I had a dream last night around 5 a.m. In the dream, my high school homeroom teacher kept repeating the same trivial study matters. Then a man walked in, dressed like a beggar, carrying a huge sack on his back. He went around begging from each of us; when I stepped up and asked him about it, he answered: I am you, you are me, we are doing the same thing.

I asked him again, but he just kept repeating the same line — aren’t you also carrying that many sacks? I was left speechless for a moment, then jolted awake. Words like Zen practice, enlightenment, awakening all flooded into my mind at once, and I couldn’t fall back asleep.