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Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:01 am
by ConradTree
Does everything ultimately relate to sleep yoga?

1. During sleep yoga, tertons 'travel' to pure lands and receive terma, instructions etc.
2. The progress of all daytime practice, whether mantras or even lhun grub practices, is explicitly assessed by dreams.
3. The practice of the night is a standard feature in Dzogchen practice manuals.
4. Sleep yoga is explicitly emphasized by Dilgo Khyentse, Jigme Lingpa etc.

So is sleep yoga the highest and most direct practice?

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 9:20 am
by Grigoris
ConradTree wrote:Does everything ultimately relate to sleep yoga?

1. During sleep yoga, tertons 'travel' to pure lands and receive terma, instructions etc.
2. The progress of all daytime practice, whether mantras or even lhun grub practices, is explicitly assessed by dreams.
3. The practice of the night is a standard feature in Dzogchen practice manuals.
4. Sleep yoga is explicitly emphasized by Dilgo Khyentse, Jigme Lingpa etc.

So is sleep yoga the highest and most direct practice?
Why don't you receive instruction on the practice, try it, and see?

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 10:04 am
by thigle
ConradTree wrote: So is sleep yoga the highest and most direct practice?
I don't know anything about "sleep yoga", but if you're talking about immediate-obvious knowledge in sleep: It's hard to recognice knowledge - if you fall asleep or in dreams or in lucid dreams or in oobe's - without recognicing knowledge before. So it can't be the "most direct practice". Maybe it's better, you follow an authentic direct introduction while you're awake.

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:26 pm
by ConradTree
Sherab Dorje wrote:Why don't you receive instruction on the practice, try it, and see?
I did.

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:33 pm
by Grigoris
How did you find it? Would you consider it the most effective practice out of all those you do?

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 11:17 pm
by ConradTree
bump

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:50 am
by krodha
ConradTree wrote:Does everything ultimately relate to sleep yoga?

1. During sleep yoga, tertons 'travel' to pure lands and receive terma, instructions etc.
2. The progress of all daytime practice, whether mantras or even lhun grub practices, is explicitly assessed by dreams. 
3. The practice of the night is a standard feature in Dzogchen practice manuals. 
4.  Sleep yoga is explicitly emphasized by Dilgo Khyentse, Jigme Lingpa etc.  

So is sleep yoga the highest and most direct practice?
Luminosity in sleep is just a natural result of maturation in view. According to Dudjom Lingpa the afflictive consciousness of sentient beings recedes into the ālaya (or substrate) during sleep, but for seasoned practitioners that process starts to dissolve and ignorance in sleep begins to diminish. 

There was another dream yoga thread not too long ago where I posted some info from the Dröltig Gongpa Rangdröl which divides the path of no more learning into three stages. In the lesser stage equipoise and post-equipoise are completely mixed, but there is still subtle delusion in sleep. In the medium stage luminosity is stabilized and present both day and night. Regarding the last stage (per Jigme Lingpa): the great yoga of no more learning is also called 'crossing over, without any difference in day or night, to the state of the inseparable three kāyas'. In Dzogpa Chenpo sem sde this stage is referred to as 'the experience of spontaneous presence transcending the boundaries of ordinary contemplation'. These three sub-divisions of the path of no more learning span stages [skt. bhūmi, tib. byang chub sems dpa'i sa] 8 to 16. Ergo at the time of the result, wisdom pervades both waking and sleep evenly.

As stated in the concluding remarks (found in song twenty) of Lama Shabkar's Flight of the Garuda: "When dreaming and being awake are without any difference, that is the time of having actualized the meditation."

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:15 am
by Simon E.
Sherab Dorje wrote:How did you find it? Would you consider it the most effective practice out of all those you do?

I would be interested in your answer to Sherab Dorje's question ConradTree.

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 11:53 am
by Grigoris
Personally, the outcomes of personal practice trump conceptual proliferation through theorising, every time.

I found dream yoga startlingly effective. Almost too effective, given my (in)capacity to avoid my dualistic tendencies.

And in a relatively small period of practice time too.

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:35 pm
by Kris
Night practice is awesome!!!
But there is hesitation to share more than than that statement... :tongue:

Re: Sleep yoga the central practice?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:58 pm
by krodha
Incredible that teachers like Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche are able to do months worth of practice in a single night due to lack of time limitations in the dream state.