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My belief/ Experience: Lucid dreaming has helped in the awakening to the dream of this here/now. To the point some days it feel as though I am dreaming awake... I would like to know more of Owledge and his experience of falling through the cracks? / out of the matrix? I havn't - that i know of. You learn things more to be of a liquid state... Once you are LUCID < Awakened within - reality becomes like potters clay... and you can manifest/create instantly (depending on focus/ concentration / imagination. Who has seen the movie - what dreams may come? ^ This is in the dream state (what is and isnt dream state?) I think it is good to face the fear of the unknown < you may be happily surprised..or not. I am a novice < No vice? I think if you can master the unconscious / dream state? totally - death no longer. So one never sleeps/ becomes unconscious. Do we project/ shift conscious attention inside or outside ourselves?

The reality is that this "dream" or "delusion" exists in the relative sense, to disregard this fact would be delusional! From the point of view of the Absolute, relative existence may seem to be be unreal (this is simply my opinion), but the fact that you experience this so called dream, means that it exists, dependent upon other factors of course, it has no inherent existence because of its dependent nature, but it still exists in a temporal ever changing sort of way due to the fulfillment of Karma. It came from emptiness, sustained briefly then dissolved back into emptiness, therefore its true nature is empty yet it's relative nature was dependent upon other factors for its existence, it's empty nature was never born, will never be sustained and it will never die, yet its relative nature had a birth a sustenance and a death, it was fleeting, temporal, mirage-like, limited. Remember the middle way of approach, the Tao, neither leaning to either extremes yet perceiving both. Believing that someone has achieved Enlightenment is not enough, we have to work to achieve that state, meditate, transmute and remove your own obscurations.

I appreciate your concern. Thank you and thanks to K, and any other people who have shouted out as well. The question asks about your past though. Well, the word "before" has two meanings. One meaning talks about the past. That's the obvious one. The other meaning talks about something fundamental, something more essential than what we're habitually observing. So, one can say before I am 'goldisheavy', I am human. In this sense, being a human is more fundamental than being a specific kind of human, namely 'goldiseavy'. The problem is, this second meaning is not obvious, and teachings should be skillful and helpful, preferably immediately, and preferably without necessitating secret mental gymnastics. If you want someone to perform mental gymnastics, it's better to just say so straightforwardly and openly, without it being a hidden and implicit ask. Generally, if the person is bewildered, it's not a good idea to use puzzles as teaching tools. First, the confusion should subside. Then, once the mind is clear, one can be given a puzzle in the right context. One would be shown how to contemplatively work with the puzzle. Exactly as you are doing now. But one would show that before giving the person such puzzle. And from what I've read about it, in Zen tradition that's exactly what happens. Before the koan is given, one is expected to have some background in Buddhist literature. And then one is shown how to work with the koan. And then there are periodic interviews which help to control the work that happens with the koan. All in all, koans are losers, imo. Everything koans try to say can be said better directly, without chicanery, and contemplations can be equally as productive, if not more so, without the use of puzzles as tools. Thing is, even the regular "straightforward" experience is already plenty puzzling on its own. There is no need to puzzlify it even more on purpose. You're talking about an immediately understood and sensed level of intent. Thing is, when you go to sleep, do you intend to hang on to your waking experience? I don't know about you, but I don't. I intend to let go and forget, to the maximum extent possible. And yet, the content of dreams is generally similar and readily relatable to the waking experience most of the time. Not always. But most of the time. Why so? The question about death is a very similar one to the question about dreaming. Will the last feeling you have before falling asleep determine the dream you have after you fall asleep? I have some experience with this. And the thing is, the last feeling may have a significant impact, but it will not determine every aspect of the dream, and nor will it work consistently either. So relying on a feeling at the moment of suicide to put you into a heavenly realm is a false hope. This is my answer to the question that's been asked. If you can help it, it's better to die with a good feeling than to die with a bad one. But one feeling will not all by itself direct your destiny.

Not bad, but I would put it this way: It is possible to wake up and realize your life is a lucid dream.

