Dream yoga

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Darikapa, 9th-century Buddhist mahasiddha. After achieving the ability to lucid dream, a common first stage is attempting to fly in the dream.[1]
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Dream yoga or milam (

Standard Tibetan: mi-lam bardo) Six Dharmas of Naropa
. In the tradition of the tantra, the dream yoga method is usually passed on by a qualified teacher to his/her students after necessary initiation. Various Tibetan lamas are unanimous that it is more of a passing of an enlightened experience rather than any textual information.[citation needed]

The 'dream body' and the 'bardo body' have been identified with the 'vision body' (Tibetan: yid lus):

In the bardo one has...the yilü (Wylie: yid lus), the vision body (yid, consciousness; lus, body). It is the same as the body of dreams, the mind body.[2]

In the yoga of dreaming (rmi lam, *svapna), the yogi learns to remain aware during the states of dreaming (i.e. to lucid dream) and uses this skill to practice yoga in the dream.[3]

Bon

Nyingma lineage

The

thoughtforms and yidam simulacrum
.

The Nyingma tradition views itself as the fruit of three streams of transmission, one of which is the 'pure vision' which includes dream yoga and trance visions within its auspice:

Kagyu lineage

Mahasiddha Ghantapa, from Situ Panchen's set of thangka depicting the Eight Great Tantric Adepts. 18th century.

In the

clear light, and dream yoga sadhanas are entwined.[citation needed
]

Tilopa's oral instructions state:

Know dreams as dreams, and constantly meditate on their profound significance. Visualize the seed syllables of the five natures with the drop, the nada and so forth. One perceives buddhas and buddhafields. The time of sleep is the time for the method that brings realization of great bliss. This is the instruction of Lawapa.[8]

Gampopa's presentation

Gampopa's Closely Stringed Pearls outlines four main sequential steps:[9]

  • Seizing the dream – Becoming lucid in the dream. First, the yogi must see all perceptions and thoughts as a dream during the day. Then, they must go to sleep lying on their right side, with strong determination to recognize they are dreaming within the dream. They visualize a lotus flower with five syllables that radiate gentle light in the throat chakra and slowly shift their awareness from one syllable to another while falling asleep. This should spontaneously produce the experience of lucid dreaming. In another meditation manual by Gampopa, A Mirror Illuminating the Oral Transmission, one is instructed to visualize a sphere of light in between the eyebrows instead.[10]
  • Training – According to Kragh, "The yogi is here instructed to think of whatever dream arises as being merely a dream and to relate to it without any fear. If he dreams of water, he should plunge into it or walk across it. He should jump into an abyss or sit down to be bitten by dream-dogs or beaten by dream enemies. He should fly in air, visit the god realms, or go sight-seeing in India."
  • Blessing as illusory and getting rid of fear – Here, the yogi checks their mind during the dream to see if there is even the slightest fear, and if so, they should let go of it by recognizing that they are only in a dream. Once they've mastered the feeling of complete unobstructedness, they have "blessed their dreams as illusory" (sgyu ma byin gyis brlabs pa).
  • Meditating on reality – The yogi meditates on reality by "analyzing that all states of dream consciousness are his own mind, which is unborn (rang gi sems skye ba med pa). If such a contemplation of Mahamudra did not occur during the night, the yogi should direct his focus on the syllables again in the morning after waking up and then rest in the state of Mahamudra."

Another meditation manual by Gampopa also explains how the yogi should attempt to see Buddhas and dakinis giving them teachings in their dreams, and how this gives rise to blessing. It also recommends to practice kumbhaka breathing before sleep.[11]

Sakya lineage

Gelug lineage

In Tsongkhapa's system, it is necessary to become acquainted with the tummo, radiance/clear light and illusory body practices before practicing dream yoga (which he sees as an extension of illusory body yoga).[12] According to Tsongkhapa, before practicing dream yoga, one must first master the yoga of retaining the radiance/clear light that arises at the moment of falling asleep (through experiencing the visions etc.) as explained above. If one practices this before sleep, when a dream occurs, one will realize that one is in a dream.[13]

Dream yoga in Tsongkhapa's system consists of four trainings: "learning to retain [conscious presence during] dreams; controlling and increasing dreams; overcoming fear and training in the illusory nature of dreams; and meditating upon the suchness of dreams."[14]

Dream yoga practice begins by first acquiring the skill to recognize one is dreaming within the dream. If one is not successful in recognizing one's dream through the practice of retaining the radiance of sleep,"one should cultivate a strong resolution to retain conscious awareness in the dream state. In addition, one meditates on the chakras, especially that at the throat."[15] If one can make this resolution to recognize one's dream strong and continuous throughout the day, one will be able to recognize one's dream.[16] One can also practice the visualization meditations on the throat and forehead chakras during the day so as to enhance one's ability at night. One may also meditate upon oneself as the deity, and on guru yoga, offering prayers so that one may experience clear dreams.[17]

