The Practice of the Night

The night is very important for people because half our lives pass during it; but often we quietly sleep away all that time without any effort or commitment. There has to be real awareness that practice can occur at all times, even during sleep or eating, for example. If this does not happen, progress on the path is difficult to make. Therefore, the practice of the night is very important, and I will explain its theory and practice.

When someone says “practice of the night” we usually think of the practice of lucid dreaming. There are many explanations of lucid dreaming. But in the Dzogchen teaching, the practice of dream work, and development of lucidity, is not fundamental. It is a secondary practice. In the case of dream practice, secondary means that this practice can arise spontaneously or automatically from doing the principal practice, which is called the “practice of natural light.”

This practice, the practice of the natural light, actually has to do with the state prior to dream. For example, a person falls asleep; fall asleep means that all of his senses vanish into him, and thus he is sleeping. From that point on there is a passage, a period of transition, until dreams begin. That period may be long or it may be short.

For some people, the state of dreams begins almost immediately after falling asleep. But what does it mean, that the state of dream begins? It means that the mind begins to function again.

In contrast, that which is called the state of natural light is not a moment or a state in which the mind is functioning. It is the period beginning when you fell asleep and ending when the mind begins to function again. What exists after this? After this exists what we call the milam bardo.1

There is a correspondence between the states of sleep and dream and our experiences when we die. When a person dies, first of all the senses vanish. In speaking of bardos, we speak of the moment when the senses vanish into ourselves as the bardo of the moment of dying, chokyi bardo. At this moment the

person has many sensations of the disappearing or withdrawal of the senses. After that comes a state like unconsciousness; it is similar to a faint. There then begins what is called the arising of four lights. Various tantras2 explain this with some slight differences. Some divide it into four lights;

some refer to five lights. The truth is that it is as if you had fainted and—with the arising of lights—slowly, slowly consciousness is beginning to reawaken.

For example, the mind must begin working in order for reasoning to occur. First we must have an awareness of the senses. The mind begins to receive these

perceptions, but there are no reasoning and thinking yet. Slowly, step-by-step, thinking actually arises. There is the presence of the state of awareness, and yet mind has not begun to enter into operations such as thinking. This is the passage through which one moves in that state which is called the state of natural light. It has always been considered that it is during this period that the practitioner of Tantra realizes him- or herself. In Tantrism this period is also described as the moment in which one meets the mother light.3 It is exactly this moment after the faint, in which awareness develops again, or reawakens. In Tantric initiation, there are four sub-initiations, and the last of them is called the initiation of the word. If you have understood, at that time the master gives a kind of introduction to natural mind.4 Even if you have not realized natural mind but you have a lot of

participation, commitment, and faith, and you practice with devotion, it is sometimes possible that in the moment of the last awakening of consciousness there will come a flash of recognition of natural mind or rigpa. It is not easy, but if you have really had knowledge, it is possible. As you are passing

or moving through, there is a series of the development of lights, for which there are many explanations. In the Dzogchen teaching, the last of these phases, the fifth light, is spoken of as lhundrub,5 the state of self-perfectedness. In that moment you have a reawakening of consciousness. It is possible

for you to recognize that which has been transmitted to you through direct introduction by the teacher. The experience of that transmission is what we call the experience of wisdom.

Let us use the analogy of the sun. Imagine that the sky is covered with clouds, and among these clouds you catch a glimpse of the sun. Even if the clouds have not allowed full sunlight, you have had an experience of what is meant by sun and sunlight. This experience is analogous to that of wisdom. This knowledge is spoken of as the “son” knowledge, in comparison to the “mother” knowledge or full experience. When we practice, we try to develop this son

knowledge. This knowledge is the son of the mother. Some people succeed in practicing and fully developing this knowledge, and thus realize themselves totally in this life. It is said that such a person can realize the Body of Light.6 But even if you have not realized yourself totally and yet have

had experience of practice, then in the moment after death, in this state of lhundrub when you encounter the mother light, you will recognize the full presence of wisdom before you return into the workings of mind. The analogy that is used is that of a son uniting with his mother. The books speak of the

meeting between the son light and the mother light, but what is really meant is that what we had only an example of, we now encounter in its fullness.

This state—as we proceed through the lights to the ultimate light, the Ihundrub, or light of self-perfectedness—is the state in which any and every practitioner of Tantrism realizes himself or herself. It is only after that experience that the state of sipa bardo begins. Up to that point, we experience the chonyid bardo, the bardo of the Dharmata. Why do we call it the Dharmata? Because it represents our actual underlying state, or underlying

consciousness. Only after that begins the sipa bardo, the bardo as one normally knows it, the bardo of existence. In other words, it is where the workings of the mind begin again. It is as if we’d now gone into the state of dream. As in dream you can dream anything and then at a certain moment you

wake up and another day begins, so it is considered that you come out of the bardo, and another existence begins. This existence is determined by its karmic vision, and that is how you transmigrate. This is how we continue day in, night out. So we see that the state of the bardos is not something to

be read about or understood abstractly. It is relevant to practice. The way to practice for death and the sipa bardo is to do this practice of the natural light. If you have become knowledgeable of, or have awareness of, the state of natural light, you will also have that awareness and presence in the moment of dying. If you are capable of dying with presence and awareness, it means you are knowledgeable about the manifestations of light. In this case you will have no difficulty recognizing the mother light.

