Strange Dreams

[AdmiralJim]

Hi everyone,
Is anyone else beginning to have strange dreams because of their dharma practice? for instance they don't feel like normal dreams at all because i feel i am aware of the fact i am having one. also within these dreams i have dharma concepts which i never understood explained to me which suddenly make sense.
for instance in one dream, i was shown around the 'bardos' by an odd being who had no solid body but it appeared like it was made of a dark cloud. this cloud being was very frightening and there were other beings without bodies and I was told by my chaperone that if he wasnt there I would be being attacked by them. he then showed me a white light which he told me your mind merges with and that is when 'die' properly. i was drawn to it like a moth to an open flame and the being warned me to stay away or I would die but i almost merged with it anyway and within the last seconds of almost touching the light, i woke up and sat bolt upright in bed in a huge cold panic.

it happened again tonight and this is why i am messaging. this time it was about prostrations, a large group of people were heckling me about my prostrations and that i didnt need to prostrate to every monastic i saw. i felt very frustrated that nobody agreed with me that prostrations were important. i was show in to a room where HH the dalai lama was sitting and next to him was my current teacher, both on high chairs, there was also two rows of monks leading up to where HH the dalai lama was sitting. i made three prostrations in the direction of my teacher and the dalai lama. i then felt again the urge to stongly prostrate at the other monks and i did so in the direction of the other monks. the dalai lama laughed at me for doing this and told me i was a complete idiot and that i only needed to prostrate towards him and i was then forced out of the room. at this point i gave up because if the dalai lama thinks what i am doing is idiotic then i can't argue with that. i then found myself in a beautiful green park full of trees and this lady came up to me and mentioned that i looked sad. i told her why, a group of monatiscs then walked through the park in front of us, i was away to offer prostrations again and my new friend reminded me i couldnt, my sadness turned into a feeling of great loss and depression. then a beautiful tree caught my eye with a large shadow. then i asked the lady what it was pointing at the tree and shadow. she said it was a large tree, then i pointed at the shadow. then she said it was the tree's shadow. i then felt a great happiness at this and told her she was correct. then this answer came into my head - 'this tree is the buddha and the sangha walk in its shadow'. therefore kneeling before this shadow, you kneel toward yourself and you kneel towards buddha'. we both then knelt at the foot of this shadow and i had the feeling that i had finally understood.

should i listen to these dreams? my only practice is calm abiding meditation and ngondro once a day usually before bedtime, should i stop doing ngondro before bed? lol

[catmoon]

Did you know that Dalai Lama has developed a set of anti-prostration skills, and he uses them to stop people from prostrating in his office? I don't know how much he does this, but what he does is make sure he is standing mid room when a guest enters. As the door opens, he strides over and shakes their hand, placing the other hand on the elbow... so the poor guest CAN'T prostrate. Then he guides the guest to a seat at the desk where the guest immediately finds himself seated and the interview already beginning. He's one crafty old Buddha he is.

[AdmiralJim]

LOL! crafty indeed

[nirmal]

Hi everyone,
Is anyone else beginning to have strange dreams because of their dharma practice? for instance they don't feel like normal dreams at all because i feel i am aware of the fact i am having one. also within these dreams i have dharma concepts which i never understood explained to me which suddenly make sense.
for instance in one dream, i was shown around the 'bardos' by an odd being who had no solid body but it appeared like it was made of a dark cloud. this cloud being was very frightening and there were other beings without bodies and I was told by my chaperone that if he wasnt there I would be being attacked by them. he then showed me a white light which he told me your mind merges with and that is when 'die' properly. i was drawn to it like a moth to an open flame and the being warned me to stay away or I would die but i almost merged with it anyway and within the last seconds of almost touching the light, i woke up and sat bolt upright in bed in a huge cold panic.

it happened again tonight and this is why i am messaging. this time it was about prostrations, a large group of people were heckling me about my prostrations and that i didnt need to prostrate to every monastic i saw. i felt very frustrated that nobody agreed with me that prostrations were important. i was show in to a room where HH the dalai lama was sitting and next to him was my current teacher, both on high chairs, there was also two rows of monks leading up to where HH the dalai lama was sitting. i made three prostrations in the direction of my teacher and the dalai lama. i then felt again the urge to stongly prostrate at the other monks and i did so in the direction of the other monks. the dalai lama laughed at me for doing this and told me i was a complete idiot and that i only needed to prostrate towards him and i was then forced out of the room. at this point i gave up because if the dalai lama thinks what i am doing is idiotic then i can't argue with that. i then found myself in a beautiful green park full of trees and this lady came up to me and mentioned that i looked sad. i told her why, a group of monatiscs then walked through the park in front of us, i was away to offer prostrations again and my new friend reminded me i couldnt, my sadness turned into a feeling of great loss and depression. then a beautiful tree caught my eye with a large shadow. then i asked the lady what it was pointing at the tree and shadow. she said it was a large tree, then i pointed at the shadow. then she said it was the tree's shadow. i then felt a great happiness at this and told her she was correct. then this answer came into my head - 'this tree is the buddha and the sangha walk in its shadow'. therefore kneeling before this shadow, you kneel toward yourself and you kneel towards buddha'. we both then knelt at the foot of this shadow and i had the feeling that i had finally understood.

should i listen to these dreams? my only practice is calm abiding meditation and ngondro once a day usually before bedtime, should i stop doing ngondro before bed? lol

You have to chant more to be able to master and pass the little 'tests' you get in your dreams.You failed in the 'tests' of your first and second dream due to lack of chanting.So you have to wait for the next flight(next test). If you had been chanting enough, you would be also be chanting automatically in your dreams besides being aware that you are dreaming.The Dalai Lama would have stopped laughing if your had started chanting automatically in that dream and you would not have been forced out of the room.
I'll tell you about one of the 'tests' that I had a long time ago.In the dream,I could see my body lying flat on the ground. Then it started moving at high speed towards a solid wall in a distance.Just before crushing into the wall, my heart started chanting and my body stopped moving and came to a standstill a few feet from the wall.I would have crashed into the wall if I had not been able to chant in my dream.At that time, I was doing 365 rounds of chanting with my mala during the day(365 x 108).
You should do more chanting during the day or even before going to bed,the minimum being 21 rounds(21 x 108).Move your bed about 10 to 15 cm to the left or right before you go to sleep tonight to see if it is just a spiritual disturbance or not.I am no guru and the choice is in your hands