Tibetan Dream Yoga - Lama Surya Das

paperflower SG

In the secret teachings of ancient Tibet, the dream state is known as Fourth Time, a malleable realm where the past, present, and future meet. It was here that the first meditation masters of Tibet developed a way to speed their progress through the stages of enlightenment while they were asleep.

On Tibetan Dream Yoga, respected meditation teacher Lama Surya Das teaches these exercises to awaken fully within the fabric of our dreams plus specific yogic dreaming techniques to enhance creativity, overcome deep-rooted fears, and free ourselves from harmful habits in our waking lives.

Dream Yoga is also known as Dream Mahamudra - one of the Six Yogas of Naropa , wherein one exerts conscious control of one's dreams.

An Eternal Now SG

I used to speak to a non-buddhist who came into my buddhist channel. Although he is not Buddhist, he practises dream yoga and it is very successful for him. He could remain lucid in dreams and do whatever he wants, fly around, etc. Sounds interesting.

But anyway dream yoga I heard is really a more advanced practise and deals with more subtle levels in dream states.

Isis SG

Sound really interesting...

where can i learn ???

An Eternal Now SG

You need to find a qualified tibetan lama to teach you. And also, Right Motivation is v important Wink

paperflower SG

dream yoga: waking up from life's delusion

paperflower SG

I dreamt that I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke.
now I wonder: am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?

- Chuang Tsu

i was captivated by this saying i saw somewhere before i came across it again in Lama Surya Das' book.

and i rephrased it to my own then:

"i dreamt i were a butterfly and when i awoke, i didn't know if i'm a butterfly who dreamt she was a woman or a woman who dreamt she was a butterfly......"

since then it had always been with me even in the flesh.

paperflower SG

the practice of dream yoga is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. this is a marvelous way to bring awareness training into our sleeping as well as our waking hours. dream yoga is somewhat similar to what western psychology has recently begun to call lucid dreaming.

lucid dreaming refers to the ability to "wake up" - make conscious choices within a dream while remaining asleep.

within the dream we can transform the circumstances and ourselves into anything we can imagine.

this can be an extraordinary meaningful and profound real-life experince. the dream state is one of the bardos. remember that what we perceive in a dream might be as real as the things we see reflected in a mirror.

many psychic powers including clairvoyance and recall of past lives can be developed through these sorts of esoteric practices on the border between reality and illusion.

yes just as An Eternal Now mentioned, we should practice with right motivations or, intentions.

(there's a movie with Tom Cruise acting..... something about lucid dreaming)

paperflower SG

dream yoga practice is meditative awareness training that falls at the 7th of the Eight-Fold Path : right mindfulness

it is a spiritual practice and it is NOT meant to be a parlor of trick or a way to psychically predict whether certain stocks are going up or down.

dream yoga is a spiritual training and is a powerful experiential way of pointing out the insubstantial, malleable, dreamlike nature of reality.

by learning to be aware in our dreams, we prepare ourselves for more moment-to-moment awareness in daily life. by transforming our dreams, we train in spiritual transformation.

"life is but a dream...."

paperflower SG

in dream yoga, we are "seizing the dream". by seizing our dreams, we can learn to play with and change the outcome of our dreams in ways that helps us realise the insubstantial dreamlike nature of all of our experiences.

we take hold of the dream, rather than the dream having a hold over us.

dream yoga excercises can vastly help us to achieve cetain benefits for both self and others. by seizing a dream we can perform spiritual activities, multiply our bodies as well as go to pure realms of existence to receive teachings and blessings from Buddhas and transcendent Bodhisattvas....

in this way, we train to master altered states and different ways of being, including astral travel and other out-of-body experiences; for in dreams we are less encumbered by our corporeal form, moving through the lighter more subtle "mental body" or "illusory light-body".

Isis SG

Right motivation i s ......

Erm where and whom can i learn from?

in singapore in particularly

Isis SG

How do u define right motivation? Just curious...

Im interested in learning the truth abt my inner self.. is there considered a right motivation?

Erm where and whom can i learn from?

in singapore in particularly....

An Eternal Now SG

I think she already mentioned Smile

paperflower SG

in singapore, i'm not sure also. if there's any master or teacher in this tibetan buddhist tradition here in singapore, that'd be quite good and beneficial for those cultivators on the advance level.

