Observations placeholder
Six Dharmas of Nāropa - 15 The practise of the Illusory body or Dream Yoga – The Practice on the real nature of dream
Identifier
010829
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The instruction on the Dream-Illusory Body Practice falls into four divisions:
(1) how to recognize the dream;
(2) how to purify and develop the dream;
(3) how to overcome the rambling type of dreams and recognize them as illusory manifestations;
(4) how to practice on the real nature of dream.
A description of the experience
The practise of the Illusory body or Dream Yoga – 4 The Practice on the real nature of dream
This is a teaching combining the Light Yoga with Dream Yoga. In the practice of this teaching, the yogi clearly visualizes (in the dream state) the self-body becoming his Yidam. From his heart, the Hūṃ word emanates rays of light that gather all the visions in the dream and draw them back into the Hūṃ word. Then both the lower and upper part of his body melt and become absorbed into the Hūṃ word. Then the Hūṃ word also vanishes into the non-discriminating Light, upon which the yogi should concentrate his mind.
The perception-of-mind of the dream state is much easier to absorb than the perception-of-mind of the waking state. In the dream state, when some portion of the very coarse kind of Prana dissolves itself and gathers at the Heart Center, the dream will vanish, and one will fall into the sleeping state. This is the time in which one may recognize the Voidness; if not, through repeated practices, one will definitely be able to see the Voidness of sleep clearly. If the absorbing process and Void-holding become stable, this will greatly help meditation—Prana exercise, visualization, Mahamudra—in the daytime. 1f the yogi cannot recognize the Voidness-of-Sleep at the beginning stage when he first falls into sleep, he will be able through the power of recognizing the dream, to see the special Voidness.