Is it possible to wake up in reality and become lucid like you would in a lucid dream

Lucid dreaming is just like a normal dream except you wake up inside the dream. So you can walk around, do what you want, but you know it's a dream. From there people's degree of control varies, and you can get better with practice, changing the environment, flying etc. What you described seems to be images appearing in front of you due to a meditational state.

So Ive been trying a lot of practices lately...trying the tibetan dream yoga book where you focus on a chakra every 2 hours, do purification breaths, guru yoga and imagine dakinis around you as well as imagining life as a dream all the time... I spent a few days actually following it through..but it seems so controlled. Last night I felt a wave of sadness so I tried to be aware of it, then I tried to develop feelings of compassion, then I tried to just accept the feelings and surrender... But I was reading a section in shaking medicine and it was talking about shamanic conversation is just gibberish and the unconconscious higher mind is smarter than the conscious you and it knows what to heal that so I did that and felt great. I decided to dream spontaneously as well like dreaming whatever I wanted to dream as an expression of fun with no judgement...so I close my eyes..fall asleep while letting the picture come up and from there move to a similar picture or experience...so its a smooth flowing from one picture or experience to another....whilst being aware...I am correct in saying this is lucid dreaming...for me this is like when I took peyote.

hey everyone thank you for your continued support and help Yes, if there is a moderator or admin please check our ips to verify. I don't think i've ever met Tulku before at least not in this life time. Though Tulku thank you again for being who you are and having wrote what you did, it literally has changed the direction of my life. Everything that happened was real, I'm not here to play games and waste so much time writing all this. I sincerely needed help. With the good turn of things I feel so blessed and wanted those who are in the same shoes to be able to find some help. Maybe the mantras will work for you, maybe not. But there were also many other great suggestions, advice and exercises to do and take that others have contributed so please explore them all. Like life, there are many paths, and choices, just as there are many religions and martial arts and chi kung practices. None are ultimately right or wrong, but all seem to take to the same place. The mantra out of the blue work at the unexpected moment. and I think the most incredible things usually work like that when it is the most unexpected, least expect, where the mind does not concieve, life brings a surprise. I can't believe many are so skeptical, I understand where you are coming from though. As things that seem too good to be true, and yes there is a lot of bs out there. But honestly every word I write, even now I'm writing from my heart. I wish you could be there to see what happened, I don't want to sound like a spirtiual or religious freak, but after what I experienced I'm a believer, there is definitely way more out there then what meets the eye. Based on the comments I'm feeling people may be really stuck in their way of thinking, like the world can only this way or so and so because I read and perceived it that way, or experienced it that way. That I see the world from a tibetian perspective, a taoist, a scientific, or whatever it may be. We get so caught up in the knowledge we read and the reality bubble we create that we forget to accept all possiblities. Didn't someone like socrates once say to know is to not know? I think he alluded that we have to remind ourselves to have a sense of wonder in the world like children. Where anything is possible, new, unexpect, etc. They also have a similar saying about having the mind completely empty and not full. I've been through a lot of pain and suffering with the sexual addiction and was at very low point and was pretty much knocking on death's door. Then the miracle even't with the mantra. I'm not saying it cured, though I hope it did. Its only been a day so far. But so far things have been greatly improving. Im not from a tibetan background and don't believe in mantras by the way, but it was wonderful how life used mantras as way to show me other possiblities to respect all other aspects of life. That life doesn't just come in the way I think it does, but can come in many infinite ways that the mind can never dream or conceive. Just an update, not much but today I finally met the girl I was talking about and we just chatted up like old friends and it was a really good couple hour chat and walk around a park. I was scared to have a conversation and felt like there was good bonding and friendship in a communication way. Before it was so difficult to have conversations with people, thats if I could even get to the scenario of chatting with people. I would always not be fully focused, worried or self concisence. However today I also had a negative thing, my allergies were still pretty bad and I couldn't breath. I don't know if this is a side effect of whats happening or something I ate, but my chest felt really tight and breathing passage really tight, as if I had ashma and the whole day felt it really hard to breath, just gasping for air. My pulse has also slowed down. Above all if there is any summary for what I've learnt so far I would have to say is: Fearless. Live life fearlessly, the biggest obstacle is our mind which seems to be where the fear comes from. Be fearless and you will live in freedom, even in the midst of pain and suffering and being bothered by the hard breathing, I was fearless in the sense that I accepted the moment of what life offered and in that acceptance I somehow found peace. And then it came to pass and now I'm able to breath more easy now. I dont want to sound like i'm throwing philosophies out there or ideologies, sorry if I'am. Just take it for what it is, if it rings true to your heart then may it bless you, if not then move on and may you find what works for your way! I will keep you guys posted and bring up any challenges that come, and hope this place continues to be a place of healing and help. Again thank you to everyone out there who has been offering help, support and advice. You guys feel like my angels and brothers, honestly I feel so blessed. Thank you again.

