A Dream Within A Dream

Recorded July 25, 2026.Case no. 25, Gateless Barrier: “Yang-shan’s Sermon From the Third Seat” is as follows:Yang-shan dreamed he went to Maitreya’s realm and was led to the third seat. A senior monk struck the stand with a gavel and announced, “Today the monk in the third seat will preach.”Yang-shan rose, struck the stand with the gavel, and said, “The Dharma of the Mahayana is beyond the Four Propositions and transcends the Hundred Negations. Listen, listen.”Why does Master Wu-men, creator of the Gateless Barrier, use a story of an old teacher’s dream as a koan? Koans present actual words and doings. But this is just a dream. What value could it have?Roshi Kapleau used to say that enlightenment is a dream. After all, enlightenment is simply the realization of our own Mind, the selfless Mind that’s been ours from the beginning. What are we going to get with enlightenment that we don't already have? The problem is that we don't know it. So, while lost in dreams, we should not discount the dream’s value. Bob Dylan says “I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours.” (“Talking World War III Blues.” Dreams within dreams. Within a dream.Roshi Kapleau used to relate how, not long after he’d arrived at Hosshinji Monastery a monk asked him, “Kapleau-san. Do you believe in dreams?” He told us that it took many years of Zen practice before he grasped what that monk was getting at. Do you believe in dreams? Who is it that believes in dreams? There is a dream dreaming dreams. Is it wrong that our life is a dream? With this dream scenario, Yang-shan and Wu-men have found a way to pull the wool not over, but off our eyes. This is a pretty good trick, wouldn’t you say?Book: Zen Life of Bodhisattvas by Rafe MartinPhoto of Hotei at Endless Path Zendo by Rafe MartinBooks by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org