Hi Ania,
I had a period of a couple years around 20 years of age where I would spontaneously lucid dream almost nightly. I was quite fascinated by that state of consciousness, being aware during dreaming, and would record my dreams upon waking, which I believe supported the skill, recognizing and returning to that state.
Some years later, after having been studying some Buddhism and meditating off and on, I picked up a book called The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a Tibetan trained in the Bon tradition. Rinpoche wrote "If we cannot carry our practice into sleep, if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."
This struck a chord with me, sort of validating how I felt that my experiences were valuable. It made sense to me; why not utilize all those hours usually spent in unconsciousness, meditating, aware. I began to do some of the practices that promote lucidity, both from the book, and other techniques I had learned of elsewhere. They worked to varying degrees, mainly depending on how much I applied them. I never achieved a steady, relaxed state - I was always flying around and exploring/creating the rich and unbelievably realistic inner world.
Then busy life found me neglecting much of my inner pursuits, I did not actively seek to promote the state, and my lucid dreaming became quite infrequent.
Today, they occur here and there, and are always interesting, but not necessarily supportive of our shared goals here. Though, I still believe the state has great potential, in that it is a huge chunk of time where you can meditate, if you can train yourself to do so in that state (which I think is very possible if you can resist the urge to fly
! I imagine that having an established zazen practice would be supportive of attaining lucid dreaming.
Thanks for the reminder and wishing you waking dreams,
Gassho,
Erik
I had a period of a couple years around 20 years of age where I would spontaneously lucid dream almost nightly. I was quite fascinated by that state of consciousness, being aware during dreaming, and would record my dreams upon waking, which I believe supported the skill, recognizing and returning to that state.
Some years later, after having been studying some Buddhism and meditating off and on, I picked up a book called The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a Tibetan trained in the Bon tradition. Rinpoche wrote "If we cannot carry our practice into sleep, if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."
This struck a chord with me, sort of validating how I felt that my experiences were valuable. It made sense to me; why not utilize all those hours usually spent in unconsciousness, meditating, aware. I began to do some of the practices that promote lucidity, both from the book, and other techniques I had learned of elsewhere. They worked to varying degrees, mainly depending on how much I applied them. I never achieved a steady, relaxed state - I was always flying around and exploring/creating the rich and unbelievably realistic inner world.
Then busy life found me neglecting much of my inner pursuits, I did not actively seek to promote the state, and my lucid dreaming became quite infrequent.
Today, they occur here and there, and are always interesting, but not necessarily supportive of our shared goals here. Though, I still believe the state has great potential, in that it is a huge chunk of time where you can meditate, if you can train yourself to do so in that state (which I think is very possible if you can resist the urge to fly
! I imagine that having an established zazen practice would be supportive of attaining lucid dreaming.Thanks for the reminder and wishing you waking dreams,
Gassho,
Erik
Recognising the moments when I'm not aware is part of my practice : in daily reality, in sleep and dreams (much harder) and in zazen.
I'm aware of going over 3 sentences
Gassho
Sat
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