Tsongkhapa mentions various meditations to be done before falling asleep. In the first one, one generates a vision of oneself as the deity as well as a vision of one's guru, and prays to the guru to recognize the dream and so forth. Then one visualizes a small red four petaled lotus in the throat chakra, with an Ah or Om in the center. He mentions that in another tradition, it is taught that one meditates on five syllables (OM, AH, NU, TA, RA), with one at the center and the other four around it. One focuses on each of these in succession.[18] The second method is to pray as before, and meditate on a white radiant drop the size of a mustard seed between the eyebrows. Then one performs vase breath seven times and goes to sleep.[19]

One can also meditate on the heart chakra before sleep. According to Tsongkhapa, if one finds it too difficult to recognize one is dreaming, then this means one is a deep sleeper, and thus one should switch to the crown chakra. This will lighten one's sleep.[20] If this makes sleep difficult however, then one can focus on the chakra at the tip of the penis and unites the vital winds there 21 times through kumbhaka.[20]

Once one has recognized the dream, one can begin to learn to control it. One first practices controlling basic elements such as flying, going to the heavens, traveling to buddhafields etc. One can also train in "increasing", i..e multiplying dream objects, including one's body, into numerous duplicates. The practice of controlling the vital winds will enhance one's ability to control the dream.[21]

The next step is training in becoming fearless by doing anything that might kill a person in the non-dream world, such as jumping into water or fire. One can use this to meditate on the empty nature of dreams and to recognize their illusory nature.[22]

Finally, one meditates on suchness in the dream. One visualizes oneself as the deity, with a HUM at the heart, radiating light everywhere. This light melts everything in the dream into light, which is drawn into the HUM. One's body also melts and is drawn into the HUM. Then the HUM dissolves into radiance/clear light, and one rests in the state of radiance.[23]

Exegesis

maya, and equating this sense of maya with everyday experience in the external world. Next, The dreamer should realize that he or she has control of the dream by changing big objects into small ones, heavy objects into light ones, and many objects into one object.[24]

After gaining control over objects and their transformations, in the fifth stage, the dreamer should realize that the dreamer's dream body is as insubstantial as the other objects in the dream. The dreamer should realize that he or she is not the dream body. The dreamer who has gained complete control over dream objects could, for instance, alter the body's shape or make the dream body disappear altogether. Finally, in the sixth stage, the images of deities (

thangkas) and used in meditation. They are said to be linked to or resonate with the clear light of the Void. They can, therefore, serve as symbolic doorways to this mystical state of being (the Void or clear light). The dreamer is instructed to concentrate on these symbolic images without distraction or thinking about other things so that the revelatory side of these symbols will become manifest.[24]

Yuthok states that:

...if we do sadhanas regularly and faithfully we will begin to dream about doing them. In the same way, if we practise illusory body we will begin to dream about it, too. There is a great correspondence between dream yoga and illusory body. The more we think of illusory body, the more dreams we will have. We will see them as dreams, rather than mistaking them for real life. We can do many things in dreams which we are unable to do while awake.[25]

and adds that:

People who have practised dream yoga have been able to visit teachers they missed and travel to lands they never managed to get to in the waking state. The dream state is a very pure state of mind.[26]

Namkhai Norbu advises that the realization that life is only a big dream can help liberate from the chains of emotions, attachments, and ego, opening up the possibility of ultimately becoming enlightened.[27]

See also

References

Notes

  1. darshana
    .

Citations

  1. ^ Holecek (2016), ch. 14.
  2. ^ Bkra-śis-rgyal-mtshan (Śar-rdza) (2002), p. 124.
  3. ^ Kragh (2015), p. 345.
  4. ^ Dharma Dictionary (2008). "Seven transmissions".
  5. ^ Dharma Dictionary (2008). "dag snang".
  6. ^ Holmes (n.d.).
  7. ^ S. Rinpoche (1992), p. [page needed].
  8. ^ Mullin (1997).
  9. ^ Kragh (2015), p. 354.
  10. ^ Kragh (2015), p. 383.
  11. ^ Kragh (2015), p. 372.
  12. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 77.
  13. ^ Mullin (2005), pp. 140, 176.
  14. ^ Mullin (2005), pp. 175–176.
  15. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 176.
  16. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 177.
  17. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 178.
  18. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 179.
  19. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 180.
  20. ^ a b Mullin (2005), p. 78.
  21. ^ Mullin (2005), pp. 181–182.
  22. ^ Mullin (2005), pp. 182–183.
  23. ^ Mullin (2005), p. 183.
  24. ^ a b Evans-Wentz (1958), p. [page needed].
  25. ^ Yuthok (1997), p. 229.
  26. ^ Yuthok (1997), p. 230.
  27. ^ Norbu (1992), pp. 42, 46, 48, 96, 105.

Works cited

Further reading

External links
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