What's Real?

What is real? What is true?

These questions are fundamental to the spiritual path, to the path of awakening.

There is much confusion in our world right now. Blatant lies or mis-truths are being thrown around about immigrants rights, dei, trans and queer people, how the economy works, science, climate change, you name it…

The question of what is real in a spiritual sense invites us to look into the basic assumptions we make about the nature of reality. This is relevant in our considerations of the real and the true.

How do we know something is true?

In Buddhist teaching there is a concept called Maya. Maya means illusion, fantasy, dream. Maya is used to describe what we call reality.

It’s illusory, dream-like.

I think this teaching may be one of the most radical teachings in buddhism. If we really take it in and practice it, it invites us to question all the assumptions that we make about who we are, what we are doing and what we consider real.

It also asks us to consider, well what is a dream? What is an illusion? What is fantasy?

To me these are interesting and rich contemplations. As I think they were for many of the great mystics and spiritual practitioners throughout the ages. Practitioners and contemplatives like Longchempa, Dogen Zenji, CG Jung and Ursula K le Guin to name a few.

I recently stumbled upon a piece of writing from Ursula K le Guin where she consults the OED in order to better understand the meaning of fantasy. I was fascinated to hear the wide ranging definitions for this word. The definition ranges from “the image of perception impressed on the mind by an object of the sense” to “a mental image” to a “spectral apparition, phantom; illusory appearance” to “a daydream arising from the unconscious” to “a product of the imagination”.

These definitions of fantasy are relevant to the many layers of Maya in Buddhist practice.

Fantasy (and Maya) include really basic experiences like perception and mental formation—how we create reality or see/sense the world—as well as imagination, the ability to dream or create something that doesn’t exist, to the ways that we escape or get lost in our own delusions.

Dogen Zenji says there is a dream within a dream prior to all dreams.

To further explore this theme of dreams within dreams or fantasies within fantasies, I would like to share a koan.

Nan Ch’uan’s Like a Dream

An officer from the monastery was talking with Nan Ch’uan and said, “The Great Teacher Chao said, ‘Heaven, earth, and I have the same root; myriad things and I are one body.’ This is quite marvelous.”

Nan Ch’uan pointed to a flower in the garden. He called to the officer and said, “People these days see this flower as a dream.

There are many layers to this illusion, to this dream that Nan Ch’uan is referencing.

Daydreams, future plans, worries, past regrets, judgments all prevent us from seeing the flower that is right in front of us.

Projections are another form of our mental dreaming, our mind-made illusions, where we misperceive someone based on our own fears or insecurities. We turn people, places, even flowers into nightmarish or godly characters in our own personal world of illusion.

We also at times fail to see what is right in front of us because we know too much information. Instead of seeing the flower, smelling the soil, feeling the breeze on our face. Our mind starts talking about the latin name, the history of cultivation, names used in other cultures throughout time. Sometimes our knowledge can enhance curiosity and bring us deeper into the direct experience, other times our knowledge can prevent us from being here, in the flowerness(ness), in our bodies, in our hearts.

The more subtle dreams that Nan Ch’uan is pointing to come down to those basic assumptions we believe onto experience. We can sense the flower. We see the red of the tulip, we smell its sweetness and the earthy(ness) of the soil. We can feel the breeze on our faces. But we have these layers of beliefs or habits of being that tend to reify a sense of separation. This sense of I am in here smelling the flower, seeing the redness. That this life is happening to me.

The practitioner in Nan Ch’uan’s dream says: all beings have the same root, all phenomena share the same body.

Perception is illusory. Experience is dream-like.

The moment it happens is all there is. If we look, we can’t find a self that is separate from anything. When we gaze into a flower, or sip coffee or watch the news. We are the flower’s redness, the coffee’s bitterness, the sounds and images that move through awareness are inseparable from awareness itself. The sensations of body and thoughts (however personal they seem) all are inseparable from awareness itself. Are also only happening in the moment of their happening.

They are illusory, dream-like.

Even the words or concept dream or illusion are part of the dream.

This isn’t easy to grock. The way in is through the senses. Through our seeing, smelling, tasting we are opened to the immediacy of creation. This living body of continuous manifestation, continuous play. Nothing is outside of this happening. Nothing is outside of this great dream.

