Craving for dream and sleep improvement

@NightHawk999 Actually, you can not learn Chöd from a book. Several tibetan buddhist schools and Yungdrung Bön have their own Chöd traditions. In my understanding, learning Chöd is definitely in the frame of one of these traditions, since they all have their individual traditional sadhanas (as in ritual meditation practice texts, visualisation, deities, melodies etc.), so I don’t believe that there is some secular form.
Lama Tsultrim Allione teaches a more modern form described in the book “Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict” although this simplified practice is still based in her tradition.

Chöd, in my experience, is difficult to categorize - imo Chöd it is all of the below:
it is a spiritual practice of compassion, a visualisation practice, a symbolic body offering, a practice of cutting fears, aversions and attachments, a tantric practice where one becomes the female enlightened deity/wisdom energy, an artful form of expression, an energetic exchange with wild energies … both tantra and dzogchen at the same time, a healing and pacification practice, a spiritual path, a teaching of emptiness and compassion…

There are many videos on youtube; here is one to get an impression, from Geshe Gyatso Choekhortshang of the Yungdrung Bön tradition from who I received the teaching and the transmission:

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Thank you for this explanation. Do most Buddhist monks teach this practice? Is it a universal teaching in Buddhism, or something specific to different sects, or only available to the masters?

Can you give a detailed description of the visualization techniques employed while chanting and drumming?

The the visualization practices very complex? How long do they take to learn.

How long does it take to learn the full Chod practice in completion?

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As far as I know, Chöd is mainly practiced by followers of Yungdrung Bön, Nyingma and Kagyü traditions, but there may be others.
It is a yogic practice, i.e. a practicioner of Chöd learns and applies the practice as a Yogi; traditionally Chödpas would wander around and visit places of power such as charnel grounds, etc. and pacify the wild energies/spritis found there. As with any practice, there are of course practictioners who have attained a high realisation with the effect that their practice has great strength, but Chöd is not only available to masters. It is a spiritual practice and the Yogi / the Yogini grows with it.

I can give a rough description of the visualisation employed while chanting and drumming, but as a beginner practicioner myself, I caution you that this is only my personal understanding possibly prone to error. Also, all what I can share here at your request can be found publicly… Chöd must be learned from an authorized authentic teacher and is taught differently in different traditions.

The Chöd sadhana “Laughter of the Khandros” is divided into several sections and one could say that it is actually a teaching being sung and given to the spirits and also repeated to oneself.
In this first part, one recalls that “the spirits and demons appearing here, are nothing other than the self-arising energetic display of the base of all, dissolving in the state of non-dual wisdom”. (Explanations of this view should be given by a teacher). One further recalls that one’s ego is of the same empty nature. One connects to the non-dual state of emptiness and bliss.
One goes on to supplicate the compassionate Great Mother Emptiness and takes refuge with her, reminding oneself that that there’s delusion and ignorance in oneself and that delusion and ignorance are the causes for the spritis doing harm. One generates bodhicitta and prays that all may be liberated.
Then, one praises and supplicates the Dakinis / Khandros and visualizes and invites them around the practictioner. One calls on specific dakinis and groups of dakinis and also on one’s root lama to receive support for the practice out of their compassion. One visualizes how the spirits are being subdued by the compassionate wisdom energy of the dakinis and are being led to “the non-dual space where wisdom and emptiness are one”. (Explanations should be given by a teacher)
Thereafter, one visualizes that one expels one’s consciousness out of one’s physcial body into the space above one’s crown chakra and merges with the Dakini and basically leaves one’s body behind.
Being the dakini, one visualizes cutting one’s physical body with a ritual knife into peaces and dissolving the body with rays of light into pure nectar and offering this nectar to the enlightened beings as well as the spirits. The “guests” partake and become satisfied, subdued and are ready to listen to the following part of the teaching. This is the so called “white feast”; the “Red Feast” is basically the same, with the difference that the body parts are not transformed into nectar but are directly offered to the wild spirits that have a taste for this. (so it is the non-vegetarian version)
After that, the calmed spirits are being given a teaching on the empty nature of phenomena and are being ajured to take refuge in the three jewels as well as to abstain from doing harm to sentient beings.
It is then sealed with a prayer that all beings will be liberated and a dedication of merit.

