"As for [the simile] "like a dream," it is just as in a dream wherein
there is nothing whatsoever which is real and yet we believe
that there is something which is real.

Upon awakening we realize that there was nothing at all and then,
ironically, laugh at ourselves. So too it is with people.
In the slumber of the fetters, although reality is nonexistent,
still, they become attached. When they gain the Way
they then become aware that there is nothing
which is real and then laugh at themselves.
It is because of this that it says
'like a dream'."

~Nagarjuna