(actually, the masters are within yourself to guide you.)

i meditate all the time on my own and i leave my confidence in the trust of my own awareness with buddha's and other masters' guidances.

i feel this is not an easy stage to reach and to understand the meanings within when one is in this stage. a step at a time is always a good guideline.

i too wish to be trained in this mindfulness meditation as i progress even during my sleep.
(and frankly truthfully, i did doze off during some of my meditations Embarassed and i quickly "wake up" in my meditation and it became so wakeful bright and clear for me that i seemed to be lifted up...... (don't wish to describe anymore).

now somehow i seemed to have regret somethings i didn't cherish.....

because of my deep rooted fears, i passed a couple of such somehow similar apportunities (maybe perhaps) in my meditation practice, even when i lay down on bed before i fall asleep... i seemed to have gotton into a meditative state with myself having losing body senses and leaving out of my body experience, still aware that i was breathing only breathing and thinking to let go letting go leaving all i have behind..... and i wasn't even dreaming nor meditating..... i don't know what i call them. its not easy to face, recognise & acknowledge them at first at a beginner's stage and not easy to regain it back. just have to continue to practice cultivate and it will come back again i believe (as another chance to contemplate and explore again further). it ain't easy....... need a great deal of courage and peacefulness or samadhi, calmness full awareness of the mind to face it and practice.

(i think i'd not describe them further as i am not an accomplished practitioner, unless until they are vividly clearly revealed to me. but i affirm there were some hidden meanings behind them.)

but well, like you, i'm keen to learn too.
Very Happy

paperflower SG

lucid dreaming has another significant purpose:

the lessons we learn from dreams often carry over into our waking life. since our pysche in dreams is so much more light, sensitive and free from the sheath of gross corporeality, it is more profoundly open to out-of-this-world experiences, blessings, teachings and transformative transmissions, healings, initiations and revelations.

dream yoga provides valuable lessons in facing fear, staying awake and making conscious choices that will serve us in the bardo states that take place after death and before rebirth.

we learn how to die more consciously and to awaken in the bardo state after death, we can more intentionally and consciously choose and direct our rebirth.

paperflower SG

everyone has lucid dreams but we don't always recognise them or remember them.

in the traditional Tibetan lama-training retreat, they would sleep sitting up all night in a meditation box which is like seat, instead of sleeping in a bed. with repeatedly chanted Tibetan prayers and affirmations, they would resolve to awaken within the dream and know it as a dream.

practice and practice....... and cultivate and cultivate..... with guidances from teachers.......

they were able to better see for themselves how the dream states, events, indications, certain signs, portents..... are all various bardos including living, dreaming and dying.

the important thing to remember is that lucid dreaming - dream yoga is a spiritual practice.

paperflower SG

Dream Yoga: A Meditation

before retiring at night, assume a meditative, prayerful posture and affirm your intentions by chanting:

for the welfare and well-being of the world
and for the sake of spiritual awakening
may i seize my dreams and awaken within them
and realise the truth nature of mind and all things.

this can be repeated 3 or more times to plant the seed and intentionally set up the conditions to awaken within your dreams, without waking from sleep. after reciting this chant, lie down, relax.... breathe. stay calm and tranquil.....

then close your eyes. take a rest.
drop all the day's tensions, activities and memories.
relax.
rest peacefully.
rest in light.
rest your weary heart and mind, body and soul.
gaze into the shimmering dark light behind your eyelids.
to illuminate your mind, visualise a shining white letter A,
there before your eyes, glowing like a luminous full moon.
concentrate on that white light. focus on it.
dissolve gradually into that light.
enter into the inner light, and spntaneously awaken in the perfectly luminous, clear, dream light.
know everything is like a dream.
let it go as it goes
and be as it is,
in the natural Great Perfection,
the radiant light
of the natural mind.

paperflower SG

if we wish to die well, we must learn how to live well.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Isis SG

I keep seeing 'fears' in your post. Do u know what the cause of this deep rooted fear?

paperflower SG

do you have fears? do you know what are they and what causes them?

tell me from your point of views, examples like are you afraid to face death (it comes unpredictably), are you afraid to hold a cockroach or rat with your bare hands, are you afraid of the darkness or the unknown? are you afraid to lose your money your property your job your loved ones? are you afraid to lose any part of your body? are you afraid of the deep sea, are you afraid of height, are you afraid of doing sky diving or scuba diving? are you afraid of pain or labour pain or any physical pains?

what are these? are they not fears? are they not illusions? how come they exist like this in you?
deep rooted or not, each and everyone of us as long as we are not enlightened and liberated, fears exist in us in any ways..... if you do not have fear, then you are liberated and got your freedom and you will do things straight forward to according what you wish to do without hesitating.

longchen SG

As far as i know, there is no way of getting liberated without passing through fears. Fear is one of the forms of 'desire' (negative desire- wanting to avoid-type).

Sometimes, we feel that there are too much fears... and we doubt our progress. This, in my opinion, is usually unfounded. The result of us feeling fear is because we are now more aware than in the past. In the past, the mind is simply too unaware to even realise any thoughts that arise...ie... they come and go too fast for an untrained mind.

All i know is that due to causes and effects from untold lengths of time in the past, cause us to form beliefs in certain things as being essential. Which in effect, the presence that is us, is totally not-dependent on any thoughts. The complexity of the interdependence and cause and effect is not be underestimated... because this result in our present form-bodies...

We have to unlearn all that we have picked up...

Just my opinion...