To repeat: With the beginning of the bardo of existence, the functioning or working of the mind, what is called the mental body, also begins. This is equal

to the arising of the state of dreams. In the practice we do, there has to be an awareness of, or mastery of, the state of natural light. When one has an awareness of the presence of this state of natural light, then even if afterwards the state of dreams arises, one spontaneously becomes lucidly aware that

one is dreaming while dreaming, and automatically one achieves mastery of one’s dreams. This means that the dream does not condition the person, but the

person governs his or her dream. For this reason, the practice of dreams is secondary, and I cannot overemphasize how extremely important it is to do the practice of the natural light.

When we start to dream we may have one of two general types of dreams. One type is karmic dreams and the other is dreams of clarity. In addition to those dreams reflecting karma from our current life, karmic dreams can also be linked to our past lives. For instance, if someone murdered me in a past life, I

may still in this life have dreams of being murdered. It is not true that what we dream is always about our experiences from this life. If an event is very weighty, then you may feel it life after life. When you sleep very deeply, you may create a perfect potential for past karma to manifest within your dreams.

If you merely have heavy tension, it may repeat in your dreams. For example, when you are a child and someone makes a problem for you it could repeat in your dreams. Or, if today I have a problem with someone, it may repeat tonight in my dream. The principle is that if you have heavy tension, and you sleep

deeply, the tension tends to repeat. This is one kind of dream, a karmic dream of bhakshas. Bhakshas means traces of something left. For example, if there is an empty bottle which once contained perfume, you can still smell the trace of perfume. That is bhakshas. The other type of dream is a dream of

clarity. Why do we have dreams of clarity? Because everybody since the beginning has infinite potentiality; that is a qualification of the natural mind that we all possess. Sometimes, even if we are not doing a particular practice, a dream of clarity will manifest because we have that nature. If you are

doing practice of the night and becoming more familiar with it, then not only occasionally, but on a regular basis, you will become familiar with manifestations of dreams of clarity.

What is a dream of clarity? A dream of clarity manifests when there are secondary causes; through the secondary causes it manifests as clarity. We can even obtain advice and predictions for the future because there are secondary causes for future events. A dream of clarity generally manifests in the early

morning. Why? It is because when we first fell asleep, we sleep very deeply. Slowly we consume this heaviness and our sleep becomes lighter. As it becomes lighter, clarity can manifest more easily. If your practice of continuous presence succeeds, then karmic dreams diminish. This is because they are linked

with tensions. The state of contemplation or presence represents total relaxation. Consequently there will be no manifestation of tension. In the place of karmic dreams, you can have more dreams of clarity. You may now understand what the theory is and what is its importance. Now I will explain how you

practice it. If you are an agitated person, then before you go to sleep, you can do a little deep breathing to regulate the flow of air and calm yourself. Then concentrate on a white Tibetan syllable “A” [[[Wikipedia:Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan script]] would not scan; there is an image on the front cover, on the sleeping man’s

chest; when viewed upright, the character looks like a bird wearing a hat—Purusa, your scanner] at the center of your body. If you prefer an English “A” it is acceptable. The important thing is that it correspond in your mind to the sound Ahhh. It is important that when you see that letter you automatically know what its sound is.

If you do not succeed in concentrating and seeing this at first, it may be that you do not know how to visualize. Try writing an “A” on a piece of paper, put it in front of you, and stare at it for a while. Close your eyes and this “A” will appear before your mind immediately. In this way you will get a more

precise image. So, you try to concentrate on this white “A”. Or you fix on the presence of this white “A”, and you stay with it as long as you can. You can also do a kind of training to have greater precision in feeling this presence: Imagine that from the central “A” a second arises, and from the

second, a third arises, until you can see a chain of “A”s going up to the crown of the head. Then you visualize these “A”s coming back down. You can repeat this a number of times if you do not fall asleep immediately. Whenever you have difficulty in feeling the presence of the “A”, it is very useful and

important to do this chain. This is a way of charging your clarity. The most important point is that when you fall asleep, you try to have this “A” present. Initially, it should be accurate and sharp; afterwards you relax. Relaxing does not mean you drop the “A” or that you give it up. You retain a

sense of its presence, and you relax, and thus you fall asleep. For those who have not practiced this before, the first, second, or third time you attempt it you may not succeed at all. In fact, you may find you try it a little and then suddenly you are asleep. Like anything, until you have learned it, it is difficult, but if you exert your willpower, it becomes familiar to you.

If one is capable of falling asleep like this, one would find the full presence of the state of natural light. One falls asleep, and one is asleep with

virtually full awareness. If one has this presence of mind when one enters into the state of dreams, it is easy to recognize that one is dreaming. It may not happen right away; some may arrive slowly at this result. Even if this natural light does not occur directly, the first results will begin to show

themselves in the state of dreams. You may find yourself dreaming strange dreams. What do I mean by strange dreams? As mentioned above, we normally have two types of dreams. The karmic type comes from the traces of our difficulties, problems, memories, and preoccupations.

Then there is the type of dream in which our natural clarity manifests. For example, towards morning, interesting dreams of things you have never thought

about may occur, things that have no relationship to the traces of your thought and past but are more linked to your clarity. If you have practiced the natural light, dreams of natural clarity will manifest more frequently. If you persevere in the practice of recognition of the state of natural light,

it will progressively become easier to repeat the lucid recognition that you are dreaming. There will arise a steady awareness within the dream, and you will know that you are dreaming. When you look in a mirror you see a reflection. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly you know that it is a

reflection. This is similar to knowing that a dream is a dream, to being lucid. Whether the dream be tragic or ecstatic, you are aware that it is merely a dream. Awareness within the dream state becomes a way to develop oneself and to break one’s heavy conditioning. With this awareness, one can

manipulate the dream material. For example, one can dream whatever one wishes or one can pick up a desired theme. One can continue from where one left off dreaming on a previous occasion.

