Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
- LastLegend
- Posts: 5408
- Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:46 pm
- Location: Northern Virginia
Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
I think many times human form Bodhisattva have appeared in my dreams. I did not wish to see Bodhisattva in my dream. Or is this Mara appearing as Bodhisattva to bust me balls?
Anyone dream of Bodhisattva or Mara?
Anyone dream of Bodhisattva or Mara?
It’s eye blinking.
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
I've had at least two dreams. The one i remember most is one where I saw Buddhas faces in the sky. Someone was driving me around in a car and I was looking at them out the window.
I don't think a dream where you see a Buddha or bodhistava could be bad. If anything its probably encouragement.
I don't think a dream where you see a Buddha or bodhistava could be bad. If anything its probably encouragement.
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
I have had Buddhas appear in my dreams several times since I was young. They were never Maras (one time possibly - I told my lama about this and given the circumstances of the dream he told me to practice Green Tara. However later a minimized form of the thing that was predicted in the dream did actually occur). However I can acknowledge that this can be the case.LastLegend wrote:I think many times human form Bodhisattva have appeared in my dreams. I did not wish to see Bodhisattva in my dream. Or is this Mara appearing as Bodhisattva to bust me balls?
Anyone dream of Bodhisattva or Mara?
I have had human (living) Bodhisattvas appear in my dreams sometimes too. Usually to get me going on something (make a change in my live). These also have not been Maras.
Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”
"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”
"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
In a dream your mind produces random combinations of thoughts caused by previous experience and thoughts, as the mind is primarily running with itself as input when the external senses are shut off for the most part. There's nothing "good" or "bad" to them, except for the fact that they are experienced, and you're not really in a position to handle them the way you do in meditation. Dream consciousness. Unless, of course, you're into dream yoga or lucid dreaming. Or shaman trances. They work in that realm.
Otherwise you're probably best off if you don't make anything out of them but that they are thoughts produced by the mind caused by previous experience. If you look at pictures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and deal with the subject, the probability rises that your mind will produce exactly that in a dream.
Best wishes
Gwenn
Otherwise you're probably best off if you don't make anything out of them but that they are thoughts produced by the mind caused by previous experience. If you look at pictures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and deal with the subject, the probability rises that your mind will produce exactly that in a dream.
Best wishes
Gwenn
Shush! I'm doing nose-picking practice!
- LastLegend
- Posts: 5408
- Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:46 pm
- Location: Northern Virginia
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
So you are saying Bodhisattva did not appear in my dreams and just merely pigments of my mind's imagination genarated in my dream?Gwenn Dana wrote:In a dream your mind produces random combinations of thoughts caused by previous experience and thoughts, as the mind is primarily running with itself as input when the external senses are shut off for the most part. There's nothing "good" or "bad" to them, except for the fact that they are experienced, and you're not really in a position to handle them the way you do in meditation. Dream consciousness. Unless, of course, you're into dream yoga or lucid dreaming. Or shaman trances. They work in that realm.
Otherwise you're probably best off if you don't make anything out of them but that they are thoughts produced by the mind caused by previous experience. If you look at pictures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and deal with the subject, the probability rises that your mind will produce exactly that in a dream.
Best wishes
Gwenn
It’s eye blinking.
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
I see life as a dream...When you notice something unusual just sit back and see what happens. Stay aware and alert....You never know what form the Bodhisattva will take. I mean anything could be a Bodhisattva
An English Nursery Rhyme:
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
During a serve and sit vipassana retreat I had a vision, I usually have these waking dreams when I work really hard and mediate 4 hours a day for a couple weeks and get very little sleep.
I saw a Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom, "ah so cool," I thought, "I want to check it out." The harder I focused on this sitting Buddha on a flower the further it danced away from me. It was surrounded by pitch blackness by the way. So the figure really stood out. Before I could figure out that if I relaxed and just let the vision be I could move closer to see details it became a bright little light and blinked out. I noticed if I relaxed the figure moved closer.... So my lesson was relax and just let it be, even when it's a cool looking Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom. This by the way was before I knew about Buddhist iconography.
