Bennie Master’s Lecture:（1）All Is Like a Dream, All Is Like an Illusion

Good day, everyone. Today, I invite you to explore a profound truth with me: “All is like a dream, all is like an illusion.” Some of you might hear this and wonder, “What does ‘like a dream’ mean? What is this ‘illusion’?” If you’re puzzled, that’s not surprising. This truth isn’t easy to grasp unless you’ve delved deeply into the Shurangama Sutra and savored the essence of life with care. Back when I taught this, I didn’t break it down into tiny pieces. Why? Because people then were so familiar with the scriptures that if I explained too much, they’d find it tedious. But now, fewer people have that depth of understanding, and so this truth might feel a little hazy.

Staring Into the Void, All Are Mere Appearances

The Shurangama Sutra lays it out plainly: everything we see and feel is nothing but an “appearance born from staring too long.” What’s that? It’s the concepts we build through repeated conditioning. What tastes good, what tastes bad; what we like, what we dislike—these don’t exist on their own. If you’d never been conditioned to them, there’d be no “delicious” or “disgusting.” You say this is tasty, that’s awful—it’s all just habits you’ve ingrained. This habit is like a breath of air: the more you feed it, the stronger it grows; resist it, and it throws a tantrum. But pause and look closely—what’s throwing the tantrum? Is it your mind? Your brain? Your fingers or toes? There’s no fixed spot you can point to. Yet, this habit drives you: your hand reaches out, picks something up, slips it into your mouth with perfect precision, and you savor that “long-lost flavor.”

But chew it again, taste it again—it’s still the same. That flavor? It’s got nothing to do with you. Call it good, and you’ll keep eating. Then what? Joy or pain? Everything you crave can be tested in the end: does it bring peace or suffering? Even what the world considers a blessing—like wealth—the more you have, the better, for it is a manifestation of fortune. Yet, true blessings are revealed through peace, while greed for food is a manifestation of suffering.

You’re just too used to craving it—oil, salt, those “tastes” you can’t live without. Without them, it’s bland, right? But see through it, and you’ll realize: none of this is real. It’s all just illusions born from staring into the void.

Conditioned Into Being, Illusions Take Root

Take Sichuanese spicy food—numbing peppers that leave your mouth wooden, heat that throws you off balance. To outsiders, it’s torture; to them, it’s bliss. Why? Conditioning. They grew up with it, crying as they ate, tears mixing with spice. At first, it’s pain, rejection. But over time, that pain turns into “good,” into habit. Eventually, a little spice feels delightful. That’s conditioning at work. Or take salt: for those of us who’ve gone without it, a salty dish feels like biting into a pickle—overwhelming. Yet once, we ate that way too and called it normal. These things, in high doses, wreck your body—your immune system, your hormones—turning you into a mess, a “crooked gourd or cracked date.”

Look at a newborn. Before they’ve tasted anything, give them sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty. Their face tells the truth—delight or disgust. A grimace, a frown: that’s their natural response. So why do we later call it good? Training. Condition it enough, and it’s “good”; leave it alone, and it’s “bad.” Westerners see us eating greens and think it’s grazing—real people eat beef. Hand them stinky tofu, and they’re horrified. But their cheese? Fermented too, same nature, yet they love it. Some even relish cheese with maggots—without them, it’s “not good enough.” It’s all conditioning. There’s no absolute right or wrong, good or bad—what you’re conditioned to becomes your truth.

Dreamlike Forms, Mistaking False for Real

All phenomena are inherently still—there’s no intrinsic right or wrong, good or bad. It’s just the unfolding of karma. Like in a dream: you devour the delicious, guzzle the delightful, play with abandon. A nightmare hits, and you’re terrified, running wild. Some wake up with trembling legs, swearing they ran for miles. But did they? If they really ran that far, why are they still in bed? This shows us: it’s all the mind’s doing. Tired or not, bitter or sweet, scared or calm—it’s a dream. Your body never left the bed, so why the exhaustion? I’ve heard of someone dreaming they drowned, waking up terrified of water for lifetimes—afraid of a sink, even a sip. Where’d that fear come from? Conditioning, turned into consciousness, etched into karma, carried through DNA.

Whether it’s past-life consciousness or this life’s, it’s just that—consciousness, not reality. Nothing has inherent good or evil. We stare into the void, eyes strained, and flowers bloom in the emptiness—stars dance before us. Squat too long, stand up fast, and you’ll see them too. What is it? An appearance from strain. Blood pressure shifts, eyes falter, and illusions arise. Without that strain, you’d see nothing. If you never defined “tasty,” you wouldn’t call it that. It’s your repeated conditioning, your training, that shapes it—nothing to do with the thing itself. It’s all man-made, mistaken definitions from parents, schools, society. Yet, no matter how it’s shaped, it’s still a dream.

Awakening Frees You, Illusions Bend to Will

Wake up, and you’ll see: nothing in the dream was real. No matter how scary, how dear, how vital—once awake, you can’t cling to it, can’t reject it. It’s gone. Dreams hold the six realms; without awakening, you’re trapped feeling the joy and pain you’ve wrought. But the Mahayana scriptures say: realize your true nature, abandon the dream, and good and evil dissolve together. Then, even the karma of hell or the fate of an emperor—it’s nothing. This dream we’ve taken as real must be let go, no matter its highs or lows. It’s the fruit of mistaking falsehood for truth. You thought it real at the start, so it feels real at the end. But that’s not the way of a Bodhisattva.

All blessings, wisdom, abilities, merits—establish them as illusions. Why? They’re mind-made, dream-stuff. Build them as illusions, and you’ll wield them freely. Evil karma? Take it or leave it. Good karma? Same. At the peak of realization, you could descend to the humblest human life, manifesting form, sharing their karma—because it’s malleable. It’s illusory, dreamlike, not solid. Solid things can’t shift; illusions can.

Redefine Now, Rebuild as Illusion

How? Simple. Every person, every object before you—know it’s a dream. I once took it as real, so it feels real now, but I can’t hold it. Karma fades, bodies age, things perish. It seems solid, but it’s slipping away. So redefine it: this is dreamlike, illusory, born of karma. When you create anew, do so with clarity—craft illusions, craft dreams. Being malleable, they’ll bend to your will later. It’s just a shift in view, from “solid” to “illusory,” unshackling old ties, letting the dust fall away. Once clean, your illusions aren’t dirt or stain—you can turn them to dust or dissolve them entirely. They’re free to shape.

How long to master? It varies. Day and night for 21 days might root it firm. Only half a day? Double the time. Focus long on one point, and it unlocks all—for all is like a dream, all is like an illusion.

Closing: Freedom in Awakening

What you take as solid appears solid, unchangeable, bound to exhaust its karma. What you see as illusory, as a dream, becomes pliable. Unawakened, the dream binds you; awake, it can’t hold you. From today, release the grip of the “real,” embrace the freedom of the illusory—this is your first step to liberation. Thank you all!