The Nature of Dreams and Reality: Teachings from Namo Amituofo

Recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

On the twenty-ninth of June, 2025, during the noon offering, Namo Amituofo provided these profound teachings on the nature of dreams and the reality of awakening.

The Endless Cycle of Dreams

What is a dream, and what is not? Where do these dreams truly reside? For those who have not yet awakened, and for those who have not yet departed from the dream-state, you are currently living within a dream. Everything you perceive with your senses is merely a dreamscape. The karma you accumulate is a dream, the cycle of rebirth is a dream, and all the actions you perform within this cycle are also part of the dream. You are drifting through the cycle of rebirth, guided entirely by the momentum of your past karma.

The Depths of the Dream-State

Within the body, there exist countless spaces. When we speak of a dream within a dream, we are referring to the act of entering into these deeper, hidden layers of space. Whenever you feel drowsy or fall into a state of mental fog, you are entering these spaces; you are effectively living in a dream within a dream. If you enter into different spaces, you are simply dreaming different dreams within the larger dream. One must ask: when will you finally wake up?

Awakening to the True Reality

What, then, is not a dream? Those who have realised their true nature—the awakened beings—are those who have truly woken up from the dream. The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the ancestral masters are all like this. The world they inhabit is a world of purity without defilement, a world of light without a single flaw, a world of coolness and absolute freedom. It is a vast treasury of light; it is not a dreamscape, but the ultimate, true reality.

The Compassionate Work of the Awakened

Those who have awakened and are no longer dreaming can use the dream to save beings. They help others leave the dream behind while they themselves remain perfectly clear and awake. They are never trapped or confused by the dreamscape. Instead, they skillfully utilise all the people, events, objects, and environments within the dream to conduct Buddhist education. This is the true meaning of teaching and transforming beings. Through the methods of Chao Du, delivering lectures, and pointing out the path to those who are lost, they help beings break through delusion and attain enlightenment. These are all skillful means used to save beings.

A Sanctuary of Light in Australia

At the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, Namo Amituofo is residing here. Here, in this human world Buddha-land, the Buddha works to save beings and carries out the true work of teaching and transformation. The temple provides opportunities for beings to be delivered and reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, according to their karmic affinity. Wherever the Buddha-name can be heard and wherever the Buddha-light shines, those sentient beings with karmic affinity have the opportunity to be saved by the Buddha.

A Call to Diligent Practice

The fourfold assembly of disciples are truly blessed with great fortune. You have the rare opportunity to be saved and to achieve rebirth in the Western Pure Land. However, you must remain fiercely diligent in your practice. There are many sentient beings with karmic affinity waiting for you to be saved and to realise your true nature, so that they, too, may have the chance to be saved and reach the Western Pure Land. Namo Amituofo.