I was asked to practice forbearance in a lucid dream a few years ago and it has transformed my life. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody or convince anyone of anything!
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This sounds like a fantastic idea, thanks!
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Chapter 14 in this translation is “Patience” which is the same thing. I just like the original as heard in my dream.
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I’ve been connecting recently with the phrase, “I’m still dreaming!” To me it means a continuity of the dream, that I was dreaming before, am dreaming now, and will be dreaming later. It integrates very well with the continuous nature of TYoDaS Foundational Practices. That’s what makes them so powerful IMO – we seek to “be” the same way, abiding in lucid presence, seeing all experience as the luminous phenomena of dream, “around the wheel of day and night.”
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This sentence, which I’d read before, rose to my conscious attention for some reason yesterday:
Remind yourself that what you experience is a dream, your reactions are part of the dream, your grasping and aversion are actions in the dream. Recognize this with a level of conviction strong enough to leave an imprint on your mind. (emphasis mine)
I’d been regularly performing the “this is a dream” realization throughout the day in my practice, dutifully (and not mindlessly, but not with strong conviction) paying attention to whether or not light switches work, etc.
This strong conviction had been missing I think. I am trying to maintain calm lucid presence, but this conviction part is also important. So I implemented some very strong conviction, including in setting intent at bedtime, having a serious conversation with my subconscious: “OK, I’ve done my part with the day work, now I’m handing over the reigns to YOU – give me dreams with dream signs, place the thought that I’m dreaming into my mind during dreams,” saying the entire thing with strong conviction, and then letting go, (it took a while because invoking strong conviction is arousing)…
and lo and behold, I had two dreams amid a night full of interesting (but not calm) dreams, one full of dream signs (including light switches), and one where I was under attack from home invaders and I called my son in a panic, and one of the things I said was “I don’t know if I’m dreaming or not, but”…
So, a very interesting revelation, and very actionable. I’ll continue to work with that.
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Thank you for this reminder!
Did it today a few times
Also been trying to keep a mental tally of the number of projections I do in a day, and use this as an opportunity for lucidity and RC
Buckle up Buckaroo 
Love this advice!
So true. Must be done with your full heart, half assed practice will produce half assed results.
Was this dream an anomaly or do you occaisisonally have dreams that cause a ‘panic’?
Could very well be mental static, but I think worth noting and meditating on if it had a different feel.
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Hmm, sometimes, but not very often, I’d like to say? The point was the manifestation of the notion of dream in the dream, that was the intent that I set before falling asleep.
Yes. As always, the “b” word rears its ugly head – balance. Not too tight, not too loose. I feel like I’ve been walking this tightrope for years and still haven’t found the sweet spot. Or perhaps it’s just a matter of time and consistency. I feel like my results are entirely sporadic. Ah, results again. So hard to just let those go…
I don’t feel like my day work is half-assed. But perhaps my bedtime intention is. And I’m starting to slip again on my DJing…
I’ve adjusted the way I recognize dream-like phenomena, a bit. Instead of tossing out a quick “dream kitchen, dream tea, dream toaster”, I’m really extending, lengthening, slowing down, and deepening the ‘dream’ word like “drrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaammm kitchen,” hoping that will leave more of an imprint on the mind.
I conducted some in-person business yesterday. I was captured the entire time, I realized afterwards. I need more in-person interaction in practice, as my dreams are almost all interpersonal interaction. Problem is where I live the language is not my native one, so it takes a great deal of focus and attention in order to communicate.
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Daily inspiration / focus of practice: 1-breath meditation / re-centering / lucid moment. You can always find time for 1-breath practice! Sometimes the idea of all-day practice is daunting. But starting with one breath, the experience opens, deepens, and you find that 1 breath isn’t enough, and do 2, 3, and before you know it, you’re having a “full on lucid moment” :).
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yes… it’s a kind of magic! 
