This is the story of man. This has happened to everyone. We have completely forgotten why we are here, why we came here in the very first place, what to learn, what to acquire, what to know, who we are and where from and where to go, what is our origin and the reason of our journey in life, in the body, in the world, and what we have achieved so far. And when a tidal wave comes - and it comes, it always comes; its name is death - Everything Is Gone: children, family, name, fame
money, power, prestige. In a single moment, everything is gone and you are left alone, completely alone. And everything you had done was undone by the tidal wave. Everything you had worked for turns out to be nothing but a dream, and then you find yourself with empty hands and an empty heart. And then you have to face the divine, then you have to face existence. And existence has been waiting for you, for a long time it has been waiting for you to bring something for which you were sent in the very first place. But you have fallen asleep, and you dream countless dreams. Everything you have done so far is no different from a dream, because death comes and everything is washed away. Reality cannot be washed away by death. Reality has no death. Reality cannot die. Reality is immortal. Reality is eternal. Everything that dies proves by dying that it was unreal, that it was an illusion, maya, a dream - perhaps a wonderful dream, but still a dream. You can dream of Hell or you can dream of heaven, that makes little difference. The moment you wake up, you discover that you are completely empty - and empty in a negative sense, not in a positive sense as Buddhas know: not empty of the ego, but empty of everything that your ego has tried to accomplish; full of ego, but empty of any attainment, empty of any realization, empty of any knowledge. And it is not that the ego does not claim knowledge, it does claim. The ego is very well informed; it collects information. It is a great collector: it collects money, it collects information, it collects everything. It believes in accumulation. It is greed and nothing but greed; ego is another name for greed. It wants to own, but everything you own disappears. And everything you did, you did in your dream. The moment you wake up, you are amazed at how much time has been wasted, how many lives you have lived in a dream, how many dreams you have lived. To be a seeker means to come out of this dream, to come out of this dream - state of consciousness. Being a seeker means making an effort to awaken. Awakening means becoming a Buddha-being alert, being aware, being full of light inside, so that all unconsciousness disappears, so that all sleep disappears, so that the darkness of sleep is no longer in you and you are fully awakened.

It happened once: a great astrologer met Buddha. He couldn't believe his eyes - that body, that golden aura around his body, those beautiful eyes, as still as a lake can be, and as profound and as pure as a lake can be, that crystal clarity, that walking Grace. He fell at the feet of Buddha and said: "I studied astrology, palmistry. All my life I have studied types of people, but I have never come across a person like you! What type do you belong to? Are you a god who has descended on Earth? - because you don't seem to belong to this earth. I cannot find any heaviness in you. You are absolutely clear, weightless. I wonder how you walk on earth, for I do not see that any gravity has its effect on you. Are you a god who descended from heaven just to see what is happening on Earth? A messenger from God? A prophet? Who are you?? And Buddha said, " I am not god."The astrologer asked:" Are you then what is called a yaksha in Indian mythology?"- slightly lower than the gods. And Buddha said: "No, I am not a yaksha either.''Then who are you? What type of person, what category should you be placed in?"And Buddha said:" I am neither a man nor a woman."The astrologer was now very much stunned, and he said,' What do you mean? Do you mean that you are an animal, an animal being, or the being of a tree, or the being of a mountain, or the being of a river? - because Indian mythology is pantheistic, it believes in all kinds of creatures. "So who are you, the creature of a rose bush? You look so beautiful, so innocent."And Buddha said:" No, I am not an animal, nor the creature of a tree, nor the creature of a mountain.''Then who are you?"The astrologer was very stunned. And Buddha said, " I am awareness and nothing else. You can't categorize me, because all categories apply to dreams."Someone dreams that he is a man, someone else dreams that she is a woman, and so on, and so on. Categories belong to the world of dreams. When you wake up, you are simply that principle of being awake, of awareness.
You are only a witness and nothing else, a pure witness. All shadows are gone: the shadow of a man or of a woman, animal, god ortrees - all shadows, all forms are gone. You are only an unstructured awareness, the pure heaven, endless, infinite, immeasurable. This awareness is without clouds, but filled with Heaven. This is positive emptiness, this is nirvana. Then there is also negative emptiness. You are full of clouds - so much so that not even a piece of the sky can be seen. You are full of knowledge - so much so that not even a little space is left for meditation. The saying goes: He who does not know and yet knows that he knows is a fool - commonly referred to as a pandit or a scholar; avoid him. He who does not know, and does not know that he does not know, is innocent, a child; wake him up. He who does not know, and knows that he does not know, is a Buddha, follow him. Coming to this realization: "I am no one," is the meaning of being a Buddha. Buddha is not anyone's name. Buddha is the name for no one. Buddha is not a being. Buddha is just space, open space, openness, a name for openness, for the open sky. Watch your mind: how much the Dreaming continues. And it's not that you only dream at night, you are constantly in a dream. Even if you think you are awake, even during the day, continuity is not broken. At any moment, close your eyes and relax, and you will immediately see dreams passing by. They are always there, like an undercurrent. They never leave you alone, they are always present, constantly influencing your being. Their existence is subconscious. You may not be aware of them, you may not even suspect their existence, but they are there - ongoing. Even when you listen to me, that movie goes on, that drama of dreams. That's why you can't listen to what I'm saying. It must first pass through your dreams and your dreams distort it; you hear something else, which has not been said. Twisting your dreams, manipulating your dreams, projecting your dreams, your dreams change things. I say something and you hear something completely different. And those dreams are very powerful inside you, and you don't know what to do with those dreams. In fact, you have become so identified with those dreams, that you do not know that you are on your own, that you can perceive them, that you can be removed from them, that you are just a spectator.