This is Zen master Zongmi’s ten levels of delusion with a dream simile in parenthesis. We need to keep in mind that to be under the power of delusion means that we pursue the unreal in the mistaken belief that it is the real and worth pursuing.
1. All sentient beings possess the true mind of original awakening. (Wealthy nobleman, endowed with both virtue and wisdom, is inside his own house.)
2. Having not yet met a good friend as a guide, inevitably from the outset there is non-awakening. (He falls asleep in his own house and forgets who he is.)
3. As a natural consequence of non-awakening, thoughts arise. (The dream that arises as a natural consequence of sleep.)
4. Because thoughts have arisen, there is a seer lakṣaṇa. (Thoughts in a dream.)
5. Because there is a seeing, an organ body and world falsely manifest themselves. (In his dream he sees himself in another place in a condition of poverty and suffering, and he sees all sorts of likable and dislikable phenomenal visayas.)
6. Unaware that the organ body and world have arisen from one's own thoughts, one grasps them as real existents—this is called Dharma grasping. (While in the dream he inevitably grasps the things he sees in the dream as real things.)
7. Because one has grasped dharmas as really existent, just at that very moment one sees a distinction between self and others— this is called self-grasping. (While dreaming, he inevitably believes that the person who is in another place in a condition of poverty and suffering is his own person.)
8. Because one clings to the notion that the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air constitute a self-body, naturally one comes to love visayas that accord with one's feelings, wanting to adorn the self, while one comes to despise those visayas that are contrary to one's feelings, fearing that they will vex the self. Feelings of stupidity make all sorts of calculations and comparisons. (In his dream he also desires agreeable events in the other place and hates disagreeable events.)
9. From these come the creation of good and bad karma. (In his dream he either steals and murders or practices kindness and spreads virtue.)
10. Once karma comes into existence, it is impossible to escape. It is like a shadow trailing a form or an echo trailing a voice. And so one receives a form of karma bondage suffering in the six rebirth paths. (If in his dream he steals and murders, then he is apprehended, put into a wooden collar, and sent to prison. On the other hand, if he practices kindness and obtains rewards, he is recommended for office and takes his position.)
Source: The Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts, ed. Dale S. Wright and Steven Heine (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 31–32
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