A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s4.3

v2.c19.s4.3

The difference between the ordinary waking state and the dream state consists in this, that the former is considered by us as associated with permanent convictions (*sthira-pratyaya*), whereas the latter is generally thought to have no permanent basis. Any experience which persists, whether it be dream or not, comes to be regarded as permanent, whereas, if even our waking conceptions come to be regarded as changeful, they lose their validity as representing permanent objects, and our faith in them becomes shaken. If the dream experiences persisted in time and the waking experiences were momentary, then the waking state would be considered as a dream and the dream experiences would be considered as ordinary experiences in the dream state. It is only with the coming of the waking state that there is a break of the dream experiences, and it is then that the latter are contradicted and therefore regarded as false. But so long as the dream experiences lasted in the dream state, we did not consider them to be false; for during that time those dream experiences appeared somehow to be permanent and therefore real. There is thus no difference between dream states and waking states except this, that the latter are relatively persistent, continuous and permanent (*sthira*), while the former are changeful and impermanent (*asthira*)¹.