You, the buddha, having grasped the one, seeing the universe as the dream of an ocean, as the light of your own mind reveals infinite shimmering mandala worlds, your body of bodies forever shattering into billions of buddhas each bearing their own fruits of enlightenment for endless sentient beings, do nothing. Because it's already done, in just this one moment... perhaps. Perhaps the significance of our actions right now are so vast, profound and far-reaching that the story of our own lives are reflected in the crucible of any and every possible life ever told, reaching it's fermentation in our being just so. It's interesting to think about!

Bad term for that by the way, since it has religious origins and connotations. The interesting but often overlooked meaning of the word holocaust is the religious name for a sacrificial offering by fire. (That meaning is also intended by some zionists regarding the Jewish holocaust.) How about global nuclear annihilation? ( Language provides so much variety. ) Hm, or maybe you did dream it in a religious context. P.S.: I'm only commenting on this because language shapes thought and thought shapes language.

Spoiler: We're collectively creating our reality. So if enough people believe with a lot of emotion that something world-changing is happening at the end of 2012, that craze itself might be the self-fulfilling prophecy. Regarding the poll: Had two dreams some weeks ago, with a few days or weeks in-between. I don't remember the order, but one was me at home with family, at night, and space aliens were attacking, with energy beams I think. I knew/thought they'd wipe out the whole human race, and couldn't handle that very well. Felt kinda unfulfilling to me. The other one, I was in a huge rectangular office building, very spacey, didn't even see any furniture, and when looking out the windows, there was nothing but forest, all around. Felt nice actually. Then an alarm signal sounded, not a conventional one, more like a loud buzzer, and a few seconds after that, the building was shaking so much that we (?) had trouble staying on our feet, and I think I almost fell down an escalator or something. Somehow in the dream I knew or assumed that that wasn't a regular earthquake, at least not like on planet Earth (maybe I was on another planet, not sure), but more like something immensely powerful was tearing the ground apart. Had a lot of mundane/weird dreams lately.

Interesting, my last animal dreams involved nice animals bringing me things so I could accomplish something I wanted/had to do.The animals were determined to make it happen. My last people dream involved drug-injections and supposed air-travel (but we never left the airport) prior to which a computer programmer dressed like a 'fairy' with pink tutu and wand. Great post Taomeow!

I clearly remeber having a war dream days before any talk of the war started in Slovenia and Croatia, it was like a very nightmerish precognition dream . I have also combed my mind for any other dreams and remebered a dream about recent devastating erthquake in Japan. In a dream I was drawn to this place that I have never visited before . There immediatley I meet man as if he was waiting for me. He is a spiritual man, fellow practicioner that I know(dont know where from)he tells me that this is the time when Japonese people need much help in any form and it is a time of so much ferafullnes and sorrow. We walk through the destroyed land , talking. He tells me some things about disaster and the feel of terror is so tangible. The morning after I find out about earthquake in Japan. Today when I remeberd this man I tried to find his connection in my heart and still felt him faintly . Can I just add that he was incredible right measure of interpersonal/spiritual qualities and looks. I dream often just as falling asleep or waking and sometimes very vividly ,my dreams are not the same as they used to be - they are infact totally different. I dont agree what Hagar said that when a certin level comes that you dont dream, as I have met a lot of meditators/practicioners who did retrets even for years and they all dream, including my teachers. It is also true that at some point it is hard to remeber dreams becouse in some states it is hard to keep awarness although duality is still present (IMO), but prehaps less than usual. There is always stuff to process/work to do if not on personal , than on global/universal level of being. Suppose this is where dream and waking reality sort of merges too. Dont know if I sound clear about this at all. Otherwise catastrophes are not really present in my dreams for all I remeber for now. What about you Tao Meow? What prompted you to ask?

