{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/od.htm","path":"bud/tib/od.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/od.htm","text":"ONLY DREAMING\nThis article originally appeared in \"The Voice of Clear Light\" which is\nthe Ligmincha Institute newsletter, Volume 111, Issue 1, Spring 1994\nAuthor - Bill Gorvine\nApproximately one-third of our lives are spent while asleep. Consider\nthat for a person who lives for sixty years, twenty years of that\nlifetime are passed unconsciously. Moreover, it is no mistake that\nenlightenment and other exalted states of consciousness are described as\none who has overcome the sleep of ignorance.\nTibetan Buddhism has long acknowledged that the night, like any other\ntime, is important for practice. The state of sleep and dream is\nconsidered a bardo or intermediate state in some Buddhist systems and is\na very good training ground for those who would approach the bardo at the\nend of their life with confidence. Similar to the bardo of the afterlife,\nthe dream period is a looser, less concrete extrapolation of our waking\nreality, with greater possibilities of all kinds. On the one hand, it is\nvery easy to resemble an animal or a corpse when asleep - this is\nessentially our condition when we remain devoid of clear awareness and\npassively experience all kinds of karmic dreams. On the other hand, as\nTenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has explained, the dream state can also serve as\na marvelous opportunity to accomplish the goals of our practice which\nwould ordinarily seem beyond our capabilities.\nAs Rinpoche elucidated during the Dream Yoga workshop (Feb. 19-20,\n1994 here in Charlottesville), each of our dreams is said to be connected\nwith one of the disturbing emotions (hatred, attachment, delusion,\njealously, pride, or, in some cases, a combination) and originates from a\ncorresponding energy center in our body. A dream manifests when the mind\ntravels to one of these cakras during sleep and activates a karmic\nlatency. (e.g. sexual center corresponds with desire, heart center with\njealousy/emotional relations with others, etc.)\nRinpoche discussed two general methods for working with karmic dreams,\nboth of which require the practitioner to become lucid in the dream (to\nunderstand that the dream is a dream). While this is obviously difficult,\nthere are things to do during the day and surrounding the periods of\nsleep that are designed to facilitate lucid dreaming. These involve\npractices such as reminding one self many times during the day that this\nis a dream, setting a firm intention to become lucid just before\nsleeping, and invoking the lama, yidam, and dakini for help. One should\nalso not become discouraged if one finds in the morning that not much\nhappened; instead, one should resolve to continue the training. There is\nalso a visualization of seed syllables, which correspond to the cakras,\nthat one endeavors to do at certain points during the night; one's\nsleeping posture is also important to the practice.\nOnce one is lucid within the dream, the two methods involve either\nremaining in the presence of awareness, thus leaving things 'as they are'\nto 'self-liberate' (a Dzogchen approach), or else one recognizes the\ndream and, realizing one's power to control the manifestations, one\nbegins transforming things (a tantric approach). In the second\nmethod, which is easier for a beginner, one can perform all kinds of\nunusual activities, such as multiply objects or one's own form, fly, or\ncommunicate with our teachers or individuals from the past.\nEither of these methods can help us to see our waking life in a less\nconcretized fashion, thereby overcoming fears while generating insight\ninto what in Dzogchen is called energy and manifestation. On a more\nconventional level, it is also possible to purify karmic potentialities\nin the dream state before they fully manifest. One can also develop and\nincrease 'dreams of clarity' which help us (and others) on the path to\nenlightenment. As Rinpoche emphasized, enlightenment is the true purpose\nfor working with dreams or any other practice in Buddhism.","title":"Only Dreaming by Bill Gorvine","type":"page"}