Within the tantric system, the specific dream yoga practice is oriented towards preparing the practitioner for the bardo after the time of death. This is

not the case in the Dzogchen system. In the Dzogchen system, it is not necessary that one commit oneself to working on dreams. That will arise naturally out of the practice of the natural light. The most important thing for this practice, as I have described, is to do the particular visualization of the

white “A” before sleeping. In doing this visualization we use the working of the mind in order eventually to go beyond the mind. What position you use while practicing this visualization is not ultimately important. Many people do this visualization practice after they are lying in bed. You must see what kind of person you are. One person may fall asleep merely by shutting his or her eyes, while another person might need to take a sleeping pill.

Let us take the example of the person who lies down and immediately fells asleep. If this person becomes distracted from his or her practice for a moment, he or she is already asleep. This is the type of person for whom a particular physical position might be useful. If the practitioner is a male it may be

beneficial for him to lie on his right side. Assuming he does not have a cold which has blocked his breathing, it might also be useful for him to close the right nostril with his hand. For women, the position is reversed. A woman should lie on her left side and try to block her left nostril. I am not

saying to stop breathing, if you have a cold. This of course would not be a good thing. But what usually happens is that when you lie down on your side and the unclosed nostril is congested, within a few minutes that nostril will open.

The reason that the positions are reversed for men and women has to do with the solar and lunar channels.7 The reason we take these positions is to make it

easier to enter the state of contemplation, or presence of the natural light. If they make your sleep more difficult, then they are not recommended. That is why I said that these positions are primarily for a person who tends to fall asleep easily. Let us consider for a moment the opposite situation, that of a person who has real problems falling asleep. In such a case it would not be advisable to do this kind of visualization practice or to take this

position. It is likely that this type of person would merely become more nervous and perhaps not sleep at all. An alternative for people of this type would be to observe their thoughts.

Whatever thoughts arise should be merely observed. Then, in this state of observing the thoughts without becoming involved or conditioned by them, one

sleeps. As long as one is not distracted, this is something that anyone can do without creating obstacles to falling asleep. If you have difficulty sleeping at night, there are other practices you may employ to assist you. For example, having this difficulty often means that you need to coordinate the

energy and function of the different elements within your body. If your energy is disordered, it prevents you from sleeping. In this case, a deep breathing practice done repeatedly can be beneficial. You might do the nine-fold purification breathing8 before going to sleep. There are also physical exercises

such as a series of eight movements9 found in Yantra Yoga that can help develop your capacity for correct breathing and also balance your energies as an aid to sleeping. In addition, there are Tibetan medicines to assist a person who has difficulty sleeping.

Unlike sleeping pills they do not cause dependence or other side effects. These medicines, such as Agar 35 and Vimala,10 can be used for one or two months—as long as you need, really—and will not cause any negative side effects. Rather, they will help your health and coordinate your energy. When you do

not need the medicine anymore, you can stop without withdrawal symptoms or negative effects. That is the benefit of these Tibetan medicines. If you have become habituated to Western sleeping pills, you can initially alternate them with Tibetan pills in order to lessen the dependency. One night you use Western medicine, and the next night you use Agar 35. After one or two weeks of alternating, you will be able to stop taking the Western medicine without a problem.

You must not think only of Tibetan medicine when it comes to assuring a good night’s sleep. You should also work with breathing in the manner previously

mentioned, as this is very related to sleep. Sometimes you cannot sleep because one of your three humors11 is disturbed. When the wind humor is disturbed one has particular trouble sleeping. Wind is linked with prana or energy. When prana is disturbed it is difficult to sleep. For more information

on this you can consult books on Tibetan medicine. In a book I wrote12 on the topic there is an explanation of the three humors and of how to overcome problems. For example, to overcome problems related to wind disease, it is helpful to go to bed earlier in the evening, to sleep with warm clothes, and to

have something like soup to eat just before going to bed. If you are not sleeping at night, and instead of relaxing you work hard until late hours, or you eat raw vegetables, this may further aggravate the condition. There are many things to learn in Tibetan medical books.

Everything is related. First try these preparations so you can fall asleep. If you have succeeded, then you can do the practice of the night. If your

situation is between falling asleep immediately, and not being able to fall asleep, then visualize a white “A” or “A”, but one that is not very bright. If you have a problem falling asleep, you must not visualize the white “A” as too bright, and you could also visualize it in a sphere of five colors. This makes it easier to fall asleep. There are many kinds of people and many situations; we should know about all of them. If one does this practice with

commitment, one slowly may become a master of one’s dreams. As one has more awareness and more dreams of clarity, dreaming becomes a practice. For example, as I mentioned, if one has achieved sufficient mastery of dreams, one can transform them. If I am dreaming something ugly, I could transform it into something beautiful, I could cause the dream to deal with some theme or argument that I have chosen, or I could play out some fantasy of my imagination.

One could visit a paradise or contact a certain teacher. There are many things one can do; one can oftentimes work out the dream as one wishes. This can become a test of one’s actual progress.

