Mindfully sleep question

jonny44

so i read that the buddha would mindfully sleep from 3am to 4am (1 hour), and was woundering what this is, ive sometimes had times when i would lay down and not fully lose counciousness, but be somewhere in between and i would wake feeling really refreshed even though it would be a short sleep relatively, is this what the buddha would do?

Jeffrey

That would be great for people who have trouble getting a full nights rest. My brother is like that.

person

When taking a nap you want to limit it to 20 minutes at most. Beyond that amount of time the body enters a deeper sleep and it becomes harder to wake from, you actually feel more tired.

In Tibetan Buddhism the mind is divided into 3 levels of subtlety gross mind, subtle mind and very subtle mind. Subtle mind is said to be active while dreaming and the very subtle mind is said to still be active when unconscious or when entering deep sleep. So, just speculating, but maybe what you're talking about is the Buddha remaining aware during dreaming and deep sleep.

John_Spencer

I think the Buddha was awake and only pretended to be asleep.

footiam

jonny44 said:

so i read that the buddha would mindfully sleep from 3am to 4am (1 hour), and was woundering what this is, ive sometimes had times when i would lay down and not fully lose counciousness, but be somewhere in between and i would wake feeling really refreshed even though it would be a short sleep relatively, is this what the buddha would do?

Do you think it could be that Buddha is mindful of what he has done in a day's work, contemplating on the good things he has done during the day and mindful too of the coming day, contemplating the good things he is going to do the next day just before he dozes off? You can't be mindful if you are asleep, could you?

karmablues

footiam said:

You can't be mindful if you are asleep, could you?

When I first read the Aparihani Sutta, I thought maybe we were supposed to maintain mindfulness while asleep because it says: "And how is a monk devoted to wakefulness? ... During the second watch of the night, reclining on his right side, he takes up the lion's posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with his mind set on getting up [either as soon as he awakens or at a particular time]..."

However, in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta, it says, "Furthermore, when going forward & returning, he makes himself fully alert; when looking toward & looking away... when bending & extending his limbs... when carrying his outer cloak, his upper robe & his bowl... when eating, drinking, chewing, & savoring... when urinating & defecating... when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, & remaining silent, he makes himself fully alert."

It is quite clear in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta that the Buddha did not instruct his disciples to be mindful while sleeping. He mentions "walking", "standing", "sitting", but does not mention sleeping. Instead of that he instructs us to be mindful while "falling asleep" and "waking up", ie. acts which happen immediately prior to and immediately after the act of sleeping. This seems intentional and would suggest that being mindful while sleeping is impossible (at least for unenlightened beings) since in the paragraph of the Maha-satipatthana Sutta quoted above it seems quite clear that Buddha intended to convey the point that one should be mindful while engaged in all activities, yet when it comes to mentioning the act of sleeping he doesn't do so.

Therefore, when the Aparihani Sutta is read in conjunction with the Maha-satipatthana Sutta, it seems that the former should be interpreted as being mindful in the lion position only up to the point of "falling asleep" and then resuming to be mindful in that lion position again upon "waking up".

TheEccentric

How can you be mindful while asleep? Surely you wont be able to be mindful because you are asleep.

John_Spencer

TheEccentric said:

How can you be mindful while asleep?

You can't.

That's why Shakyamuni woke up.

fivebells

You can, actually, in the context of lucid dreaming.

TheEccentric

I have never understood how people can do that, whenever I realise that I am in a dream I automatically wake up.

fivebells

It's happened to me by accident a couple of times. I have known people who have claimed to be able to cultivate it as a reliable skill. I haven't tried.

Jeffrey

I've meditated in dreams in response to a persecutory dream. I would then wake up.

Zero

TheEccentric said:

I have never understood how people can do that, whenever I realise that I am in a dream I automatically wake up.

Practice.
Start by remembering as much about dreams as possible - use a notebook next to the bed - ponder dreams when awake.
Cultivate the intention to lucid dream when awake and consider the various cues that may expose a dream.
When you realise it's a dream it takes a similar technique to meditation where thoughts arise but then they pass if you don't cling to them - in the same way the thought 'this is a dream' does not affect the preoccupation with sleep... so the mind-state continues uninterrupted and there is a greater degree of recognised interaction with the dream environment.

lobster

Practice

No rest for the wikid . . .
I was dreaming yesterday and aware I was dreaming. There is a lot of relaxing required. If you know you are dreaming too much . . . you awake.

. . . life is but a dream . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_yoga

misecmisc1

hi all,

while lying on bed, before sleeping, i tried to do a body scan, by relaxing my body and then after closing my eyes, trying to be aware of the various body parts. even tried to feel the breath as it comes and goes. but what i have noticed is that after almost all such attempts, my head starts to feel more heavy - i thought since it is relaxation, so the head would become slightly light and i would fall into sleep - but just the reverse happens - my head starts to feel more heavy and then i have to stop doing this breath awareness or full body scan, then i just move my body haffazerdly mindlessly to remove some pains from my body and then i fall into sleep. i have tried this many times and almost all times, this thing has happened.

i have heard that on laying down, if we do breath meditation while lying down or full body scan, then we can relax the body and mindfully go to sleep - so is this thing correct?

also please can somebody tell me what am i doing wrong here and suggest me by telling what should be done instead? thanks in advance.