The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep

by WANGYAL, TENZIN

• ISBN13: 9781559391016
• ISBN10: 1559391014
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: Snow Lion

Summary

The yogas of dream and sleep are used in the Bon and Buddhist traditions of Tibet to attain liberation.

Author Biography

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is the founder and director of The Ligmincha Institute, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bon tradition.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 11
Introduction	p. 15
The Nature of Dream	p. 21
Kinds and Uses of Dreams	p. 59
The Practice of Dream Yoga	p. 79
Sleep	p. 141
The Practice of Sleep Yoga	p. 151
Elaborations	p. 185
Final Words	p. 205
Outline of Dream Yoga Practices	p. 209
Glossary	p. 213
Bibliography	p. 218
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter One

Dream and Reality

All of us dream whether we remember dreaming or not. We dream as infants and continue dreaming until we die. Every night we enter an unknown world. We may seem to be our ordinary selves or someone completely different. We meet people whom we know or don't know, who are living or dead. We fly, encounter non-human beings, have blissful experiences, laugh, weep, and are terrified, exalted, or transformed. Yet we generally pay these extraordinary experiences little attention. Many Westerners who approach the teachings do so with ideas about dream based in psychological theory; subsequently, when they become more interested in using dream in their spiritual life, they usually focus on the content and meaning of dreams. Rarely is the nature of dreaming itself investigated. When it is, the investigation leads to the mysterious processes that underlie the whole of our existence, not only our dreaming life.

    The first step in dream practice is quite simple: one must recognize the great potential that dream holds for the spiritual journey. Normally the dream is thought to be "unreal," as opposed to "real" waking life. But there is nothing more real than dream. This statement only makes sense once it is understood that normal waking life is as unreal as dream, and in exactly the same way. Then it can be understood that dream yoga applies to all experience, to the dreams of the day as well as the dreams of the night.

Excerpted from The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Copyright © 1998 by Tenzin Wangyal. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.