Why We Live

We came empty-handed— what can we take with us when we die? Money, status, fame, and all the rest— we leave it all behind! We came empty-handed, but to go empty-handed too— that won’t do! When we came, we came without knowing we were coming; when I go, shouldn’t I go knowing who I am, and knowing that I am going? What good is it to own what we cannot take with us, no matter how much we own! Better to own what we can take with us! Since it is clear that we clearly came in a dream, surely when we go, we too will go in a dream! They say life is nothing more than a fleeting dream— now I see they were talking about me! What a sorry sight I am— a fool who does not even know who he is, yet loses his temper when someone calls him a fool! If I do not know, I should know that I do not know, but by pretending again and again that I know when I do not, what a liar I have become!! Calling this body “me,” calling this mind “me”— crazy talk! Dream talk! Enough now— wake up! Shake! If that does not work, pinch! If that still does not work, smack! Slap right across the face! If still lying there limp, shout, “Fire! Fire!” If still not awake, then the house might just go up in flames! Live or die— who cares?! Go on, then— tell me: how does hair grow on the teeth of a wooden plank? Hey?!