Let us discuss this in greater detail. As previously mentioned, there are preparations for dreamwork as well as the actual practice. In regards to preparation, it would be advisable for one to conduct a retreat to first practice concentration on

the six syllables13 and their purification. After doing this practice for some time, many disordered dreams may appear. The arising of numerous disordered dreams is a sign that preparation is complete and then one can proceed to the practice. In regards to practice there are three essential points. The first is to examine the dream; the second to control it; and the third to distinguish and recognize the bag-chag or karmic traces.

Prior to sleep each night it is advisable to relax the body, through baths and massage, for example. One must then resolve with full intention to progress

on the path towards full awareness and lucidity within dreams. Next, one may initially make use of the efficacious positions mentioned above that assist in the practice. One thus lays oneself down on one’s side—the right side having to do with the void, the left with clarity—and closes the

corresponding nostril with a finger of the corresponding hand, which lies under one’s cheek. The right side actually governs or allows the void to operate, and the left side helps with the operation of clarity. It may be preferable, initially, to lie on the left side, thus promoting clarity—the work of the unimpeded right. Later as one’s practice becomes stable, position will not be important.

If it seems that you have not dreamed, or there is only a faint memory of a dream, it is indicative that sleep was too deep. In this case, place the

pillows higher, using lighter or fewer covers, let more air and/or light into the sleeping place or move to a more open spot. If dreams do not come regularly, you may experiment by sleeping in whichever way you find comfortable, on either the right or the left side. If dreams still do not come,

concentrate on the throat chakra, and visualize a red A (“A”); if this is difficult, a red ball will suffice. If you still do not remember dreams, visualize the red letter or bead as increasingly more luminous each successive night. If difficulty persists, think of a white bead on your forehead, at

the location of the third eye. If there is still nothing, visualize the white bead with increasing radiance each successive night. These concentrations are performed only if dreams are not remembered.

If you have not mastered the lucidity—awareness that one is dreaming while doing so—then during the day you should continually remind yourself that all that you see and all that is done is not other than a dream. By seeing everything throughout the day as if it were a dream, dream and awareness are

thoroughly mixed. Subsequently, before sleeping, continue to focus well on the red “A” in the throat. Thus, you will fall asleep while fixing on the “A”. Focusing in this way before falling asleep unites the lung or prana there with concentration. On occasion, a fearful nightmare may arise. If due to shock you instantly become lucid, this is called “distinguishing the dream by violent means”. Achieving lucidity in this manner is relatively common; subsequently you must continue to practice concentration on the red “A”, and gradually there will also develop the capacity for lucid awareness within dreams with peaceful themes.

Continued progress in dreamwork, even after lucid awareness is commonly achieved, depends very much on the activities of the day. Intense concentration on a theme or on any subject will lead to its arising. If you wish to cause yourself to dream of a Tibetan deity, for example, think of transforming yourself

into that deity by concentrating on the deity intensely. Similarly, imagining that you are traveling or making imaginary voyages to unknown or even known places will influence your dreams. Later, you can extend the voyages to paradise, for example, causing it to actually appear in the dream. If you

concentrate a great deal during the day, imagining that you are living a dream, then during the night the dream itself will also seem less real. The subject, that which experiences the dream, is the mind. By holding the thought that all is a dream, you begin to dissolve this “subject”. That is, the mind begins to dissolve itself, automatically.

Or, to put it another way, when the object or vision is dissolved, the action rums back towards the subject, causing complete dissolution. Thus, neither vision nor dream exists any longer. One finds that the subject is not concrete and that vision is only “reflections”. One thus becomes aware of the

true nature of both. Vision created by karma and the psychic “tail” or background imprint is the origin of all illusions; if authentic awareness of the illusory reality arises, one arrives at the disappearance of “solid reality.” Realization means true understanding of the waking state and the dream state.

Knowing the true nature of the dream, you may subsequently transform it. If you dream of a snake, for example, upon recognizing that you are dreaming, you should transform the snake into whatever you like, perhaps a man. Thus, it is not the dream which commands the dreamer, but the dreamer who commands the

dream. When you have become able to change the dream, develop your skill by further scrambling the dream elements—for example, putting what is in the east

in the west, multiplying or condensing the elements, turning things upside down, putting high things low, or making what is big, small. This process applies not only to forms, but also to sensations. If you dream of something pleasing, transform it into something unpleasant. Systematically reverse everything.

If you have difficulty transforming dream vision, it may be that in your dreams there arise too many images of the past, of childhood, for example, or even

of other lives. In this case one could say that the dreams are influenced by the psychic “tail” or background. One finds considerable difficulty in transforming such a dream, whereas if one dreams of items or events linked to present or recent situations and happenings, transformation is much easier.

If one dreams of events which never happened—for example, of unknown countries and people—it may also be quite hard to put an end to dreaming or to exhaust the dream state. If all three phenomena arise, intermingled and confused (bag-chag suma) it is an indication that the process of transcending the dream state will be long and extremely difficult. If we have obstacles that hinder us from the final overcoming of dreams (ja-lu-pho-wa-chen-mo), we must make a deeper commitment and pray for progress.

