦中人做梦。梦中人如何唤醒梦中人？梦中尘境既然幻生，故说空即是色，以其尘境如真也。此所言梦，实是人生一实相关键所在。吾人所谓现实无非梦中尘境幻生幻灭。色空辨则波若明。