The Nature Of Reality - Verse Thirty Five

Space, time, and the four great elements
are all manifestations of consciousness.
In the process of interbeing and interpenetration,
our store consciousness ripens in every moment.

When we are dreaming, we can experience the sky, water, earth, trees, beings etc. We can experience the taste of sweet lime or an orange in a dream. Where is the dream sky, the dream orange? The eyes are closed, there is no orange in our mouth when we are asleep.

This example is provided to practitioners to make them understand that whatever we experience is a manifestation of our individual and collective consciousnesses. The earth, water, air and fire are all a manifestation of our individual and collective consciousnesses.

Let us say that I visit Plum Village in my dream. I meet Thich Nhat Hanh. I receive teachings from him. Many teachings. I spend many days, months, perhaps years practicing meditation and learning from Thich Nhat Hanh. However, when I wake up it's only seven hours since I slept. What is our sense of time? Of distance? Where is the Plum Village of my dreams? How did it fit into my small room? We can see that time and distance too are manifestations of consciousness.

Is our experience of eating a tangerine in a dream any different from when we are awake? We can say it was a dream, when we wake up. But when we are dreaming, that experience is real. The fear, the joy, the touch.. all are real experiences.

Is it possible for two consciousnesses to meet in a dream? Asanga was able to receive teachings from Maitreya in his dreams. Can you connect with someone and experience a dream together? 

This is the best way to get our mind to understand and investigate Vijñaptimātra teachings. Much like in a dream, all our experiences are a manifestation of consciousness. According to many great Buddhist masters, what we generally perceive as reality is actually a collective dream.

Practitioners are encouraged to understand where dreams come from. When we are dreaming, the mind consciousness, manas and store consciousness are active. So we can see for ourselves that what we experience in dreams is coming from the store consciousness as all sense organs are inactive. There is nothing coming from outside.

Each manifestation is the ripening of a fruit in the store consciousness. Fruits in the store consciousness are ripening all the time.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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