Amid intentional transformation, spontaneous images may arise. For example, if you dream that you are in a forest, and choose to change the situation and place yourself in a desert, some items that appear may be different than what was intended to be projected. As one progresses and manages to maintain meditative awareness, experiences of clarity arise spontaneously. As one continues towards mastery of the dream state, the principal technique next becomes the mixing of daytime vision and dreams. One must constantly carry one’s awareness into the dreams. As soon as the dream arises, instantly be aware

that it is “unreal” (sha-dro). One must also bring this same recognition of unreality to one’s daily vision. As we develop our awareness of the dream nature we may use dreams to deepen our meditative awareness. For example, a meditator who penetrates to the nature of “vision” (of phenomenal existence)

finds it void. This perception of the emptiness of vision can then be transferred into the dream. If, while dreaming, you are not only aware of dreaming, but also conscious that all vision is an illusion, you penetrate to the Void at its heart. Thus a dream can be transformed into knowledge of emptiness,

shunyata. Although awareness of the true nature of the dream may enhance one’s meditative awareness, there is also the danger that by becoming skilled at transformation of the dream images one may become attached. The attachment must be overcome.

The principal means of cutting the attachment through the dream experiences are three. First, during the day, do not dwell upon the dreams you have had. Second, while actually dreaming, watch without judging, without pleasure or fear, regardless of whether the visions seem positive or negative and thus

might provoke joy or unhappiness—that is, attachment. Third, while dreaming and then afterwards, do not “clarify” what is “subject” from what is “object”—that is, do not consider which of the images that appear are real. By proceeding in these ways, you will find that complex dreams gradually simplify,

lighten and eventually may vanish completely. Thus, all that was conditioned will be liberated. At this point, dreams end. You should try to do the practice of natural light each night, just as you should try to be in the state of contemplation continually. For every moment and every activity there are

ways to do Dzogchen practice. If, however, Dzogchen practice of the night is difficult for you, and you have more experience doing tantric style dream practice and you have had an initiation on a particular deity, then perhaps it would be useful for you to continue with your tantric practice. For example,

if you do the practice of Vajrayogini14, then upon sleeping you should try to visualize a very tiny Vajrayogini at the center of your body. We call this tiny being jnanasattva which means wisdom manifestation.

You keep this presence and continue your sleep. There are other visualization practices similar to guru yoga15 in tantric dream practices. For example, you might visualize Vajradhara16 as the unification of all your gurus and manifest that visualization in the center of your body. You would keep the presence

of this visualization, relax, and slowly, slowly go to sleep. Because these are tantric exercises, you should practice only the special instructions you receive from your master. By contrast, in Dzogchen we generally do the visualization of a white “A”, as mentioned above, for the purpose of

coordinating the energy. We visualize the white “A” at the center of the body. After having manifested this white, luminous “A”, we slowly relax. We relax slowly but completely when we do this visualization, so as not to have tension. If we do not relax completely, we will be unable to sleep. We must

spontaneously manifest the white “A” without thinking, without creating, and then relax all effort and go to sleep. In order to remind yourself to visualize the white “A” and to do the Dzogchen practice of the night, it is very useful to put a picture or sign of a white “A” near your bed. No one will know what it is; perhaps they will think it is a piece of artwork. You, however, will know its precise function.

It is also very important to remember the practice of the white “A” when you awaken in the morning. If possible you may sound “Ah” immediately. If you cannot sound loudly because there is someone else sleeping, it is enough that you exhale with “Ah,” as long as you can hear yourself and feel the presence

of that white “A”. This is a method of guru yoga. It is not necessary to say many words or prayers; simply having the presence of the white “A” and recognizing that the “A” is the unification of the mind of all your gurus is sufficient. Then you integrate in a state of contemplation or rigpa.

Starting your morning yoga in this way is wonderful and will help very much with all your practices and particularly your practice of the night. There is a kind of connection you make by remembering the white “A” in the morning and again when you are going to sleep. If you maintain the presence of the white “A” in your sleep, you will have clearer dreams. Your dreams will become more associated with clarity, and slowly, slowly you develop greater awareness.

If you are aware in the dream, you can experience many things within the dream state. It is easier to develop your practices in a dream than in the daytime. In the daytime we are limited by our material body, but in a dream our function of mind

and our consciousness of the senses are unhindered. We can have more clarity. Thus there are more possibilities. For example, it is possible to practice advanced Dzogchen practices of togel and the Dzogchen longde17. If you practice these in the daytime you can certainly have meditative experiences, but in

a dream you can have experiences beyond the limitation of the material body. That is why the practice is very important. In the daytime all experiences we have are very much conditioned by our attachment and tension. We feel that everything is concrete. In a dream we may initially feel that everything is

concrete, but then suddenly remember that it is a dream. When you are aware in a dream, you know you are dreaming and that it is unreal. You know you are in a state of unreality. Once you have this experience, you can also make discoveries about your daily life such as about your major attachments. The ultimate result is to diminish your tension.

For those people who find it difficult to have the kind of presence I’ve described, the practice of the dark retreat18 is very useful. After two days or three days in the dark, you lose your sense of day and night. Your sleep becomes lighter and lighter. You sleep and wake up, sleep and wake up. Such a

retreat offers a good opportunity to develop your presence and clarity. In this environment you can more easily discover what it means to have presence when you are sleeping. Your waking and sleeping states thus become integrated. Normally, for a practitioner, one of the principal ways that signs of

progress manifest is in dreams. Sometimes there occurs, in dream, an intervention on behalf of the practitioner. For example, if I am doing something wrong, I may have a communication through a dream. This may come by way of transmission of the teaching. It may also come through the protectors of the teaching, or the dakinis.

