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the wrathful and benevolent deities?
yuriythebest
Veteran
can anyone link me to the images of the wrathful and benevolent deities that appear to you after death? And also the one that's supposed to pierce you with the golden spear thingy
also- how do I not confuse them with hell beings and demons?? Are there any characteristics that differ them?
also- how do I not confuse them with hell beings and demons?? Are there any characteristics that differ them?
0
Comments
Sorry, don't have any pics. Are you planning to meet these guys in a lucid dream?
ok I've found some images here
Yeah I think it will be good to practice seeing them (their images) in advance in a lucid dream before actually dying- with some luck I'll then gain lucidity during death and be able to recognize them again (lucidity is tricky but not as tricky as portrayed in the Buddhist teachings) ]
Still my original question remains- how do I differentiate between wrathful deities and hell beings? Both look like scary monsters n stuff- from what I've read thus far is that they have very interesting skin- like crystals/clouds/gold/etc so that might be a telltale sign, also that they have all sorts of numbers of heads n arms n stuff- hell beings just look like regular demons right just scary and not "magnificent" in any way perhaps that can help...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ThpbErYU7U&feature=related
If I may offer a little advice, I think it would be more productive to practice how to live rather than fixating on your so-called lucid dreams and beings you may meet in the bardo. All that can easily turn into some sort of ego trip. Just my feeling on it.
Palzang
You're in a minority of one, when it comes to giving such prominence to flights of mental fancy, that you're 'falling asleep at the wheel' - or so it seems....
This is why sleep is no time to cultivate wisdom and compassion, and work towards the cessation of suffering....
hence the Buddha being Awake.... I would also repectfully suggest you focus less on what happens in 'z' time, and apply yourself more to daytime practice.
I do not understand the 'falling asleep at the wheel' analogy. Regarding being in the minority- in this thread and forum that is so, but on the lucid dreaming forums like www.dreamviews.com and in other such communities I am in the vast majority- lucid dreams can give you insights of yourself and allow you to feel emotions you have never experienced and see reality in totally new ways, humbling in a way
yeah I think I understand what you are saying- but my goal is to practice both, I don't see how awareness and compassion can be mutually exclusive. Regarding ego-trips- I do not by any means claim to be some great guru or whatever, in fact I don't even practice dream yoga to any large extent, I mainly just practice lucid dreaming, since I find dream yoga is best taught with an actual master and plain text from books just isn't sufficient.
lucid dreams are defined as any dream in which you know that everything around you isn't real and is in fact a dream, and you in a sense "wake up" in the dream- those are the dreams that I consider lucid dreams.
I am beginning to think your opposition to lucid dreaming is not legitimate, and in fact stems from ignorance and perhaps even jealousy.. if not then please correct me.
Hi Yuri,
This is correct, also I agree with you on the importance of dream work. Why waste the 'z' time? If it had not been so important to Tibetan practitioners then Naropa would not have included it in his 6 yogas. Nor would master after master have mentioned it.
It's a mirror to our mind. We may have control of our minds during the day but have dreams in which we are less than perfect and what does this reveal about our fate when it comes to the clear light of death?
How much awareness of our state do we have during absorption? A key issue for anyone interested in the dissolution of mind and the role it can play in our release from samsara.
I have gained deep experiences during the dream state that have completely and irrevocably altered my life (and understanding of certain aspects of Buddha Dharma) since. I personally would never belittle what you are doing and wish you all the best with it. As part of an integrated approach, it is very useful, as we spend a third of our life asleep.
Namaste
Kris
cool thank you so much! I'v watched both 40 min segments and it was most edifying!
Dhamma Dhatu - thanks
It is always useful to make note of what your dreams are telling you - no matter what your meditation is saying ... your body might be telling you different things. It is also useful to note that your dreams might show you a different perspective of something that is happening to you now in the physical world.
Ok - I dream often of going to a castle - this could be the metaphysical castle or it could be a different country or a different set of people.
I dream of living on a boat - you want to travel, or you are restricted in your travelling?
Here are the deities you asked for. The picture DD gave you is a (rather poorly drawn) hell realm from the wheel of life. Here are the 42 peaceful and 58 wrathful deities of the bardo.
Palzang
The various viewpoints all have validity, don't they? And they compliment each other, too. Interesting. Good thread.
Personally I very rarely ever dream at all, and when I do, I don't take any notice of insubstantial dream events.
However, if you are fascinated by these things, you might find this book 'Living Dreaming Dying' by Rob Nairn an interesting read.
http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetail.asp?PID=15547
_/\_
Palzang
as for having/remembering dreams, it's not luck - there are techniques to improve dream recall
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=66343
Perhaps you are confusing dream interpretation and lucid dreaming. I don't examine all the random stuff in my dreams- my aim is to realize that everything around me is a dream while still dreaming and gain consciousness, "wake up" while still in a dream state.
Yes- lucid dreams are awesome for letting go. To give an example, while lucid one time I flew into a building and my mother was there. I told her that I loved her but that she would some day die, and that I would some day die. This would have been unthinkable in real life but lucid dreaming helps you do stuff ordinarily impossible. The more stuff you experience, the less can actually shock you or frighten you in real life, but probably out of everything experienced in lucid dreaming the moment lucidity is gained is the most prolific, after all, one moment you are heavily involved in some deluded dream activity and the next you realize everything here is an illusion and you can do anything you want!
yeah, in todays lucid (had one just 20 mins ago), I was walking around calmly in a dream (that took some practice), and examining everything, looking at how incredibly detailed everything is, I ripped off a leaf from a tree and it was so stunningly real. Dreams are different in the sense that nothing exists beyond your field of vision and the laws of physics and logic are easily overcome, but when it comes to visual realism they sometimes can be even more real than real life.
The lucid dream amount in my signature is not my invention and is common practice in most lucid dreaming forums. I agree that perhaps it's ego boosting- I plan to stop counting dreams after I surpass 1000