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hellish dreams
tonight i basically woke up from a nightmare... my cat came into my room a few minutes after i woke up and i questioned her motives. hahahaha. i thought she could have been demonic. so i've had these dreams, about once a month i get these really horrible, often grotesque, terrifying, macabre dreams that scare the spit out of me when i wake up, and i'm visited by demons and witches, and the ugly spirit comes blowing through my mind when i get these dreams, and when i wake up i'm not sure what to think of them. does anyone have a helpful buddhist explanation of these things, is this just a natural process of buddhist practice where the darker corners of my subconscious are coming to light and being purged, or what? before i went to bed and prayed for the hell realms to be cleaned, but i don't know if there's any connection, if that instigated any thing. jesus! a tree full of severed heads. gross!
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Comments
Two - watch your language.
There are minors using this board, and regardless of whether they hear worse elsewhere, that's no reason for them to be exposed to it here.
Of all places.
Edit your post, thanks.
or I could do it for you......;)
A buddhist explanation of dreams? You know that is actually a very interesting question. I have no idea.
And all I can say is don't worry, it's just a dream.
I don't get the excitement of having a truly terrifying dream anymore. While it can be horrible, try to enjoy it.
Less traditionally, I'd look to see if there are any unresolved emotional issues in your life and work at resolving them.
we can develop the metta meditation like:
may all sentient beings/ beings in 31 planes be well and happy!!!
Hope this helps. :smilec:
In the military, not in Vietnam. Was raised in an extremely violent culture, nearly killed by mother at two years old, in a coma for six months. Beaten pretty regularly by step-father and male relatives to 'toughen me up' trained to take up the family business of providing 'security and logistics' for very ruthless criminal organizations and did very well proving myself capable, martial arts and Zazen training gave me a kind of edge in that culture. I became known as a very dangerous individual, feared by enemies and respected by peers.
The war I was involved in was on the streets between rival criminal organizations and those who threatened family and friends in major U.S. cities on both coasts. This war had no rules, aside form those imposed by the strongest and most ruthless. I spent many years as an operative and urban guerrilla earning all the horrific memories and physical damage that comes with that hellish life, along with a twenty year stay in Oregon State Penitentiary.
It was only through the trained ability to easily slip in and out of a trance like mental state of highly concentrated selfless action that I survived, both physically and mentally. My teacher called it single pointed concentration. Yet even though I was blessed with survival, as many of my relatives and friends did not (some of them dying in my arms), I carry the wounds and scars, along with deep regret for all the harm done to others and self.
So, enough of that story.
Tonight at Sangha, the teacher shared some information I'd like to add to my last post. Along with settling to sleep with breathing and mantra he spoke about paying sustained attention to the body with gratitude - being grateful to the body for supporting us and gently touching different parts of our body with the mind in gratitude - thank you feet, thank you heart, etc. as a way to rest peacefully. I thought, oh yeah what a great practice and thought of your thread and wanted to share that with you.
Be well friend and sleep with peace.
I'll be traveling to Portland to sit with a couple of the Thich Nhat Hanh groups up there soon and will be attending a public retreat at Great Vow Monastery the end of April, perhaps we may meet then.
I am trying to discover what will give me inner peace and perhaps help me move beyond this crippling problem. If anyone can help, it would be very appreciated.
Now you're counseling this other person, explaining to them what their own nightmares are about, and how to cure them.
How did that happen? Did you work out your own cure? Are you talking with a Zen teacher/psychoanalyst yourself?
There's also a Tibetan practice called Dream Yoga, which purports to cover all these bases. Check out the book The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, which I'm currently reading. It lays out the entire system in a very wise and well-written Buddhist context.
soundsgood
I've heard that Buddhists think that dreams are no big deal/and or does not focus on them in the teachings.
Loving Kindness mediation helps with dreams and sleep and I know this from first hand experience.
I've had hellish dreams myself which made me too scared to go back to sleep.
Relaxation and meditation techniques before sleeping can be helpful.
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The only dreams that have been significant to me have been ones predicting the future and they have a different quality. The other stuff is just drivel. I rarely dream these days anyway.
When you say dreams and dream interpretation can be 'very beneficial to a Buddhist' it depends on which tradition and cultural add-ons you're practicing with. I doubt the Buddha said anything about dreams in the Pali Canon.
There's certainly plenty to be said about dreams in western psychology or 'New Age' thinking - not forgetting Tibetan Dream Yoga too of course.
Meditation and mindfulness together with the development of present moment clarity and awareness are good methods of pacifying troublesome sleep patterns.
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