Many problems can be resolved through the transmission that comes in dream. You can’t expect that you are going to have the master at your beck and call in the flesh all your life. When I, for example, had been in Italy for about three years, I had a dream of my master Changchub Dorje.19 In the dream I

actually felt that I had returned to Tibet. It seemed so real, and I was in fact a bit frightened about the Chinese. I was worried, and I said to myself, “Who knows if the Chinese will let me out again.” Then I met my teacher. I felt embarrassed, as my intention was to greet him quickly and then get out of

there, and go back to Italy. My master said to me, “It has been many years that we haven’t seen each other. How is your practice going?” I said, “Well, like this and like that.” And he asked, “What practice have you been doing?” I explained that I had been doing my best to take into

daily life the practice of trechod20. “You haven’t been doing any of the practice of togel21’?” he continued. And I said, “Well, no, I haven’t been doing the togel.” He asked, “Well, why not?” “Well,” I answered, “because you told me that I had to perfect the trechod first. I had to get

it very stable. So I’m working to perfect and make very stable my trechod.” He said, “Well, do you have any doubts about your knowledge of togel?” I said, “No, no, I don’t have any doubts. I just haven’t been doing that practice.” He said, “Well you better get to it. Do the practice of togel.

That is very important.” I said, “Okay, that’s what I’ll be doing from now on.” He said, “Now listen, if you do have any doubts about togel, or anything you don’t understand clearly, go ask Jigme Lingpa.22 I said, “Where is Jigme Lingpa?”

“Up the mountain there, in the cave,” he answered. “Where up?” I said, because right behind the village where my master is, there is a sheer cliff.

When I was living with my master, I went up that mountain many times to collect medicines. I knew perfectly well there is no cave up there. At least in those times there was no cave. I thought to myself, “Well, why is he telling me there’s a cave up there?” The master became wrathful. He said, “If you

really want to understand something, you’ll get up there and find Jigme Lingpa in that cave.” So I didn’t argue anymore. I was very curious about it. I went out and started climbing up the mountain to see where the cave was. A certain part of the rock face is white, but in this dream I found it a little

bit different from how it had been. It was all carved with innumerable letters which I could read in Tibetan. It seemed like a tantra. I thought, “This is very strange. It wasn’t like that before.” And I thought to myself, “Well, from walking, climbing, over this tantra, I’m going to accumulate some bad

actions.” This is a Tibetan way of thinking about things. So with this preoccupation, I started reciting the one-hundred syllable mantra.23 Then slowly, slowly I continued to climb up. At a certain point there was a sort of curved rock that I had to climb on; this rock appeared to be a title page, with

the title of the tantra which I’d just been climbing over. It was called the Todral donsal ningpo gurd. Trodral means beyond concept; donsal means to clarify the meaning; ning-po means the essence. Later I discovered that there actually is a tantra of that name.

So then I climbed up and slowly, slowly approached the very peak of the mountain and there was a cave. Coming close, I looked inside this rather large cave. At the very center, there was a stone—a white boulder, hard and like granite. It was not a tiny stone; it was a big boulder. Sitting on this rock was a little boy. I’m sure that he wasn’t more than seven or eight years old. I looked around. There was nobody else in there. I said to myself, “This is pretty strange. Jigme Lingpa lived a long time ago. He couldn’t be a little boy like that.” Meanwhile this little boy was looking at me. I thought to

myself, “Well, since my master told me to come up here and meet Jigme Lingpa, who knows, maybe this is some kind of emanation of Jigme Lingpa.” I thought that I had better behave well towards him.

So I directly approached the child. He was wearing a garment that was like a transparent blue shirt. He had nothing else on. He had long hair, but not tied

up like that of a yogi. He just looked like a normal little boy. I found this pretty strange. So I came up right in front of him. I said, “Master Changchub Dorje sent me to you.” The little boy looked at me. He looked almost as if he were surprised to hear this. Looking at the boy I began to doubt him, but I

watched what he was doing. Finally he gestured me to sit down. When I sat down, he reached and touched the back of his head, and brought forth a roll of paper, a scroll. He opened the scroll and began to read from it. When he read, it was in the voice of a little boy, but he was not giving a teaching or an

explanation. He was reading. He read four or five sentences. Immediately upon hearing his voice, I realized that the scroll was a tantra. At that moment it struck me, “Oh it’s true, it is Jigme Lingpa. Because it could hardly be some ordinary little boy who can produce a scroll and then read in this fashion.”

And with this emotion, this startling thought, I awoke from the dream. Afterwards I did elaborate research to find those texts, and I found specific texts on the Dzogchen togel practice. This is an example of the fact that a relationship between master and disciple always exists regardless of questions of

time and distance. My master was far, far away in Tibet; I was living in Europe. These are some of the possibilities that can occur within dreams as one’s practice progresses.

If you fall asleep with the presence of the “A” you may find yourself waking in the morning with it still present. You can then assume that you have spent the entire night in practice. As the night is rather long, and you have nothing else to do but sleep, it is very important to utilize the time. Night can

become, for a practitioner, even more important than the practice of the day. The final goal of dream practice is that dreams become awareness and at that ultimate point dreams actually cease. You use your practice so that your dreams influence daily life. This is the principal practice of the nighttime.

