Mandala Perspective in the Dream

I have been working with Illusory Body as a part of my study of the Six Yogas of Naropa and the Trikaya. As Tsongkhapa writes in “The Six Yogas of Naropa”, :slight_smile:

"The concept of blending with the three kayas is first introduced during the
generation stage practice, in which one meditates upon oneself as a tantric deity
dwelling at the center of the supporting mandala."

So last night before bed I meditated on my “self” at the center of a mandala surrounded by my room, my house, my city, our solar system and galaxy…and the entire cosmos. I thought of all of that as totally illusory in nature and pulsing around me with a bright light emanating from my heart chakra

I fell asleep at the center of that mandala. My dreams were intense. The first was like riding a wild horse barely in control. I woke in the night with my body pulsing and I stayed in that liminal space for quite a while.

I have resolved to explore this a bit more. :slightly_smiling_face:

6 Likes

Very interesting meditation! Many years ago, I knew nothing about mandalas and had not really begun to explore Buddhism or to cultivate my own practice. But I was nvolved in positive therapy with a contemplative therapist with interest in a Jungian perspective on dream work. We often worked with my dreams which during that time were quite rich… One morning, though I awoke from a dream experience that felt different than others. Looking back on it now I think it blended into a liminal waking state.

In this dream - that seemed more like a hypnogogic vision than a dream - , I was at the center of what I now recognize to be a mandala. There were rings of concentric circles around me. Each ring contained simbols or people. The people closest to me were in the first ring, then each outer ring extended into outward ayers of connectedness…family and close friends, people I interacted with in my community, people in the nation, then the whole world, all energetic beings and so on. There were two parts to this that went in and out as if in a hologram. In one, light and energy circulated through each circle and through the beings. In the other one, the circles closed up and the energy and light didnt circulate. That one had a clear feeling of hell and suffering. The other one…where there was free fllowing of the light and energy, was blissful. That was it. I still remember that with total clarity as if I had it this morning.

Now, I think of it in connection with my recent contemplations about non duality and duality - form is energy/energy is form - being at the same and two sides of the same coin. The mandala being open and the mandala being closed - somehow connected. The language isn’t right.

3 Likes

I love that about form and energy. I have been circling closer and closer around that part of the Heart Sutra and that really speaks to it. I was reading a Zen poem called The Five Ranks in my office today that speaks to that feeling as well.

The fact that you still recall that dream as if it was yesterday implies strong lucidity at that time.

2 Likes