A dream

Every once in a while I have a lucid dream, a dream where conscious awareness is present. These are treasures for me, partly I suppose because they are a novel mental state, and I'm naturally curious about such things, but I think it's also because I think it is always good to become more aware and more conscious. Normally in the dream state and while sleeping, awareness is fettered, but in lucid dreams the chains are loosened. I had a lucid dream a while back where I suddenly found myself aware that I was dreaming, while driving a car. So, and this must be my mind's natural tendency, I decided I was going to control the dream and make something happen. I decided to make the car move straight up into the air. What actually happened was that the front end of the car moved slightly up in the air, the dream broke, and I woke up.

This morning I had another lucid dream of a similar character. While the dream was not lucid, I dreamt that I found a snake in my mala (string of prayer beads) which I thought was kind of neat, but when I went to remove it, I realized it was actually a giant earwig. So I went to brush the earwig away, and realized that there were three of them. When I went to brush them away, they started crawling and I realized each of them was also three smaller earwigs. Around this time, I had the insight "I'm probably dreaming right now." At this point, I was actually brushing away lots of dead insects from my text holder while sitting out on the front porch. I got rid of them all, which felt good, because it symbolized eliminating my negativities and obscurations, and true to form, decided to consciously do something in the dream. I thought that maybe I could see the Buddha, so I looked up into the sky, and I saw a roughly circular lighter area in the sky, which I though maybe was the Buddha, but not directly perceivable to me because of karmic obscurations. (Several stories like this appear in Buddhist texts, where Buddhas go unseen due to karmic obscuration.) But then the dream broke and I woke up.

I'd like to try to maintain the lucidity of such dreams longer than I have, and the idea seems to be that I shouldn't try to control the dream so much, but just enjoy the ride. These dreams occur so rarely for me that it's hard to practice having the right attitude. Ah well. I'm sure something will develop.

Taking Refuge

There is a ceremony which you go through when you become a Buddhist, called "Taking Refuge," and one repeats the refuge prayer often during one's continuing practice. But what does taking refuge mean? When one takes refuge, one is doing so in the so-called Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. One is taking refuge as protection from the suffering of this world, and with the aspiration to eventually help all beings become enlightened. When I first heard about the concept of refuge, I found it difficult to understand and identify with. After all, how can the Buddha, who died 2600 years ago, offer me any protection? I've come to believe that, although the Buddha's body did in fact dissolve into its component elements, that the primordial mind of the Buddha, and of enlightened existence shines on, and pervades everything, particularly the layers of my own consciousness. Thus the Buddha is a real, solid support and source of protection. This past weekend I was at a retreat up in the mountains, and I had chosen to meditate outside on a back porch. As I meditated there, wrapped in a blanket at 6am, temperature below freezing, and gazing at the starry sky in front of me, I imagined the love and compassion of all the Buddhas surrounding me, offering me comfort and protection, just as the blanket offered me protection against the cold.

The Dharma is the living teaching of the Buddha, and is also a source of protection. It provides a means of progressing, of increasing our good deeds and reducing our negative actions. From personal experience, I can say that following the practices has helped to make me a kinder, gentler person. I'm certainly not anywhere near perfect, but I can see definite changes in the way I react to people and the way I react to my own emotions and thoughts.

Finally, the Sangha consists of those beings who have progressed further on the path to enlightenment than we have. If you think of the Buddha as the doctor, who prescribes us medicine, which is the Dharma, then one can think of the sangha as nurses and caregivers who help us take out medicine. In my own case, I've had the good fortune (i.e. karma) to come into contact with a wonderful practicing group in my hometown, and also to meet several teachers and Lamas, who, motivated by compassion, have helped to show me the way to progress.

By taking refuge, one recognizes that this world, driven by desire, hatred and ignorance, will not offer us lasting happiness, but that the Three Jewels offer us a true path to enlightenment.

I encourage you to take refuge. It has no risks, and even if you feel your commitment is not that strong, it will help to plant a seed.

Groundhog!

Saw this groundhog in our yard this morning. I've never seen one in the area before.

Lha Bap Du Chen

"Meanwhile, today (Thursday Nov 1) is Lha Bap Du Chen, the anniversary of the Buddha's descent from the gods' realm where he went to teach his mother. It's one of the most auspicious days in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, and everything is magnified 10 million times. Good day to get in some extra practice! Or at least be as mindful as possible and refrain from harmful actions. (If you've had a bad day so far...just confess any harmful actions, and move on...)"

Sorry I didn't post this earlier. -Vacuous