Notes

1. Bardo: literally, “intermediate state”. There are six bardos: The first is the bardo of the ordinary waking state (Tibetan, kye ne bardo). It is the experience of the awake and conscious reality as we know it. The second is the bardo of the dream state (Tibetan, milam bardo). It is the

experience of dream time while sleeping. The third, the meditation bardo (Tibetan, samten bardo}, includes all experience of meditation, from novice meditation to total realization. The fourth, the bardo of the dying process (Tibetan, chilkai bardo), is the process during which the five elements of

which our body is constituted (space, air, water, fire, earth) dissolve into one another. According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, first the element of earth, which is yellow in color, dissolves into the water element. The dying person simultaneously sees yellow and feels weak and unable to stand, as

though all of his or her surroundings were falling apart. Secondly the element of water dissolves into the element fire. Inwardly the dying person sees white and outwardly feels as though his or her surroundings were flooded with water. At this point the face and throat feel dry and great thirst arises.

Thirdly, the element of fire dissolves into the air element. Inwardly the dying person sees red while outwardly his or her surroundings feel hot. The person may feel a burning sensation as the body’s heat dissolves. Fourthly, the element of air dissolves into the element of space or ether. The dying

person inwardly sees green and outwardly experiences the surroundings as though they were being destroyed by a ferocious wind and loud thunder. At the fifth stage, the ether dissolves into consciousness, phenomena become dark, and momentarily consciousness is lost, as in a faint.

The fifth bardo, (Tibetan, chonyid bardo), the bardo of reality, entails the arising of apparitions and hallucination-like experience as a consequence of

one’s karmic propensities. Using meditative awareness the individual has an opportunity to recognize these images in their illusory, true nature. These hallucinatory visions are similar in nature to the images in dreams. Hence the capacity for lucid dreaming may be useful for understanding them as

illusion. According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an enlightenment experience is possible if one can maintain the view that the frightening experiences are nothing more than manifestations of one’s mind. The sixth bardo, (Tibetan, sipa bardo), the bardo of the search for rebirth in samsara,

corresponds to the Tibetan Buddhist view of reincarnation. The sipa bardo details the process whereby an individual will be reborn in one of six realms (the god realm, demi-god realm, human realm, animal realm, hungry-ghost realm, and the hell realm), depending on karma. In an interesting parallel to

psychoanalytic theory, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition asserts that the individual, while still in a mental body, will be sexually attracted to the parent of the opposite sex, and have an aversion to the parent of the same sex. In fact, according to Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, all that the disincarnate being sees are the sexual organs of the parents-to-be. This is perhaps the most basic foundation of what we call the Oedipus complex. [return]

2. Tantra: literally, “continuation”, in the sense that although all phenomena are void, nevertheless phenomena continue to manifest. All tantric methods work with the principle of transforming deluded thought to pure perception. See Crystal and the Way of Light, p. 30. The word tantra also refers to the texts within which these methods are described. [return]

3. Mother Light: In Dzogchen, one practices dream yoga or the practice of the Clear Light at the moment of falling asleep and before the arising of the dream state. The experience of Clear Light is known as the “son” experience. If, through correct meditative practice or contemplation, the Clear Light has

been clearly recognized during life, then at death the practitioner once more recognizes and integrates with the “mother” Clear Light. This is known as the joining of the “son” and the “mother”. The mother Clear Light is the natural, innate luminosity as it appears in its fullest expression in the after-death state. See John Reynolds, Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness (Barrytown, N.Y.: Station Hill Press, 1989), p. 153, note 63. [return]

4. Introduction to natural mind: In the various methods of introducing one’s natural mind, the master is assisting the student in developing awareness, also called rigpa or the intrinsic awareness of one’s natural state, referring to pure presence. [return]

5. Lhundrup: literally, “self-perfection.” This refers to one’s state or existence which is perfect from the beginning, and all that manifests. These manifestations or reflections arise spontaneously, and are complete within themselves. Lhundrup specifically refers to the innate clarity of the self-perfected state. [return]

6. Body of Light: Tibetan, ja-lus. Also known as the “rainbow body.” Certain realized beings (practitioners of Longde and Managede levels of Dzogchen) achieve the transformation of their ordinary bodies into a Body of Light at the time of death. In this process the physical body dissolves into its natural state, which is that of Clear Light. As the elements of the body are purified, they transform from their gross manifestation (body, flesh, bone, etc.) into their pure essence as the five colors: blue, green, white, red, and golden yellow. As the body dissolves into these five colors a rainbow is formed and all

that remains of the physical body are fingernails and hair. Twentieth-century practitioners of Dzogchen who have attained the Body of Light include the teachers and family members of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche—for example, his uncle Urgyen Danzin (Togden), his two teachers Changchub Dorje and Ayu Khandro, and Changchub Dorje’s master, Nyala Pema Dendul. [return]

7. Solar and lunar channels: Within the esoteric tsa-lung treatises found in Anu-Yoga texts of Tibetan Buddhism, there are elaborate explanations of the channels (Tibetan tsa) in which internal winds travel. The solar and lunar channels are considered to be located on either side of the central channel (uma), which parallels the spinal cord. These solar and lunar channels represent masculine and feminine energy. Their colors-red and white—as well as their placement on the right and left side differ amongst various Tantras. [return]

8. Nine-fold purification breathing: Tibetan, lungro salwa: A breath exercise performed before a session of meditation (tun), or before practicing Yantra Yoga. In these exercises one visualizes oneself inhaling purified air and exhaling negativities and impurities. It is used as a practice preliminary to meditation to balance the energy and settle the mind. [return]