The interesting thing I've discovered with dreams (which I get very seldom, maybe a few times a year, not counting dream-visions which I get about once a year -- but these are a different story) is that they can be fractal-like (like everything else). Meaning, on a smaller scale they relate to your own inner processes, emotions, unconscious memories emerging ("creatively" re-processed into a story by the neocortex when they reach it -- e.g. I recognize birth dreams instantly when people describe them, having spent a considerable amount of time on the receiving and giving end of primal therapy), personal lessons to learn, etc., but it's not necessarily the beginning and end of their scope. They are not flat like that. On a different scale, the same dream that tells you stuff about you may be telling you about things that have to do with the "bigger you" -- e.g. members of your group, whether social, occupational, emotional, intellectual, gender, age, state of health, etc. -- and then on the level of a "still bigger you," about your species, where we're all at as members of that. (E.g., I've read some books on assorted dream studies and found out that invariably, in at least 95% of cases, all dreams in which animals appear involve some kind of violence. Since then I've asked people many times and had a chance to confirm the truth of this assertion. So, if "everybody" in any actual real-life relationship with animals (including none at all) gets them to visit dreams only in a violent context, it tells you something about the relationship of our whole species to the animal world (likely based on what we've really done to it as a species, not as an individual), rather than merely one's private and personal subconscious context.

ROFL! Thank you, i really did nearly fall off my seat there from laughing. But is is weird isn't it just how amoral our dream worlds can be. People dream about having sex with their parents, about murdering someone for stealing their cereal or any number of weird things that may horrify their conscious mind... The important thing is not to jump to conclusions about the dreamer...

once or twice I had some wacky quasi catastrophe dreams, but that was 15, 20 years ago. when I dream it is just random musings, almost always pleasant. sensitive bullshit meter, so those weird couple many years ago I roused myself...they didnt perturb me, though. if there's "action" in my dreams it is needing to get something done!

{Taomeow add a dot for virus/plague if you have the time} One dream I thoroughly enjoyed: I woke up one morning Knowing that it was my purpose, my destiny to destroy civilization as we know it. With this knowledge, I also 'knew' that I was one of the 1 in 100 people who are Immune to the Ebola virus. All I had to do was become infected so I would be a carrier. I booked a flight to Africa, hired a jeep and an escort to get me as close to the Ebola zone as possible. It was cordoned off by the military so I spent another two days scouting their perimeter, looking for a weak spot I could exploit. I found one eventually, and by cover of night, wriggled in. I searched around inside there till I found an old elephant burial ground. I gleefully rolled around in old elephant scraps, till I 'knew' I had contracted the disease and then sneaked back out. The next thing was flying round and round to all the worlds international airports, and then standing in the various boarding cues to different country's, and coughing on people to Infect them. The next scene was walking through a waste land of a city. There had been rioting and looting and then - Silence. It was one of the most profound senses of joy I have ever felt. The happiness of occasionally seeing a face emerge and knowing that we were going to create the new world, and that Nature would regenerate and become glorious once again. The Happiness of having fulfilled my purpose. I have regular apocalypse dreams with varying themes, from famines, contagions, zombies or peak oil. Also it should be noted that I love the theme, think about it alot, and we in my house consider ourselves to be in apocalypse training. [steadily acquiring the skill sets necessary for the end of the world, as we know it]

I had a flood dream last night. A river spills over it's banks, and floods all the houses in my vicinity. Don't have to be Freud to see that most catastrophe dreams, especially those related to fire and water are about emotional content, or subconscious content being stirred, threatening the ego/personality structure. Sometimes dreams can be the most succinct way of expressing an understanding or a message. I've read about psychics and sensitive people who all seem to have these terrible dreams of things to come, yet I feel dreams seldom are related directly to the world out there. The are almost always tell-tales of an inner process or dialogue, or a messenger from the subconsious. When spiritual practice reaches a certain point, you do not dream. h

Once, I had a dream. I had suddenly become aware while watching these nonsense figures doing a little dance. It all struck me as so pointless, so I asked the dream 'what is this supposed to mean?' No response. 'What am I?' No response. OK. That's fine. 'So what is this?' I fell through the dream into a bright, tingling light and it responded with a simple 'life, and it is beautiful'.

