From the Upanishads on down, there have been sages who have discovered the meaning of ajata’s message, and have declared “no creation” or “no origination” or “no birth” etc.

They are stating that the nature of ultimate reality is emptiness or nothingness or a void, and that from a “condition” of emptiness not anything can ever come out or originate or appear.

In other words, any thing which appears to exist is not, and cannot be, a creation from nothingness. Put another way, any thing which seems to appear is not real, from the ultimate standpoint.

This is not a denial that things do seem to appear. Both anything which seems to appear and the person to whom they seem to appear are unreal.

The analogy which is classically given is that of a sleeping dream. In the dream, you–a figure which is not actually real–interact in a world which dos not actually exist.

In this analogy, when you–whom ajata says cannot have had this existence from the start–wake up from the sleeping dream, you are nevertheless an unreal person seeming to live in a world, which does not exist in actuality. In other words, the waking “dream” is a continuation of the sleeping dream. Neither one can be anymore real than the other.

Another way in which the literature puts this is to say that all forms are empty. Anything which is truly empty cannot be said to “exist”; and where existence is out of the question, “not exist” is not applicable. You, as a form, are empty. The world, as a form, is empty. In other words, both are nothing. Both have not ever been created, or originated. Though they seem to appear (within the big Dream), both are without any actual reality.

The seeming person continues to live out her life (from supposed “birth” to “death”) in a seeming world, in a seeming universe.

Yet, in what could be said to be the true or ultimate reality of emptiness, not anything ever has, or could, happen. From the ultimate standpoint, there is not anything that ever needs to be explained.

Any questions which arise and any answers are within the Dream–and the Dream is not real.

Those who understand this, the sages would say, have awakened from the big Dream. Whether one does or does not, in the end, makes absolutely no difference.

But for those who do awaken, all their questions–within the Dream–are seen to be utterly empty.