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Dear friends and venerable sirs and ladies 🙏🏻
This brother’s kamma has always had him dreaming, night by night. On average three. Normally not less than two or more than five. To just have one dream during the night is a once a year occurrence. No dreaming during the night is unheard of. ‘Not my gati,’ would perhaps be a better way of stating it on this venerable website. ☺️
I’ve always felt a connection between dreams and spirituality. The normal idea is that what you focus on is what you will dream about. So if I meet a person who says he’s worshiping a Deity, my first question would be to ask the person if he/she were dreaming about the Deity.
In all humility, this brother can honestly share that he has dreamed about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Vishnu, the Lord Shiva, Mother Kali, and some deceased Gurus. This is a matter which has had me wondering for a long time. Not an easy matter. It is one thing to read an article on this venerable website which tells you to turn left. It’s another thing to read the article, and then have a dream where the Lord Vishnu tells you to turn right. Please forgive if this sounds like an exaggeration, but this situation (Buddha Dhamma VS visual spiritual authority) could perhaps be a candidate for the most difficult decision in all the universe!
With that long introduction… I wonder what did the Lord Buddha dream about?
Thank you for reading and any response is appreciated.
Namo Buddhaya 🕊️
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It is natural to dream about things that you are thinking about.
- Some dreams may have meanings, according to some Commentaries (not the Tipitaka itself).
- For example, it says that Mahamaya Devi (mother of Siddharta Gotama) dreamt about a little elephant entering her womb the day she conceived the prince.
- However, I don’t think it is worth the time to think about dreams.
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but this situation (Buddha Dhamma VS visual spiritual authority) could perhaps be a candidate for the most difficult decision in all the universe!
Idk why but I agree to what you said above. I mean for some, at certain stages, what you said above can be a reality.
I also sometimes remember dreams but not each night but it is a regular occurrence for me and I am sometimes aware that I am in a dream. Sometimes I was even aware at the moment of ending of dream and getting back to reality, there were few times when during a dream, the realisation that I am in dream coincided with ending of dream and awakening to reality. But I don’t remember seeing any spiritual figure in dreams.
As far as I know, there are 2 types of dreams, one is meaningful one, which is rare occurrence and another type is meaningless whose purpose is only for us to help sleep.Also instead of lord Buddha, as I have read that, Siddhartha Gautama had 5 dreams which he had before his enlightenment. So they are said to be the five great dreams of the bodhisattva. I am pasting them here below :
The said five Great Dreams were as follows:
(1) He dreamed that he was sleeping on the surface of the earth as his bed, with the Himalaya mountains as his pillow, placing his left hand on the Eastern Ocean, his right hand on the Western Ocean and both his legs on the Southern Ocean. This first dream presaged his realization of Omniscience and becoming a Buddha among devas, humans and Brahmās.
(2) He dreamed that the species of grass called Tiriyā with a reddish stalk about the size of a yoke emerged from his navel and while he was looking on, it grew up, first half a cubit, then one cubit, one fathom, one ta, one gāvuta, half of a yojana, one yojana and so on, rising higher and higher until it touches the sky, the open space, many thousands of yojanas above and remained there. This second dream presaged that he would be able to teach the Path of Eight Constituents (Aṭṭhāngika-magga), which is the Middle Way (Majjhima-paṭipadā), to humans and deva.
(3) He dreamed that hordes of maggots, with white bodies and black heads, slowly crept up his legs covering them from the tip of the toe-nail right up to the knee-cap. This third dream presaged that a great many people (with black heads) who wear pure white clothes would adore the Buddha and take Great Refuge (Mahāsaranagamaṇa) in him.
(4) He dreamed that four kinds of birds, blue, golden, red and grey in colour, came flying from the four directions and when they threw themselves down to prostrate at his feet, all the four kinds of birds turned completely white. This fourth dream presaged that clansmen from the four classes of people, namely, the princely class, the brahmin class, the merchant class, the poor class, would embrace the Teaching of the Buddha, become bhikkhus and attain arahantship.
(5) He dreamed that he was walking to and fro, back and forth on a large mountain of excreta without getting besmeared. This fifth dream presaged large acquisition of the four requisites of robe, alms-food, dwelling place and medicines and that he would utilise them without any attachment and clinging to them.
Above is from the text ‘Maha Buddhavamsa – The great chronicle of buddhas’. (This text is based on khuddak nikaya from tipitaka, commentaries and is written by monk named ‘Mingun Sayadaw’, who was said to have studied/learned complete tipitaka) (Just giving source info)
Anyways, I completely agree with sir @Lal.
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If anyone can provide such a reference in the Tipitaka, that will be appreciated.
Sir, I found it in a sutta from Anguttaranikaya. Following is the reference sutta:
@Lal sir, I hope I did not break any forum rule of conduct.
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Of course, you did not break any rules. Thank you for the reference.
- Let me provide the Pali version of the sutta Saurabh@2110 provided, and the SuttaCentral translation side-by-side:
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Gratitude to the venerable ones for sharing their thoughts on the issue. 🙏🏻
It is so easy to become a victim of clinging. At the end of the day, what is the difference between dreaming about a stone and dreaming about a deva? The only difference is clinging.
I would ignorantly feel very happy with myself if I dream about the Holy Buddha. Yet, it is just a namarupa (sound & sight / name & form); something you see with your eyes and hear with your ears. Interesting how in dreams you just see and hear, there is no smelling, tasting or touching. It’s like you become a half-brahma… kamaloka form with brahmaloka senses. ☺️
Namo Buddhaya 🕊️
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I would ignorantly feel very happy with myself if I dream about the Holy Buddha. Yet, it is just a namarupa (sound & sight / name & form); something you see with your eyes and hear with your ears.
As I understand it (not realized though) that all experiences are nāma-rūpa in dependence on consciousness (as per dependent origination/paticcasamuppada), but the path can use skillful perceptions to cultivate wholesome qualities. For example, recollecting the qualities of Buddha (buddhānussati) is praised in suttas for generating gladness, serenity, and samādhi. So even if we see any image in dream, if it leads to faith, generosity, or commitment to precepts upon waking, it can be skillful. Also a wholesome perception that inspires faith, virtue, or compassion is not the same as one that inflames greed or conceit, even if both can be clung to. I also think (same as you) the problem is not the image, but clinging, craving, wrong view, or conceit about it.
Interesting how in dreams you just see and hear, there is no smelling, tasting or touching. It’s like you become a half-brahma… kamaloka form with brahmaloka senses.
But as far as I remember, I have dreamt of eating some tasty foods and I have also experienced sense of ‘touching’ or ‘tactile sensation’ in dreams, ‘flying’ included. Maybe it is subjective. But yes sometimes it is interesting, except the scary dreams though.
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