Daydreaming a form of catharsis?

music

Instead of repressing or being mindful, could daydreaming be a form of release? Is it sort of like meditation at least insofar as the end is concerned - namely freeing the mind of certain patterns and habits? I've heard of maladaptive dreaming where a person may invent imaginary scenarios, may even perform actual physical movements. I am assuming it serves a purpose, or such mechanisms wouldn't have evolved in the first place.

how

Does daydreaming free the mind from a habit of daydreaming. Does a directed daydream free the mind from a habit of directing thought. Look closely enough at a daydream and one can see a lack of acceptance for where one really is.
The purpose of a daydream is different from the purpose of Meditation.

lobster

Instead of repressing or being mindful, could daydreaming be a form of release?

Yes of course. :clap:
Not everyone is at the stage of constant mindfulness . . .
It is not meditation unless directed. Non directed residing is not always open to everyone. The Sufis do a form of meditation called 'drifting' but that is another story . . .

Let me give you an example:

You have a Yidam before you. If very mindful or constipated with concentration, you will retain the suffering involved in clutching at this emanation. It will produce beneficial karma no doubt.
Now let's go Tao:
Stay freely with the object but explore the arisings. You will be surprised how you can return to the moment and drift endlessly in samsara.
We are the daydream and the dreamer. We are the awake and the awoken. (thus have I dreamed)
:thumbsup:

Zero

music said:

Instead of repressing or being mindful, could daydreaming be a form of release?

Is it sort of like meditation at least insofar as the end is concerned - namely freeing the mind of certain patterns and habits?

I am assuming it serves a purpose, or such mechanisms wouldn't have evolved in the first place.

'Repressing' and 'being mindful' are two distinct processes - perhaps as far as being mutually exclusive.

The similarity between daydreaming and meditation ends with the fact that they are both mental processes.

For me, day dreaming equates to a form of escapism (refuge from reality), whereas meditation is a tool of awakening (refuge to reality).

'Serving a purpose' does not necessarily equate to 'serving a purpose in a manner that would satisfy subjective enquiry'.

David

When Buddha was in a meditative state facing Mara, was he not in a sense daydreaming?

Jeffrey

If you day dream that is fine. But it is not meditation. Come gently back to the breath. If you are heavy with disappointment from the dreaming then it will only either agitate or dull you out.

Meditation would not work if there were no daydreams. If that were the case you would never have a chance to see the nature of mind which always eventually returns. It is the nature of mind to become expansive and then return to awareness again out of that expansion.

genkaku

If you're going to daydream, then really daydream. Don't go nagging and nattering with something called "Buddhism."