When we study this, then roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits as well as radiance and color, are all the great dream. Do not mistake them as merely dreamy.—Dogen Zenji

Contemplating Neptune: The Planet of Illusion and Dream

In this moment, astrologically we are undergoing a Neptune transit. Neptune is the planet that resonates with this teaching of Maya. Neptune represents the dream-like nature of reality. And presents an invitation to awaken in this dream, to study the dream. The truth is, most of the time we are seduced by different aspects of the dream, and fall into different degrees of fantasy or illusion. This is also Neptune territory. For it shows us the many layers of Maya that make up our sense of the real or cover over the direct aliveness of reality itself. Maya can take the shape of the fantasy of pride or greed, to the illusion of power or wealth, to the dream of romance or knowledge, to the fantasy of religion or belief or consensus reality.

Neptune is changing signs from dreamy Pisces to fiery Aries. From now until October, we are getting a taste of Neptune in Aries. This will look a lot of different ways for each of us individually as well as collectively. We may see new military dreams, militant religious movements, idealogical wars or dreams used to puff up the ego or sense of separation, as Aries is connected to the self, the energy of the will, the god of war, as well as the fierce courage it takes for a plant to push out of the earth or a flower bud to open.

For each of us personally, we can be used by the energy of Neptune in Aries or we can use it. To be used by it, we continue to move through life semi-conscious and let ourselves be puffed up by our own egoic fantasies and delusions, our anger, pride and willfulness become the prison we live in, the fantasy we put onto the world.

To use the energy of Neptune in Aries is to let this fiery creative push infuse our spiritual practice. To practice being awake in this dream, to see the illusory nature, to see through our delusions.

Being a self who has responsibility in this dream of the world, and being the world constantly being dreamed anew, is part of the divine tension of life as a human being.

This is also the archetype of the Spiritual Warrior. It takes courage to question our assumptions, to see through our illusions and live authentically. Great courage.

Practicing with the dream-like nature of reality, can re-chant life. When we de-center ourselves, when we allow life to be an open question, we are more connected to the mystery that this life is, that we are. We are more available for the magic of a flower blooming, a bird song, a shared smile at the coffee shop, the possibility of dreaming new ways of being together grounded in the insight that we share the same root and the same great body of being.

We are perhaps also more available for the magic and the mystery that unfolds in our nighttime dreams. Neptune is just beginning this transit through Aries, in October it will move back into Pisces before settling into Aries for fourteen years. As a way of honoring this transit, I am picking back up a more active dream-practice. I intend to share more about how you can practice with your dreams and the dream-like nature of reality.

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Listen to the podcast for a more in-depth exploration of Nan Ch’uan’s Dream and ways to practice with your nighttime dreams.

If you would like to learn more about where Neptune is in your chart, sign up for a natal or transit reading with me here.

Dream of the Soul: Natal Chart Reading—exploring the myths and symbolism in your natal chart

Year Ahead Transit Reading—curious to learn more about where Neptune is in your chart, or what forces are present in your year ahead, this reading can give you a foothold in some of the themes alive in your life

I will continue giving dharma talks on this theme of dream throughout the month of April. So stay tuned or join us live on zoom on Monday nights.

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I’m Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Astrologer and Artist. I offer 1:1 Spiritual Counseling sessions using IFS and somatic mindfulness. I also offer astrology readings. Check out my website to learn more. I currently live in Columbus, OH and am a supporting teacher for the Mud Lotus Sangha.

Below you can find a list of weekly and monthly online and in-person practice opportunities.

Weekly Online Meditation Event

Monday Night Dharma — 6P PT / 9P ET Join weekly for drop-in meditation and dharma talk. We are currently exploring Zen and Dreams.

Feel free to join anytime. Event lasts about 1.5 hours. ZOOM LINK

Zen Practice opportunities through ZCO

Light of the Ancestors Sesshin—May 12 - 18, in-person at Great Vow Zen Monastery

16 Bodhisattva Precepts Class—May 4 - June 8, online class series exploring the ethical teachings of Zen Buddhism

In-Person in Columbus, Ohio through Mud Lotus Sangha

Interdependence Sesshin: A Five Day Residential Retreat Wednesday July 2 - Sunday July 6 in Montrose, WV at Saranam Retreat Center (Mud Lotus is hosting its first Sesshin!)

Weekly Meditations on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

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