Date: 05/17/2025 05/18/2025
Location: Star River Meditation Center
Teacher: Yunquan Huang
Sitting Meditation
Observing Life as a Dream
To “observe life as a dream” does not dismiss life’s meaning.It points to the fact that our experience of life is constructed by thoughts, emotions, memory, and perception.Like a dream that feels real until we wake, our attachments feel solid until wisdom sees through their nature.This contemplation helps the mind release unnecessary burdens and discover deeper freedom.
1.Why Is Life Compared to a Dream?
1.Experience changes from moment to moment
Thoughts, emotions, sensations, and conditions constantly shift.
2.Life is shaped by interpretation
Different people experience the same event differently,showing that “reality” is filtered by the mind.
3.The dream analogy
Joy, sorrow, fear, or desire in a dream feel real,yet upon waking, none of it remains.
4.Life has no inherent essence
Because all experiences arise from conditions,they lack solidity—just like a dream.
2.How to Contemplate Life as a Dream
Method One: Observe the fleeting nature of experience
Steps
Notice how thoughts dissolve instantly
Observe emotions rise and pass
Feel bodily sensations change
Watch the external world shift
Impermanence reveals dream-like nature.
Method Two: Observe how the mind “creates” life
Steps
See how thoughts interpret events
Watch how emotions reinforce narratives
Notice how memory colors experience
Observe how expectation alters perception
Life’s vividness comes from the mind’s construction.
Method Three: Compare life events to dream episodes
Steps
When upset, ask: “If this were a dream, how would I view it?”
When joyful, ask: “How long can this last?”
When suffering, ask: “Will this fade like a dream?”
Everything arises, lasts briefly, and disappears.
Method Four: Use the dream metaphor to understand non-self
In a dream:
There is a “self”
There are “others”
There are “events”
Yet upon waking, none truly exist.
Likewise, life’s “self,” “others,” and “stories”
are mental constructions, not inherent realities.
3.The Transformation That Follows
1.Less attachment to gain and loss
Dream-like events do not require tight grasping.
2.Emotional freedom
Emotions lose their controlling power.
3.Greater ease with change
Because change is the nature of a dreamlike world.
4.Appreciation of the present
Each moment becomes precious and gentle.
5.Deep insight into impermanence and emptiness
Dream-like nature = impermanence
Impermanence = non-self
Non-self = emptiness
Conclusion
Life arises like a dream, shaped by mind and lacking solidity.Seeing this, we gently release attachment and respond with clarity and freedom.To observe life as a dream is to walk with wisdom through each moment.