Oh man, I had a dream where I was a person living in some dried up village when some invaders came on a flying island covered in trees and stuff I went inside it and it was all technologic and stuff

Have had some awesome ones. For instance, in one I stepped outside of my parent's house on a beautiful day, and all of a sudden there were pieces of land floating in the sky (similar to the movie Avatar, before it came out). Turned out they were actually alien invader ships in disguise, then these high tech Marine ships flew by and tried to take them out. Last year had a dream that the Mississippi flooded really bad so that numerous states were completely wiped out. I think it did end up flooding, but wasn't anywhere close to that.

For a modern Western take on non-duality (Advaita Vedanta), check out Leo Hartong - "Awakening to the Dream". You could read it in one day, but its quite nice -- http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Dream-Leo-Hartong/dp/0954779215/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334258087&sr=8-1 For more traditional take on Advaita, check out Dennis Waite. This book took a while for me to digest, lots of sanskrit involved and large passages from scripture or quoted from Indian sages, but very thorough -- http://www.amazon.com/Back-Truth-5000-years-Advaita/dp/1905047614/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334258141&sr=1-2 He also has a website with free stuff and excellent "links" section -- http://www.advaita.org.uk/ Hope that helps. I don't know much of anything about the other schools of Vedanta, sorry.

Good way of putting that. Non-duality means that the (perceptual) distinction between Observer & Observed disappears. Since we normally identify ourselves as the "Observer," to us this initially feels like our "self" has disappeared and that there is simply "no self." "True"...but in the larger analysis, what's fully happened is that the whole dividing line between Observer/Observed doesn't exist (perceptually anymore). Whereas, saying that there is "no self" - is still operating within that dualistic paradigm - and implies that there is only the "Observed" left. But, true non-duality actually transcends both sides of that coin. So, what's left is a bizarre "quantum dream" state that may be neither fully "objective reality" or "subjective perception." Or I don't really know...I'm just rambling now.. Anyhow, the state of "oneness" traditionally occurs sometime after the macrocosmic orbit has already been opened. I think this basically happens when you open your xuan guan and see the "white strobe light."

karma is self-perpetuated and self-sustained, and samsara is a dream within your own self. Stop feeding your demons and rest in peace.

1. "If I have any understanding of compassion..., it all comes from studying the Bodhicharyavatara" HH Dalai Lama 2. "The whole of the Bodhicharyvatara is geared toward prajna, the direct realization of emptiness, absolute bodhichitta, without which the true practice of compassion is impossible." The Way of the Bodhisattva 3. To be aware of Absolute Bodhicitta, is to understand: a) that everything you perceive is a dream. b ) only the consciousness you had before you were born can correctly discern reality. c) that there is no present in time. d) You will never understand Who you are, until you realize When you are. 4. In the commentary on the Dalai Lama's (DVD) The Four Noble Truth's, Robert Thurman stressed that, "Buddhist teachings on compassion are grounded in the direct realization of Emptiness; without which, compassion is impossible." 5. In the book Crazy Wisdom, Chögyam Trungpa said, "Compassion is not so much feeling sorry for somebody, feeling that you are in a better place and somebody is in a worse place. Compassion is not having any hesitation to reflect your light on things. As light has no hesitation, no inhibition about reflecting on things, it does not discriminate whether to reflect on a pile of shit or on a pile of rock or on a pile of diamonds. It reflects on everything it faces." 6. Sakyamuni Buddha's greatest teaching, (purportedly) according to Sakyamuni, is that only through the perfect wisdom of the Heart sutra comes the perfect compassion of a bodhisattva. If compassion arises from form alone, it is false compassion, no matter how well intended. 8. Sharon Salzberg said, "Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive, to allow others to abuse us, to smile and let anyone do what they want with us. Yet this is not what is meant by compassion. Quite the contrary. Compassion is not at all weak. It is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal. To develop this mind state of compassion...is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it, with sympathy for all living beings, without exception." 9. Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche: said, "...everbody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the differences are extraordinarily important."