Life – this life, or any other life – is an appearance. It appears to the “person” (whom I have called the dreamer), similar to the way that a sleeping dream appears to a dreamer. And they are alike, in that neither the appearance of life to the person who is awake or to the person who is asleep has any reality, beyond appearance.

When we “wake up” to the truth that life – whether apparently experienced by one who is sleeping or one who is not – is actually a Dream, this realization is what I have called “awakening from the Dream.”

But whether we say awakening from the Dream or awakening to the Dream, what is intended to be communicated is subtler that that, and perhaps would best be stated awakening within the Dream.

In other words, it needs to be clear that when one awakens to the Dream, he may be said, in that sense, to be free of the Dream in that he no longer mistakes appearances for reality. Thus, he is not “real”, nor are any of the presumed forces which appear to affect him. In this way, he could seem to be outside of the Dream.

But not any thing we can envision is outside of the Dream. That includes one who is awakened from (or in) the Dream. This, we could say changes the circumstances of his life within the Dream, but his “life”, nevertheless, is no more real either way.

Put another way, the Dream itself is empty of reality. As well as any “life” within it. The person who takes his life experiences seriously – whether while asleep and dreaming or not – is empty of reality. Those who awaken to the Dream are also empty of reality. Aside from all these appearances, only emptiness remains.