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I just received an aggressively phrased message (a response to a 7-year-old reddit comment!), and my sole response was: “Thank you for helping me to practice forbearance!”. I feel completely calm and centered. Thanks again for your suggestion!
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wonderful…
here’s a video I think you will enjoy deeply:
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I’ve been sleeping generally very well recently – maybe too well (potential lucidity / presence a bit lower in dreams this last week, but pretty interesting dreams and solid recall). I read about a way of dealing with insomnia yesterday, and lo and behold at 4:30am (about 5-5.5 hrs) there I was. I tried it for 1.5 hours, and while I got a few signs of progress towards sleep, my body/mind was just not having it, so I got up. Teensy tinsy bit of recall, one or two fragments is all, but that’s better than nothing, because at first I didn’t remember anything. These nights are sort of demotivating, but again, I’m probably too eager for fast results…
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I’m in a similar strata, each day is a new beginning so I have optimism . . . .
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Well done, I remember a great piece of advice I learned years ago:
Anytime you enter into an argument with a 5- year old [mind],
YOU LOSE.
Silence is a very powerful ally.
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2 Nights of Dreaming worth noting:
Thursday Night:
Did a strong prayer with a friend about an hour before bed. Ended up praying in the dream and having some powerful dreams after.
Friday night:
Went to bed a little anxious, had a few mildly perturbing dreams. The anxiety carried over.
Conclusion:
The mind is so sensitive to the overall Affect of our wake state mind, especially right before bed.
Practice:
Mantra
Prayer
Yoga
&
Meditation
Right before bed seems to greatly purify the contents of the dreams, and lead to higher level dreams
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AMEN brother!
"The Paramita of Forbearance
By Khentin Tai Situ Rinpoche
This too can be explained through three principal aspects. The first is to refrain from hurting those who have hurt us. The second is to cope with whatever suffering we have to endure, without fighting it uselessly or developing strong feelings of resentment. The third is to have confidence in the ultimate truth.
Non-retaliation means that when someone hits us, abuses us, does anything to injure us, our possessions or those dear to us, or anything which might increase our anger, we do not react negatively. Very simply, it means that when we are struck, if we hit that person in return then they have really struck us; if we do not retaliate, they have not really struck us. Furthermore, it is not that their blow came from nowhere. It arose from causes and conditions created in the past; it is the result of some cause that we ourselves have generated. By just accepting that blow, the cause of that particular suffering is removed, and at the same time the blow itself can become the object of diligent practice. Thus the striking becomes beneficial rather than harmful."
Thank you for this deep wisdom my friend!
“The monk who had been struck remained as soft as cotton, without getting uptight or angry and said, “Thank you, thank you very much. If there was no one with anger, I would never be able to develop my forbearance. Thank you.” He really meant what he was saying. When such a situation arises we have to be ready to cope with it in that way. We have to begin with the most simple things: first, when someone says something annoying but not very important then we just say, “Yes, yes - it’s very true.” We do not really mean that but it saves argument and we must avoid being led into argument. What they say is just words. By developing forbearance on the less relevant things, we will eventually be able to deal with the difficult ones.”
I think you can say yes yes its very true and actually mean it =>
It is Relatively True for the mind spewing filth, and thats something both minds can agree on.
"The second aspect of forbearance concerns not avoiding suffering. It does not mean that we should look for suffering or be happy to suffer, even if it does sound like that. From beginningless time until the present, each individual being has been suffering in the six realms of existence. During that enormous span of time it is certain that we have suffered billions of centuries in the hell realms, billions of centuries in the animal realm and so forth. In one way, it could be said that all that suffering was beneficial because we are here at present and have little suffering. In another way, it has not really done much good. Now as we sit down to a session of meditation, we have very little forbearance or patience, and it is a great effort to sit in the right posture, form the right attitude of mind and recite the necessary things. If we do have the forbearance, it will be highly beneficial for both ourselves and others. Buddha practiced intensively for six years on the banks of the river Neranjara before achieving his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The result of his endeavour has endured until the present day and will continue until the end of everything. That benefit was not only for this planet but for all beings in all states. Thus, we should not regard as difficulties all our petty troubles encountered in meditation and Dharma practice."
