Expert: Justin Choo - 1/4/2007

Question
1.Why do people sometimes says "Life is nothing but a dream"?Why is our life like a dream? What is the meaning?

2.In what way is life like a dream? Why would a person feel that life is like a dream? How many dream do we have? When will dream end? When will we awake? and whose dream is this?

3.Why do people always say "life is like a dream" when their close relative pass away or have encounter major change in their life?

4.Are "life is like a dream" and "life is like a drama" have similar concept? In what ways are they similar?

Please give examples if possible.I understand "life is like a game" and "Life is like drama", but I just cannot understand "Life is like a dream".I thought this question should be very simple, but I just cannot understand.

Answer
Hi Joe,

Recently someone asked quite similar questions as yours.

This was my answer:

Personally, I won't say that life is like a dream because a dream is not real at all.  Life is for real.  Maybe life is a drama will be more appropriate.  We all play our parts and in the end we fade away.  The Buddha pointed out that life is not very satisfying because we always face uncertainty and danger; and in the end we all die!  It's quite scary, isn't it?  In the end, no matter what we have achieved or failed to achieve, we face the inevitable death.  

In the worldly sense, everything is for real.  If you pinch yourself you feel the pain.  If you jump over a cliff, it's suicide!  If you are very poor you may go hungry.  The Buddha pointed out that life is in a flux; we grow and finally decay.  So long as we crave for existence, we will be in this wretched cycle of birth and death.  In order to escape from this cycle, we need to know certain truths and to take certain path.  This is what the Buddha's 4 Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path are all about. Click here:   http://www.serve.com/cmtan/buddhism/fournt.html

One needs to change one's mindset and perspective to enter a new paradigm to see reality of existence.  We view the world through our senses and interprete what we experience.  However our interpretations may not be the realities.  A good example is when we see a rainbow.  We cannot say the rainbow is not there.  We actually see it, the colourful arch.  However, we use our "extra" intelligence and knowledge to understand and realize that the rainbow is actually an optical illusion. This realization is wisdom.  Existence, in reality is like the rainbow.  In the end all that we see and experience are tricks played on us.  We ignorantly fall victims to the wrong interpretations by using our external sense organs to interprete the world.  Because of this, we harbour greed, hatred and delusion in our lives.  The price we pay, is suffering throughout our lives, living in fear, hatred, and unhappiness.  
To understand and see things as they really are, we need to study the Buddha's teachings about life and existence.

When people say "life is like a dream", I would take it as a philosophical comment, meaning things won't last.

In the final analysis, one should not be too engrossed over terminologies which are coined by fellow humans.  In Buddhism, the emphasis is how to live a harmless and a happy life, experiencing inner peace.

If you need further clarification, please come back.

Smile from justinchoo :-)