Lucid Dreaming – What is it Exactly?

It has been known to philosophers and theologians since the time of Greek antiquity as well as the time of St Augustine that a state called ‘lucid dreaming’ is possible, where you are aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream state. Many centuries later, during the 1980’s to be precise, the concept of lucid dreaming became a topic of interest to the scientific researchers at Stanford University, especially to the research team led by Stephen LaBerge and his fellow psychologists. The research has thrown open many possibilities and revealed many facets of lucid dreaming. Today we know that there are several techniques through which lucid dreaming can be induced and even their frequency, duration and clarity can be enhanced.

Interestingly, this type of scientific research on lucid dreams was preceded centuries ago by Buddhist contemplatives in Tibet, a country described by LaBerge as ‘rooftop of the world’. It was here as early as eight century that Tibetan Buddhists were practicing a form of yoga which was designed to promote wakeful consciousness during the dream state. Through the learning of these Tibetan Buddhists we are able to fathom that dreams are the creative and imaginative creation of the dreamer. This concept is fully corroborated by subsequent scientific and psychologists’ findings.

Within the overall realm of Tibetan Buddhism yoga is practiced with a broader objective of understanding the human mind and the genuine causes of suffering as well as happiness. In short, it searches for the ultimate truth which is inherent in our lives. The Buddhist religion stands on the Four Noble Truths: (1) recognizing the reality of suffering, (2) eliminating the fundamental yet internal causes of suffering, identified as craving, hostility, and delusion, (3) realizing the possibility of the ending suffering and its source, and (4) following the path of spiritual purification the outcome of which is complete transformation of the psyche as well as uninhibited spiritual freedom.

The principal ethic on which all Buddhist practices is based can be summarized as “avoid inflicting harm on yourself or others, and be of service when the opportunity presents itself.” The next emphasis is resting and balancing the mind which starts with refinement of attention or learning to focus. One can achieve this state of mind by continuously training the attention span to remain focused and enhancing clarity of thinking. If the mind is at peace with itself, it naturally gets rid of the cloud and clutter. According to Buddha: “When mind is established in equipoise it comes to know reality, as it is.” The trained mind which is in a state of perfect equilibrium can be put to use to further explore the potential of human consciousness.

This is the state where the discipline of dream yoga plays a critical role. When you think of scientists or researchers conducting their research work in a laboratory, you know that they use tools which are physically present. Similarly, Buddhist contemplatives who have mastered the art of dream yoga use the dream state as a tool to probe deeper in to the human mind and their research equipment are the various manifestations of consciousness. The first step for the practice of dream yoga is to be aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream state. Usually the lucid dreams would last a very short time and you would wake up in sheer excitement. But with practice, you can learn to calm your mind and retain the lucid dream state. This naturally opens up a fresh vista of new possibilities to explore the dream state further. The first thing to do is to assess whether the dreams can be controlled at one’s own will. According to Buddhist contemplatives, the degree of flexibility to alter the dream contents is entirely up to the dreamer’s own creativity. Moreover, as you go deeper in to the study of dreams, you would realize that dreams can never bring harm to anyone. The entire content of a dream is a simple manifestation of one’s own mind and even the goriest of all dreams are no more dangerous than pure mirror reflections.

The next step of practicing dream yoga is to let the dream fade away gently, without losing one’s wakeful awareness. The physical senses during dreaming are in any case down, so when you allow the dreams to vanish, they do so in to emptiness of space – the illuminated space of awareness. This gives you an opportunity to further explore a state of consciousness called ‘clear light of sleep’ which is without any sensory clutter or mental images. This way you could probe deeper into the consciousness itself and understand how this can manifest itself through various physical senses and add to our cognitive abilities.

Modern researchers have found a sharp distinction between a wakeful and a dream state. Knowing this subtle yet distinctive nature of both, have played an important role in their techniques of inducing lucid dreaming. However, the waking consciousness and the dream state are more like each other than we might have expected. As Stephen LaBerge explains, “dreaming can be viewed as the special case of perception without the constraints of external sensory input. Conversely, perception can be viewed as the special case of dreaming constrained by sensory input. The similarities between wakeful consciousness and lucid dreaming state have been explored in great depth by Tibetan Buddhists who conclude that in comparison to spiritually enlightened human beings, the average man lives in a state which resembles a dream. To give an example, Buddha when he was asked whether he was a mortal soul or a god, he simply replied “I am awake”, capturing the true essence of what Buddha means: ‘one who has awakened’.

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