Expert: Justin Choo - 8/26/2008

Question
QUESTION: -Do you think or believe that your life is only just a dream? Do you believe your present life is real?
Is the whole world are only vibrations. There is no time, no space, nothing; everything is an illusion?
Is the world still real??
http://www.ananda.it/en/kriyananda/articles/sk_dream.html

2.Does Buddhism believe that WE are living a dream of ABSOLUTE BEING??? God?
Whose dream is this? Is this our dream? or We are part of a great infinite dream?
-Do we still exist?
I don't really understand...please explain....
-Do you life is just a illusion?

ANSWER: My Dear Rambo,

(You have set two records in this place.  The first record was when you first visited here with your longest question.  Today, you set another record for me, yours is the 1000th question asked.)

I thought you would be offended when I did not answer your question to save you from further confusion.  You seem very persistent.  You are still asking questions along similar lines.  As I told you before, the more you read the other sites which give you contrary information, the more you are going to get confused.  There is no way you can reconcile the various different contradictory information.  If you are interested in Buddhism please just concentrate learning the teachings of the Buddha.  The site, I repeat, is www.buddhanet.net.  

I repeat my answers.  Your life is not a dream. The world is real.
It is our understanding of this world and this life, that is flawed.

My advice to you again:

" May I suggest that you take a break and stop dwelling on your doubts, and stop reading about all the stuff that you have been reading. Please take a holiday, and relax your mind. Whenever disturbing thoughts come around, just ignore them and don't dwell in them for another second. Keep yourself busy with your hobby(ies), do some exercises, visit your friends and relatives and please relax yourself. I assure you if you just relax and don't dwell on all those doubts that trouble you, given time, you will realize that all are real, and you are a normal human being."



"As I have suggested you better take a holiday and free your mind from analyzing too many hypothetical assumptions. The more you ask the more you are going to get confused. And if you ask from so many of us in this site, you will add to your problems, for all our answers will not be the same.

I am sorry I do not wish to hurt you further by making you more confused if I answer your questions."


Take care.

Justin Choo :-)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It is our understanding of this world and this life, that is flawed.

what does it mean? why is it flawed?

ANSWER: Hi Rambo,

Our understanding of this existence is flawed.  We wrongly interprete this existence because of our ignorance on the realities of life.  I shall explain this to you, but please do not analyze too deeply, otherwise you will get confused again.  This is no good for your health.  And please do not compare the Buddha's teachings with other beliefs and try to reconcile; you will never succeed because they are different beliefs.

I just answered one question about the realities of life.  It is like this. The most salient reminder of the Buddha's teachings is the trilogy of universal truths. Please remember this for the rest of your life and you will not feel so disappointed in life when things don't come your way.

They are Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness, and Insubstantiality. When one realizes that everything in this world cannot last forever, one is prepared to see change and the end of all component things. The second reality in life is that one is existing in an environment of imperfection. It is the true nature of this world and this existence. The third is a more subtle concept; in the final analysis, one's existence comes to naught. There is nothing that one can hold on to. One's existence is like a rainbow. One can indulge in the beauty of the rainbow, but in the end there is nothing.

I hope you don't get confused on the third and treat life as "not real".  Life is real.  But the process of living life in the end comes to nothing, for we are going to die; and the process starts all over again.  In this sense life is futile.  

I said our interpretation of life is flawed on these premises.

First, we expect things to be permanent which are not.  All things and feelings will not last forever.  Second, we expect perfection when in actual fact this world is never perfect.  Third, we think we can exist forever unchanging even after death, that is having a permanent unchanging soul, which is not.  Our existence is in a flux with a continuous flow of energy supporting our consciousness.

See? Rambo, I am quite reluctant to explain deeper Buddhist concepts with you because I fear that you will start comparing them with other concepts which you found in the internet, and get yourself confused again.  Please do not embark on this exercise of trying to reconcile apparent contradictory concepts. Just take this answer as another plausible explaination to life. Then you decide on the "best"
answer that you feel confortable with.

Take care.

Justin Choo :-)



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yeah...I think your answer is the explanation for "life is like a dream", although I don't really understand what is the teaching of this, but I think I understand the meaning.


what do you mean by

Our existence is in a flux with a continuous flow of energy supporting our consciousness.

what are you trying to tell me?

Answer
Rambo,

First I wish to remind you that this is a Buddhist site where I answer questions on Buddhism.  What I discuss here will be about the teachings of the Buddha. So please remember we are discussing about Buddhism, the teachings of the Buddha.

I knew you would ask further. In order to understand this statement: "Our existence is in a flux with a continuous flow of energy supporting our consciousness", we need to know what the Buddha taught about life and rebith.  

"Rebith" views existence as an on-going process, just like the electric current lighting up a bulb.  The "bulb" is like the physical body.  When this bulb is blown, the current is still there and when a new bulb is fixed on, it lights up again.  So you can see that there is a continuity in the electric current, but the current flowing through is not the same at any one moment.  Our existence is in this state of flux.  When the body is dead, the life energy (consciousness)seeks another form to "reborn".  The type of rebirth will depend on the nature of this store-house of life energy.  If this store-house of energy has more wholesome characteristics, then it will seek rebirth in a more conducive environment.  On the other hand, if it has more negative characteristics, then its rebirth will be in a more unwholesome environment.  As the life force is always in a flux, there is no permanent and unchanging soul, but a changing personality that exists throughout.  To describe this process of rebirth, the Buddha used the term "Not exactly the same, yet not totally different".  
 
The very fact that we cannot remember our past lives is an indication that we were not them.  But the fact that we are here, brings question as to wherefrom we came.  We may argue or analyze by using our intellectual capacity till the cows come home; still we will never be satisfied.  It is believed that if one practises Buddhist meditation diligently, one may ultimately find realization through the power of the mind.

Rambo, if you wish to ask further, please start a new thread by clicking the "Ask a question"; otherwise this thread will become too long. If you return, I would appreciate if you could provide some information about yourself so that I could answer your question to suit your level of understanding.

Take care.

Justin Choo.