There are shorter and simpler forms (also longer ones) depending on which canon is taught/learned.

Some people (including myself at the very beginning) struggle with the idea that visualiszing such a “body offering” can be a wholesome, healing practice… Actually, it is. One is not harming one’s body or one’s energy. One is symbolically giving up that which is at the core of one’s ego - one’s attachment to one’s body. Energetically, one gives away one’s attachement and also the fear of losing something and has the opportunity to cut through to the empty nature of mind. (To be explained by a teacher).

Since I wanted to learn it traditionally, it took me about two years but I was not consistently learning every day. Actually I was quite lazy and had weeks on ends where I did not learn anything. I have chosen to approach the practice by first learning the tibetan text by heart, then overlaying the audio recording with the translated meaning and learning that too by heart. In parallel, I learned the drumming, but I decided to learn the bell later since it is quite diificult to coordinate drum and bell at the same time, while reciting the text and visualizing all at the same time.
The next steps are to improve the visualisation and have it become more effortless and stable and add the bell.
Don’t worry though, it is a great pleaseure at any stage and one can do the practice by “simply” reading of the paper and roughly visualizing, after one has received the teachings from a qualified teacher.
It is a beautiful practice, and it is not so much about doing some visualisatoin perfectly or not, but more about the energetic exchange and cutting through one’s ego.

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This is an important point.

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That is a really beautiful explanation. I really appreciate you taking the time to write it out in detail.

What is Bodhicitta?
What are the Dakinis/ Khandros?

That is very meaningful and powerful. Thank you for sharing that. It kind of reminds me of the reverse of when you do Communion in Church, or the practice of Transubstantiation, where Christians are reminded that Christ and the kingdom of God is within us all.

What are the 3 jewels?

I think if you had told me this a few years ago I would have struggled with it as well. But reading it now I am very deeply moved by it, and knowing the details of this practice now makes me want to learn it from a qualified teacher even more!

Thank you @KhyungMar , that was very very helpful. I got to believe it will be helpful for other members as well who are new or just starting their journeys.

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I want to Update my ghost dreams. Since i joined this night club i am able to continue the sleep practice with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and the ghost dreams were gone. Tonight i had again a ghost dream. I relaxed into the pain and the pain was only very little. Then i tried, how it is, when i try to escape the pain. The pain became very huge. This discovery i told excited Dagyab Rinpoche. This is very fine, to dream the teachings. :grin::v:

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This is very good news to hear Lucy!

Sounds like an example of “what we resist, persists”

I am very glad that you are in contact with those Rinpoches, and they are helping you. I agree that practicing and cultivating the teachings, and then seeing them bloom first hand is very rewarding.

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Dear @Lucy,
I am intrigued by your situation, and in reading many of your entries, I can relate to you.

I was dreaming lucidly for many years, experimenting in dreams, creating art out of them, and then the dreams began to turn negative. I experienced a strong hyper- real astral attack, of large wasps in flight chasing me. I summersaulted over and over in my own flight to deflect them, but in the end they were too numerous and fast and stung my right hand causing a large oval shaped welt. Five weeks later, I fell and broke my hand, and the exact same large oval welt on my right wrist appeared in waking reality. That is how I knew the dream attack was related to the breaking of my hand.

I began to fear that witchcraft was being sent to me. I became very paranoid that invisible power from others could be sent to hurt me. I feared for my sanity. Life had become a frightening place where anything could happen. I felt a sickening sense of dread of unknown possibilities. I chose to leave dreaming to regain my sense of peace in a predictable world.

