Q. Is it true that the enlightened don’t dream during sleep?
A. They act and feel as we do. They can dream at night. Their way of accepting what happens to them and what they do, is different from ours though. That is why the enlightened are said to have transcended life and death although they can’t avoid ageing and dying in reality, just as we can’t.
The difference between them and us is that they can see everything as empty, but we can’t. When everything is empty, life and death are empty. And then dreams are also empty. When life and death are empty, they are not life and death any more. In the same way, when dreams are empty, dreams are not dreams any more. So, the enlightened are said not to dream during sleep.
Student: “Do the enlightened have dreams during sleep?”
Master: “How can a man without life and death have sleep and dreams?”
©Boo Ahm
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