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Interesting and strange recurring dream
Quiet_witness
Veteran
I am not one who gives weight to dreams on a superstitous level but I do think that dreams have function and utility at least on a subconscious level and when dreams are striking and recurring it seems like I should discuss them and since this dream has a tibetan Buddhist relevance, I thought I would like to discuss it here.
For the past few nights I have had a recurring dream that has struck me profoundly, to say the least. I have been dreaming that I enter a room where my Father and two brothers are kneeling and meditating. As I approach the room, I hear that my Father is chanting the mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum". When I hear the mantra I feel overwhelming peace and I feel a sense of familiarity, otherwise not known. Nothing else happens but when I wake up, I feel more rejuvinated and rested then I have in a long time and I am constantly thinking of the mantra.
Some relevant side notes: My family, especially my parents, are very much not Buddhist and never would chant or meditate. What is even more interesting to me is that I haven't used that mantra in my meditation or even thought about it for a very, very long time.
What do you guys think about this dream and mantra, is it something I should incorporate in my meditation and how?
For the past few nights I have had a recurring dream that has struck me profoundly, to say the least. I have been dreaming that I enter a room where my Father and two brothers are kneeling and meditating. As I approach the room, I hear that my Father is chanting the mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum". When I hear the mantra I feel overwhelming peace and I feel a sense of familiarity, otherwise not known. Nothing else happens but when I wake up, I feel more rejuvinated and rested then I have in a long time and I am constantly thinking of the mantra.
Some relevant side notes: My family, especially my parents, are very much not Buddhist and never would chant or meditate. What is even more interesting to me is that I haven't used that mantra in my meditation or even thought about it for a very, very long time.
What do you guys think about this dream and mantra, is it something I should incorporate in my meditation and how?
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Comments
I'm currently reading a fascinating book called The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, have you ever read it? You might wish to check it out from the library, it could have some useful insights for you.
Or why we sleep for that matter, even though we spend 1/3 of our lives doing it! People used to think it 'rested' the body and mind, but brainwaves of a person who's awake and a person who's in REM sleep are nearly identical. It doesn't rest your body/mind any more than sitting down in a chair.
Then we get into recurring dreams, which totally blows my mind...
I say enjoy your dream, it seems really nice. It's better than being chased around by zombies all night, like in my dreams. A certain medication I'm taking significantly intensifies dreams, so now when I go to bed it's like going to the movies every night
If there is any part of you that feels sadness that your family does not share your beliefs, let it go. Retain compassion, but disassociate from thinking their plight is any different than your own, or of the rest of humanity. Develop the calm of equanimity. We are all the same. Only when the proper conditions are met for each of us do we end up on this road to liberation.
My parents are firm believers in God. I used to try and talk them out of it, giving great (I thought) reasons why mankind might come up with such things out of fear, ignorance, etc., and asking them to give me any kind of proof. Now, I understand that they are conditioned a certain way and it's very beyond me or anyone to change that for them. If they are happy in their belief, then I am happy for them.
Actions speak louder than words. Maybe if the world becomes more aware of how insanely happy the Arahants seem to be, they would understand how unhappy their worldly lives are in comparison and that they don't need all their possessions, fortunes, pleasures of the flesh, and so on.
Just a thought. Again, no idea what your dream really means. This is just the "feel" I get from it. We're all the same; we must each follow our bliss.
My Tibetan Buddhist teacher used to say don't take any notice of dreams - just keep practising !
Dreams aren't something separate from us - we are our dreams. They can be symbolic of our psychological state at that time.
It seems as though this dream indicates your own needs. Perhaps you should seek an offline sangha to practice with or visit occasionally.
Kind regards,
Dazzle
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@Stephen - interesting intrepretation and good advice regardless of accuracy. I haven't stressed too much about them or their beliefs lately (maybe years ago). I like that you call for compassion since my father is chanting the mantra for the Buddha of Compassion.
@Dazzle - I am attending a sangha but it is a Zen practice. I was curious to hear some thoughts from tibetan Buddhists as it is the tibetan mantra. I was reading this morning on dream yoga (a tibetan dream practice) and in it they basically said the same thing that dreams are part of the same experience but with much more detail.
I think it's safe to assume that SOME restoration is taking place, even if it's neural chemistry resetting or release of growth hormones and/or general homeostatis. We couldn't very well do that moving around all the time. Imagine trying to bandage a soccer players knee when they're still racing all over the field with a bloodied leg.
SO, we get temporarily paralysed and you can't very well be having brain death or anything, instead we get to fly around, chase butterflies, or ,in your case, chased around by zombies.
As the addage goes: "a person that never dreams goes slowly insane" Oh, and if you don't sleep you don't last very long. That's also pretty interesting.
Is brainwave activity a sufficient measure of mental rest?
In my experience, after I sleep my mind feels very rested indeed. And if I go without sleep for a prolonged period of time, my mind feels very tired.
Therefore I wonder if there might be more to measuring the mind's rest than "brainwaves" alone.
Then again, REM sleep is only one level of sleep; so it may be that both things are true.
You still have similar 'events' taking place when you're asleep as when you're awake, only you're paralyzed and you got the cleaners in to do some general hoovering around and such.
One interesting thing to note is that you have ten times as many signals from the visual cortex to the eyes than from the eye to visual cortex. Now, when you're asleep, the signals running from the visual cortex to the eye bounce back to the visual cortex and (in the absence of light from peripheral stimulus) are interpreted as if you were actually seeing and experiencing. One thing I do know, if I bombard my brain with the same thing such as watching ren and stimpy back to back for 10 hours-- ta da! guess what I'm going to be dreaming about?
I got plenty of science to back this up, I just hope some dream expert doesn't come here to shoot me down in flames.
1) If it happens in the early part of your sleep, between the hours of 10a.m - 2a.m , that's just mostly your mind recalling and trying to "file and categorise" the day's events, thoughts, feelings etc. (into your alaya registry, I think).
2) If it happens in the middle part, likely between the hours 2a.m. - 4.a.m., those dreams are mainly the work of mischevious spirits.
3) If it occurs during the later and deeper part of your sleep, likely between the hours 4.00a.m. - 7.00a.m.. then those are genuine intuitive signals coming from your higher self, so to speak.
Maybe you can time your dreams next time it occurs.
5 nights ago, I had a dream that the Pali Cannon had a human incarnation, and he told me to embrace fear. I thought I woke up, as I was in my bedroom and heard loud growling. I assumed it was the dog, but the growling was all around me. I looked around the room and found nothing. It stopped. I returned to bed, closed my eyes and it started again, and this time I opened my eyes and saw my dog standing at the end of the bed with it's face away from me, it's tail perpendicular to his body growling. Two days later, I listened to a Dharma talk explaining how fear is the root of the ego. It made the context of the dream so much more powerful.