But several weeks after this astral attack, my first son was assaulted, stabbed 4 times in both lungs, diaphragm and liver. He was picked off the street by people who luckily knew him. He was dying, his lungs filling with blood, his consciousness was turning black. But he quickly arrived to hospital and 2 operations saved him. This turned my life upside down. Miraculously he survived.

I did not feel that the attack on my son’s life had anything to do with dreaming. But I went into a kind of PTSD and I think I have associated the two events together all of these years.

I am telling you this because I feel that this NC group is a safe place, to little by little deal with these kinds of strange issues that affect our psyches and Self deeply. There is a wealth of information here to read and listen to and engage with. There is friendship, compassion and helpful suggestion and listening.

As you, I wish to restore the quality of my dreams. I miss them. I also feel that I have to deal with these fears that began in the astral realms and bled through into waking life.

There is much thought and discussion in the dream community about the reality and autonomy of dream figures. Are my wasps or your ghosts real? I think -Not real like our life in corporeal waking reality, but real in their reality, maybe the dream one where we are visitors and less real and where they have more existence than us.

I have lived like this victim, as I have not come to terms with the unfortunate timing of these two events, these two piercings. I stopped my dreaming to refocus energies in other ways, and to escape a menacing unknown. I think that this negativity has stood in the way of my dream development, and my spiritual development.

I have undergone some dream healing, but not enough. There is much left to do.

I hope to see you here in a process to regain your health and liberate your dreams and yourself.

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@Carolel I am very sorry both you and your son had to go through so much pain and suffering. He is VERY lucky to be alive! I can see the witchcraft perspective, however, I see far more clearly that the Universe/God/the Source saved his life from whatever evil was trying to destroy him.

Whether is was angels or spirits that saved him, whatever omnipotent force saved his life, I believe it is the same divine force that sent you the Wasp dream to try to warn you of dangerous future events, and to be on very high alert.

A great quote on intuition is “First the Universe warns you with a wisper, then it throws a brick at your head, then it collapses the house on you.” I think the premontion dream that you experienced was that wisper, and the brick was when you broke your hand, and the house crumbling down was your son almost losing his life.

I dont know what other things were going on in your life at the time, often times the silver lining of tragedy is that it cuases us to retreat and retract and trim off any fat or excess that we dont absolutely need to survive. If there are toxic people wishing harm onto you, or a toxic enviornemnt that you are unaware of, sometimes developing PTSD or Phobias may actually protect you in the short term from those unseen monsters.

The fact that before the wasp dream happened, your dreams had already started to trun negative, makes me wonder if that was your subconsciousness trying to communicate with you that there were things going on in your life that were detrimental to you, and needed to be addressed. Or there were people that wanted to harm you and your family, completely unbeknownst to you. Or there were storm clouds brewing in your luck, and to take extra precaution.

Dreams I feel can be both like a smoke alarm and like a tornado siron. Sometimes they warn us of the things we cant see, like a business partner stealing from you and getting ready to leave town, or a drug dealer trying to poisen your children. While they will rarely express directly what the problem is, the dream may send you a negative dream of a bank being robbed and you losing your life savings if it is trying to warn you of the business partner stealing from you. I believe that the mood and emotional resonance that they leave you with is one of the most important things to take note of for these premonition dreams.

I would be very interested in knowing what the circumstances were in your life in the months that came before the Wasp dream?

I truley believe that in these circumstances, the Universe was looking out for you and tried to warn you of hazardous dangers on the horizon. If this is the case, perhaps you ‘shot the messenger’ ? Kind of like when a woman is warned by her best friend that her husband is cheating on her, and rather than investigate, she ends the lifelong friendship. Only to have the marriage crumble a few months later.

Andrew has talked about premonition dreams briefly in some of his videos. As does Allen Wallace. I have also read about then in many lucid dreaming books. I believe more people have them than they realize, but because they are often not perfect premonitions, people ignore or discount them.