9. The eight movements: Tibetan, lung sang: Yogic exercises to purify the prana or breath. The eight movements are described within the Yantra Yoga text, “The Unification of the Solar and Lunar” (Tibetan, Trulkor Nyida Khajor), written in the eighth century by the master Vairocana. See Namkhai Norbu, Yantra Yoga, edited by Oliver Leick (Gleisdorf: Edition Tsaparang, 1988), p.33. [return]

10. Agar 35 and Vimala: Tibetan herbal medicines. Agar 35 is made of thirty-five natural ingredients; both Agar 35 and Vimala are taken for insomnia and to balance “lung”, a disordered wind condition. These preparations can be purchased through the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, Khara Danda Road, Dharamsala, Dist. Kangra, H.P. 176215, India. [return]

11. Three humors: lung (air or wind), dripa (bile), and bad-kan (phlegm). The correct balance of these three humors is considered essential for health. An imbalance will lead to one of the myriad diseases to which humans are prone. [return]

12. Namkhai Norbu, On Birth and Life: A Treatise on Tibetan Medicine (Arcidosso: ShangShung Editzioni, 1983). [return]

13. Concentration on the six syllables and their purification: The six syllables—A, Aaah, Ha, Sha, Sa, Ma—are each symbolic of a realm of existence, including those of the gods, demigods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings. Karmic tendencies to be reborn in one of these samsaric realms,

which originate through improper actions, must be purified. Meditation on the six syllables unites lung (prana) and mind concentration in order to purify these tendencies. The specific practice of concentration on the syllables employs visualization and mantra directed at specific points of the body where these propensities are believed to concentrate. [return]

14. Vajrayogini: A meditational deity in sambhogakaya form, representing the feminine aspect of primordial wisdom. [return]

15. Guru yoga: Unification with the mind of the guru (one’s master teacher), who is seen as a manifestation of the minds of all enlightened beings. The

mind of the guru is considered the same as one’s intrinsic awareness. Through the practice of guru yoga one receives blessings from the guru, thus enabling one to rest in the primordial state. There are elaborate and simple forms of guru yoga. In Tantra, one finds a more elaborate style, whereas in Dzogchen a

simpler version may be practiced. One of the forms of guru yoga taught most frequently by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche employs a white “A”, a Tibetan “A”

The “A” is visualized in the center of one’s body as the union of all one’s masters. By sounding “Aaa.. .h” and feeling the blessings of the teachers, one may enter into a state of union with their enlightened awareness. [return] 16. Vajradhara: A male meditational deity, the form through which Shakyamuni Buddha reveals the teachings of secret mantra. [return]

17. Longde: One of the three series of Dzogchen teachings. The three series are: “Managede”, or essential series, the “Longde”, or the series of space, and the “Semde”, the series of mind. These series of Dzogchen instruction ultimately have the same goal, that of bringing the practitioner into absolute contemplation. The Longde series works specifically with symbolic introduction and is widely known for practices that bring one to contemplation through assuming special positions of the body and holding pressure points. See Norbu, The Crystal and the Way of Light, p. 80. [return]

18. Dark Retreat, also called Yangtik. A highly advanced Dzogchen meditation technique practiced in complete darkness. Through the Yangtik practice, an initiate who is already capable of maintaining contemplation may proceed swiftly to total realization. [return]

19. Changchub Dorje: The principal master of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. Changchub Dorje was a terton and master of Dzogchen. He was the master whom Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche credits as having truly introduced him to the state of Dzogchen. He also gave Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche transmission on Semde, Longde, and

Managede. Though an extraordinary master, Changchub Dorje had a simple lifestyle, dressing in the garb of an ordinary country person. At Nyalagar, in Derge, Eastern Tibet, he directed a small community of Dzogchen practitioners. In addition to being a lama, he was an adept physician. People would come

from distant places to receive both Dharma teachings and medical consultations. Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche acted as a scribe and secretary for this master and assisted him in his medical consultations. At the end of his life Changchub Dorje attained the Rainbow Body of Light. See The Crystal and the Way of Light, p. 108. [return]

20. Trechod: Literally “cutting through”, this term refers to the experience of total relaxation. Trechod is the method of maintaining one’s state of rigpa throughout all situations. Trechod is the ability to cut through discursive and dualistic thought at any moment, bringing oneself to pure presence. [return]

21. Togel: “Surpassing the uppermost” or “leaping over.” After perfectly succeeding with one’s practice of trechod, one practices togel. Togel is useless without a perfected practice of trechod and is hence secret until that time. Togel is considered the fastest of methods for achieving total realization. Togel practice brings about the union of vision and emptiness. One continues to develop meditative contemplation through vision until the Body of Light is manifest. See Crystal and the Way of Light, p. 101 and John Reynolds, Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness, p. 136, note 33. [return]

22. Jigme Lingpa (1729-1798): A reincarnation of Vimalamitra, Jigme Lingpa was a great Nyingmapa Dzogchen Master from East Tibet. He was a great scholar and compiled and edited the Longchen Nyingthig, the compiled teachings of Longchenpa. Jigme Lingpa also wrote extensively on Tibetan medicine and Tibetan history, and worked for the development of the non-sectarian “Rimed” school of Tibetan Buddhism before achieving the Body of Light. [return]

23. The one-hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva: One purifies negative karma and obscurations through recitation of this mantra, one of the most renowned within Tibetan Buddhism.