The disciple said, “You wait, I will bring some cold water so you can wash your face.” He went away to fetch water and returned. The master washed his face.
By that time, another disciple passed nearby and the master called him and said, “Listen, I had a dream last night. Will you please interpret it for me?”
The disciple looked, and seeing that the master had washed his face he said, “Wait, better that I fetch a cup of tea for you.” He brought a cup of tea.
The master sipped the tea and laughed and blessed both of the disciples. He said, “You did well. If you had interpreted my dream, I would have thrown you out of the ashram, because when a dream is finished and one comes to know that it was a dream, what is the meaning of interpretation?” Even to interpret it shows that you are still in it. You still think that it is substantial.
That’s why in the East we have never bothered about interpreting dreams. Not that we did not come upon the reality of it. Four or five thousand years before Freud, the East stumbled upon the reality, the phenomenon of dreams. We were the first to divide consciousness into three realms: the waking, the dreaming, and the deep sleep. But we never bothered to interpret, because a dream is a dream; it is not substantial. One has to just awake out of it, that’s all. And, if you are already awake, it is better to wash your face. Cold water will help more than the whole psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. If you are awake, then a cup of tea is better than all of the Jungs put together. Be finished with it!
In the first place, dream is false – and then you start interpreting the dream. By your very interpretation it goes on taking on a new reality for you; it again becomes substantial. Not only is this so with the dream, it is so with your whole life. Your whole life is like a dream; it needs no interpretation. To know this much is enough: that it is a dream. You have to come out of it.
And how do you come out of a dream in the morning? Have you ever observed? If you have observed, you will know how to come out of the ego. How do you come out of a dream in the morning, or out of sleep? How do you come out? You were fast asleep a second before and then, suddenly, you hear the noises of the birds, the milkman is knocking on the door, the servant woman has come and started cleaning the floor: the morning noises. What is happening? – you are becoming more aware. Just a moment before you were deep in sleep with no awareness; then suddenly the birds, the milkman, the servant, the wife talking to the children, the children resisting, not ready to get up. By and by, things are arising into consciousness; you are becoming alert. You may still doze a little: you may change sides, close your eyes, doze a little, but even in your half-sleep, half-wakefulness, you go on listening to things. You become aware and sleep is no longer there. The more aware you become, the more the dreams disappear.