Row, row, row your boat Bodhisattva to be
An English Nursery Rhyme:
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
During a serve and sit vipassana retreat I had a vision, I usually have these waking dreams when I work really hard and mediate 4 hours a day for a couple weeks and get very little sleep.
I saw a Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom, "ah so cool," I thought, "I want to check it out." The harder I focused on this sitting Buddha on a flower the further it danced away from me. It was surrounded by pitch blackness by the way. So the figure really stood out. Before I could figure out that if I relaxed and just let the vision be I could move closer to see details it became a bright little light and blinked out. I noticed if I relaxed the figure moved closer.... So my lesson was relax and just let it be, even when it's a cool looking Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom. This by the way was before I knew about Buddhist iconography.
Row, row, row your boat Bodhisattva to be
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
- dzogchungpa
- Posts: 6333
- Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 10:50 pm
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
rd, you're a true boatisattvareddust wrote:Row, row, row your boat Bodhisattva to be
There is not only nothingness because there is always, and always can manifest. - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
Your humor is as lame as my husbands...dang it you made me giggledzogchungpa wrote:rd, you're a true boatisattvareddust wrote:Row, row, row your boat Bodhisattva to be
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
Yes, relax and let it be, as Reddust says. I'd add that with dreams there is no need to add anything extra... like interpretations that this is Mara, this is this and that is that ... that is mind stuff. I wrote my dreams for nearly 20 years (don't much anymore), if you are so inclined they may inform you... just don't use analysis or dream books. I suppose the key to dreams is realizing that all parts of the dream are referring to you and that perhaps they are pointing to things to consider that are outside of your everyday awareness. Only if you are drawn to view dreams this way... it's not so for everybody. If you are drawn to look, relax and go beyond logic, feel into your dreams. This can give us a view into integrating life with dharma....
As for dream yoga and lucid dreaming, they are also good. But, dream yoga, is a diff practice to equalize the conscious and dreaming conscious as the same... ie, being fully conscious when you are dreaming. That is diff from usual dreams which appear like movies, real, until we wake up from sleep. atleast, that's the way that I understand this... I think it's all good for diff reasons.
ofc, last, you are Bodhisattva, waking or sleeping. It is completely beside the point for me to say that. The possibility lies in holding it as a koan to be realized... ofc, not thru the mind, logic or reason.... non-meditation.
As for dream yoga and lucid dreaming, they are also good. But, dream yoga, is a diff practice to equalize the conscious and dreaming conscious as the same... ie, being fully conscious when you are dreaming. That is diff from usual dreams which appear like movies, real, until we wake up from sleep. atleast, that's the way that I understand this... I think it's all good for diff reasons.
ofc, last, you are Bodhisattva, waking or sleeping. It is completely beside the point for me to say that. The possibility lies in holding it as a koan to be realized... ofc, not thru the mind, logic or reason.... non-meditation.
Not last night,
not this morning,
melon flowers bloomed.
~ Bassho
not this morning,
melon flowers bloomed.
~ Bassho
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
In the Tibetan tradition dreams are often referred to as being "double delusions," so for the most part they are not of much consequence. However there are long lists of signs of progress that can appear in one's dreams in relation to specific practices, just as there are lists of negative signs, such as those that are created by various obstacle makers. Usually, the appearance of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are actually included in the latter category, from what I have read. As a general rule, if the dream experience is a cause for attachment, pride, and so forth, then no matter how positive it might seem, it is in fact creating obstacles for you. But this is more of an issue for advanced practitioners as these draw the ire of obstructers who wish to derail their efforts. Ordinary people and beginners tend to create plenty of obstacles for themselves without any need of outside interference, so obstructers are said to rarely take notice.
Re: Buddha or Bodhisattva appearing in dreams
Mara talks, also in daytime.