Life is a drama.

Question : (Unedited)

Hello,I am a Buddhist for many years,but recently I started to get really interested in the topic of Buddhism,and many question I really unable to answer, I decided to ask you.

1.What does Buddhists mean by saying "Life is like a dream"?Why do people feel that life is like a dream?I have ponder it over many year...

2.Is reality really a illusion in Buddhism?then what is real in Buddhism?Does it mean we will wake up when we die?I have this question after I watch Matrix...

3.Why did Buddhists say reality is a illusion? In what ways is it a illusion? Is the world we living now real?I don't

My comment: 

Hi R....,

Thank you for asking me.

1) 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.  

2) 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

3) 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.

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.

If you need further clarification, please come back.