I defintely believe you have this gift, and the fact that you have had a rich history of lucid dreaming tells me that the Universe/God has given you may powerful gifts. It is my sincere hope that with time you are able to utilize these gifts to the fullest once again. I believe they can be used to do a great deal of good in your life and in this world.

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Thanks a lot for your long answer. I think like NightHawk999. The deeper levels of mind can show coming Karma and so maybe we can practice to avoid it. But the faszinating limitless of mind and dream have also the possibility to limitless horror. There the only possibility to handle this, is to discover, that the dreamer not exist like in waking life. This told in the teachings. But i think its fine to have a break, if it is too much. The processes can last long time and resist against shortening. But for me also it is not possible long time to practice the bad Karma away. But i think, that also the ripening of practice is on the deep levels of conciousnes without realise it.
But its a pity to hear of your suffering. How is the health of your son now?
H.H. Gongma Trichen said, he will give me the dream practice in future, now is not the proper time. :woman_shrugging: so the practice is patience with the situation now. And Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche said, there are many layer of fear…

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@ [NightHawk999

There is much insight in your message. I will further think about some of the things that you said.
The circumstances surrounding the case was a feud with an indigenous family for over 7 years. They had illegally torn down two historic houses and constructed a huge apartment complex, also of illegal height, which blocked our historic view of the Virgen of Quito on the hillside. We won the case within the Municipality, but it was as if nothing. The case was mysteriously shelved and disappeared. Obvious pay-offs to someone. We gave up.
About my son: while recuperating in the hospital, he decided to leave this country. 1 1/2 years ago, he immigrated to Sweden with his family. Sweden is our ancestral home, we are Swedish-American. Many good things came out of this descent into darkness, renewed closeness to my son, renewed contact with Sweden, all of us studying Swedish. A definitely different turn of events that would not have happened if the assault had not occurred.

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We can know this as fact, but when the actual confrontation happens, in this corporeal realm or more subtle realms, there is not always, perhaps not even usually, a deconstruction and analysis of the knowledge that this is emptiness.

The Dalai Lama once quoted “sometimes it is just better to leave”.

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@Lucy
We observe the dream, while we are dreaming, or in memory after we are back home in waking reality. We digest the occurrences, the story line, and often, if the dream has not been too difficult, form a plan of action to return to learn from it, do it better, or work with the demons. Or, as you mention, we can take a break. I think that sometimes the lack of lucid dreams can be helpful, because in the meantime, one is grounding oneself. If you begin to doubt your sanity, it is a good time to pull back from these practices.

“it is not possible long time to practice the bad Karma away. But i think, that also the ripening of practice is on the deep levels of conciousnes without realise it.”

I agree.

(My son moved to Sweden with his family to begin a new life in a safer environment. Sweden is a perfect place for traumatized immigrants, there are many people coming out of war and violence and systems are set up to integrate these people into society. Thanks for asking!)

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I am very happy that you shared this. My gut instinct gave me a hunch that the men who attacked your son and tried to kill him knew him, or were hired by someone who knew him and wanted to hurt him and you.

You are BOTH very lucky to be alive.

All countries have organized crime, and curruption in their legal systems and governments. I have heard of horror stories where criminals have poured acid on their victim’s face, or stabbed out their eyes. You were swimming with crocadiles at night in their turff, you BOTH are incredibly lucky to be alive!

Then fact that you can see the silver lining of these dark clouds is very impressive. There is no doubt in my mind that the Universe was trying to communicate with you in the months of negative dreams, and then finally the Wasp premonition dream. Your house was on fire, and you were alseep, the Universe was screeming at you trying to wake you up! There is no dount in my mind the Indiginous people were trying to harm you both through the spiritual realm, and in the physical world.

One of biggest take aways I see from this experience, is it confirms that you have a deep connection to the Universe/God/the Source, and ignoring it/ misinterpreting it almost cost you and your son your lives. Lord knows I have been in the same boat. I believe this connection with the Universe you have can be strenghthend and will only help aid you and your family in the years to come.