Genius! Love this Rinpoches powerful teachings!
“. Suffering is like a broom that sweeps away the causes of suffering and when we understand this then the suffering is reduced to its true stature. Without the understanding it tends to become amplified to twice, ten or a hundred times its true size. The way we develop our understanding is to think, “The suffering that I am now experiencing is the result of previous karmic causes. Just as I do not want to suffer, neither does any being. Thus may this present suffering be of true benefit in removing the sufferings of all beings.” In such a way we mentally take the sufferings of all beings to ourselves and remove them by our own suffering.”
"The third sort of forbearance is to have confidence in the excellent qualities of the Three Jewels. It comes about through taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and through practicing Dharma. We should constantly remember to seek our inspiration in the Three Jewels and to apply ourselves to comprehending the absolute and relative aspects of truth. In the relative world, karma, cause and effect, exist and we should do good and avoid bad action. In the absolute truth there is neither good nor bad and all is seen as illusion. To strive hard to understand these two simultaneous levels of truth, hard for most people to grasp, especially to understand the absolute, is to forbear the ultimate truth."
“. If a poor family has a hundred kilos of gold buried beneath the floor of their house and yet do not dig it up to use it to buy food and so forth, then they are wasting the gold’s value, it serves for nothing. In exactly the same way is our human life of great value ; it is extremely precious but if we do not use it, it is just wasted. It will not last very long. By developing such understanding to the point where we use our lives to the full, and then deepening the understanding step by step, we cultivate this third aspect of forbearance.”
@_Barry
Total Grand Slam my friend!
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A good friend wrote to me in response to my complaints about that bad night:
There is a passage in the “Five Stages” book that I have been studying (Guhyasamaja) that speaks of gentle development. It talks about how we need to be careful about forcing our practice for immediate results. Forceful practice can actually hold us back and it can even be detrimental and physically dangerous.
Gentle development is all about letting the results come through passive repetition of those protocols that we know work rather than forcing the results through increasingly persistent forceful practice that is driven by the need to succeed.
It is about being confident in what we know works and patient enough to let the results blossom. Gentle development builds a strong foundation…a strong root system that then supports healthy and sustainable growth.
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And in response I had a very productive day the next day of gentle practice, and lo and behold, I had a lucid dream that night.
I always believed this theoretically, but I’m now experiencing this directly, and the lesson is much stronger that way! It’s always surprising to me how much a difference how very very small shifts in mindset can make, how even just a little bit of stress or anxiety becomes greatly magnified in terms of how they affect dreaming.
After all, TWR in TYoDaS writes:
The daily life of the mind determines the quality of our lives and the quality of our dreams.
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I too had one last night!
So grateful for this Sangha and thread! Been about a 2 month dry spell from LDs.
Even more amazing than the LD was one of the first dreams of the night, where I was viewing the world through my heart center (tough to explain) almost like I was pure consciousness with no body, moving through the world through my heart center. Words dont do it justice.
I have some more quotes, going tom try to post them later tonight or tomorrow. Thank you for this wonderful tribute to TWR!
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Lucids have been a bit light (only 3) in June, but probably because I fell back into “trying hard” and grasping mentalities. Again, focusing on gentle development.
Last night I had a super clear, vivid, crisp dream, where I thought I was in some sort of VR game, and it was so bright and beautiful (just walking around the interior of a building, interacting with the people there, who were also shining with an inner light it seemed), that I thought, “if I could do this every day, I won’t need lucid dreaming!”
And just a night or two ago, I overheard the neighbor family next door to my childhood home discussing dreaming and dream practice with their children.
So, my SC is doing its best to help me out. My attention to the moment is good and improving, but I need to up my reflection and set stronger intent for lucidity in dream to catch those moments.
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