Do centipedes have any significance in Tibetan Buddhism?

[Jangchup Donden]

See topic.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

If you enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede.

Zabs-Dkar Tshogs-Drug-Ran-Grol. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994. p. 295.

[Jangchup Donden]

If you enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede.

Zabs-Dkar Tshogs-Drug-Ran-Grol. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994. p. 295.

Anything else? I know scorpions have a place in a lot of practices. Anyways, I had a dream where my mala turned into a centipede (among other things) and was wondering if it had any significance.

[Virgo]

If you enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede.

Zabs-Dkar Tshogs-Drug-Ran-Grol. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994. p. 295.

Anything else? I know scorpions have a place in a lot of practices. Anyways, I had a dream where my mala turned into a centipede (among other things) and was wondering if it had any significance.

What else did it turn into, may I ask?

Kevin

[Jangchup Donden]

If you enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede.

Zabs-Dkar Tshogs-Drug-Ran-Grol. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994. p. 295.

Anything else? I know scorpions have a place in a lot of practices. Anyways, I had a dream where my mala turned into a centipede (among other things) and was wondering if it had any significance.

What else did it turn into, may I ask?

Kevin

That was it. The other things were more centipedes all over the place and coming out of things. I don't think I've been scaring anyone lately.

[Konchog1]

Darn it. I seem to remember reading about centipedes in Tibetan Buddhism but I can't remember when and what the book said.

Was it in that Robert Beer book...

If anyone has The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs could you look up centipedes please?

EDIT: I looked in the e-book sample on amazon. The passage is cut-off but says it is one of the "five poisonous creatures" which are symbols for the five poisons. As the centipede is the third on the list I believe it is the symbol of Aversion.

[Kunga Lhadzom]

A 19th century Tibetan poet warned his fellow Buddhists that "if you enjoy frightening others, you will be reborn as a centipede."[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede

[tamm]

I used the google books page and looked at Beer's encyclopedia of Tibetan Buddhist symbols and it said that lizards, toads, centipedes or spiders, scorpion, and snake represent the five poisons of ignorance, desire, hatred, jealousy, and pride (Beer, pg 75).

[Nosta]

You can read something about it in this free ebook:
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/budglossary.pdf

In page 844 of the document (its marked as 844 in the document itself; in the pdf reader - like Acrobat - the page is 864) you can read on the entry about "Visions":

"Dreaming scenes. If the events or scenes result from evil seeds, the
practitioner, in his dreams, may see various species of worms crawling
out of his body, or witness himself, night after night, removing from
his body six or seven loathesome creatures with many limbs, such as
scorpions or centipedes. "

[the underlines are mine]

I didnt found anything more on that ebook related to centipedes or scorpions.

[Kunga Lhadzom]

I have always discussed my (strange) dreams with my teacher....I've had dreams of worms crawling out of my pores, and centipedes in beautiful bracelets....not always did I get a detailed explaination from my teacher......also i kept a dream diary.......dreams are important and significant in Tibetan Buddhism.....so I hope you discuss them with your teacher.....

[Nosta]

By the way, i save centipiedes from being crushed by a shoe in my house. Everytime i see one centipede i will put it out there carefully. I hope that this means something good too

[Kunga Lhadzom]

If we saw no difference between a Buddha and a bug............my skin stills crawls when I see bugs....so I guess I'm still unenlightened......although they bug me less ....

[username]

Sometimes unpleasant things coming out is a sign of accomplishing Some practice or stage. However most dreams are karmic & it's best not to obsess or dwell too much on them in case they self perpetuate & just forget about it. Iinstead we are told to do dream practice preparation in daytime so we can eventually be aware & lucid in dreams making them useful.

[pueraeternus]

Sometimes unpleasant things coming out is a sign of accomplishing Some practice or stage.

Or it could also be a sign of purification. But as username noted, it is best not to dwell too much on it, unless the dreams are getting more and more disturbing.

[ReasonAndRhyme]

By the way, i save centipiedes from being crushed by a shoe in my house. Everytime i see one centipede i will put it out there carefully. I hope that this means something good too

Haha, that certainly means something good, but I assume the centipedes symbolizing mental poisons are the really nasty ones like this one here:



you better make sure you stay away from those! They can be quite poisonous, too. Even for humans they can be dangerous. I'm really glad there are no centipedes like these in the area where I live.

[Jangchup Donden]

Sometimes unpleasant things coming out is a sign of accomplishing Some practice or stage.

Or it could also be a sign of purification. But as username noted, it is best not to dwell too much on it, unless the dreams are getting more and more disturbing.

Well accomplishment is certainly not me. But that's why I asked you guys instead of bothering my teacher about it, since most likely it meant nothing!

[Jangchup Donden]

By the way, i save centipiedes from being crushed by a shoe in my house. Everytime i see one centipede i will put it out there carefully. I hope that this means something good too

Haha, that certainly means something good, but I assume the centipedes symbolizing mental poisons are the really nasty ones like this one here:



you better make sure you stay away from those! They can be quite poisonous, too. Even for humans they can be dangerous. I'm really glad there are no centipedes like these in the area where I live.

The creepy thing was that the centipedes in my dream were big ones like that guy (or gal?) there! Not pleasant!