While I do not know too mcuh about the events over the 7 year fued, I can try to offer some compassion to your ‘enemies’ which if you meditate on this, may help you heal from this trauma:

I imagine that the indiginous people come from lives of deep poverty and much suffering. The opportunity for a home with electricity and running water to bath in and a toilet that flushes would in many ways feel like dying and going to heaven for some of these people. If they were not planning on living in the apartments, and were going to sell the building or rent them out, that income would have brought in a great deal of resources to the tribe to help feed them, clothe them, shelter them, prevent illness, and heal the sick when disease struck.

Had you succeeded in demolishing the building(s), that karma possibly could have cost the tribe a few lives. Kind of like an indirect murder. If the tribe cant afford medicine when an infant is sick, or pay for medical treatment of a father that needs heart surgery, is that not indirectly contributing to their deaths? In the eyes of God, do you think preserving a scenic view and some old buildings is more just than preserving the well being of his children? I dont think this justifys the violence and suffering you and your son endured, I am just trying to give you an alternate perspective on why the events may have played out the way they did.

Perhaps God/the universe weighed this justice in his scales, and then he sided in favor of the people who needed it most, and then tried to warn you many times of the danger that you were in if you did not change course.

I dont know.

But had you won the case and destroyed the building, and then carried on with your life there, it is very possible that the Karmic consequence would have been far far far more severe than the broken hand and you son almost dying.

It brought a big smile to my face when I read that you moved to Sweden, and reconnected with your roots. I wish I understood why things happen the way they do, but I dont have a clue. However the fact that you and your son survived, given those hostile circumstances, and the fact that you went on to thrive in a new land, makes me believe something very powerful is watching over you and protecting you. In my own journy, looking back at negative situations and toxic people I encountered, I am beginning to become greatful for the lessons they taught me. It increased my faith, fostered wisdom, and taught me to trust my intuition. I hope these memories will do the same for you as well. I think your intuition is very powerful, and I believe when you come to terms with and fully integrate this trauma, your connection to the universe and your dreaming practices will reach levels you never experienced before.

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Very true, and well said.

I agree 100%. The path is never a straight road, sometimes we must backtrack, and sometimes we must retreat. Breaks are very healthy, and if they are not taken, could potentially lead to nasty breakdowns (the breaking of the body and/or the breaking of the mind).

I think both teachers gave you very wise advice, especially Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. In many cultures, the ‘quick fix’ is desired for everything, however more often than not in order to fix a problem it takes a great deal of time, patience, and proper practice.

You have imspired me to seek out a Buddhist teacher for in person teachings. Thank you @Lucy
:slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes, this is very fine to search a buddhist dream and sleep teacher :clap::clap::clap: please tell me, if you find one. Its difficult… Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche teaches very often online webinars about dream and sleep yoga over 4 weeks, but they are repetitions.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche also told about, we want to make all by our own. Even the results. But the results come out of the blue or out of the blessings of the 3 juwels. This i also experienced. So, if i practice very long without results, i still can make the Karma for results in the future. Its extremly helpful to pray and trust in someone higher. Its not possible to force the results or make them out of demand from ego for me.

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It will probably take me a few months, but will keep you posted. Great advice on the Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoches webinars, his book deeply resonated with me.

What arevthe 3 juwels?

Very true, i believe this is one of the most important aspects of the practice.

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The 3 juwels are Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

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Does Sangha include just the monks and monastic community, or does it also include novices that are studying the teachings, and or the people in the community that worship the Dharma but are not monks?

Sangha means all Bodhisattvas from first Boddhisattva level, ordained or not. There are 10 Bodhisattva levels. We take only refuge in enlightened beeings. Many Bodhisattvas are laymen or laywoman. But so usual people can’t recognize if Bodhisattvas are enlightened or not, they worship all monks, because there the possibility is higher, that some are enlightened :woman_shrugging: please remember, that my english is bad.

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