WORKS WITH THE LEVEL OF SLEEP IN THE SCHOOLS OF AWAKENING India and the foothills of the Himalayas Ariane Weinberger [email protected] Centre of Studies, Parks of Study and Reflection – La Belle Idée February 2018 WORKS WITH THE LEVEL OF SLEEP IN THE SCHOOLS OF AWAKENING India and the foothills of the Himalayas TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 SUMMARY-SINTHESIS 3 INTRODUCTION 7 PART I. THE ASCETICS OF THE FOREST IN ANCIENT INDIA (7th to 2nd centuries BCE) 11 Historical antecedents: Sleep and dreams in the Vedas 12 1. The mystic slumber of the rishis (wise men) in the Upanishads 13 • The transition of Vedaism/Brahmanism to Hinduism 13 • Sleep and Dreams: exploration of Consciousness and experience of Awakening 16 2. The oneiric universe in ancient Jainism and Buddhism 19 • The oneiric landscape of formation of Mahavira and the Buddha 19 • Some “great dreams“ and their interpretations 20 • The double Buddhist position regarding dreams 27 PART II. THE TANTRIC SCHOOLS IN THE MIDDLE AGES (8th to 11th centuries CE) 31 1. Historical context: Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism 32 2. Nocturnal ascesis in Kashmiri Shivaism 34 • The basic doctrines (of Vasugupta and Abhinavagupta) 35 • Some procedures to control sleep 37 • Sleep, dreams and the indicators of spiritual progress 39 3. Dream yoga in Tibetan Buddhism 42 • The teachings of Naropa (dream yoga and the four voids) 43 • The oneiric universe of Milarepa and his lineage 53 PART III. THE “SINCRETIC” SCHOOLS IN MODERN INDIA (20th century CE) 62 1. Historical context: oneiric syncretism 63 2. The Yoga Nidra of Swami Satyananda and posterior schools 64 • Revival and modernisation of ancestral knowledge 64 • Preparatory exercises and nocturnal practices 66 • Lucid dreaming as preparation for death 69 3. The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother 71 • General considerations on dreams and ascesis 72 • Significant dreams: indicators, procedures, interpretations 74 • Satprem: Sleep, death, transcendence 80 CONCLUSION 82 APPENDIX 1: Some analogies with personal experience 85 APPENDIX 2: Synthesis of our study groups on dreams 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY 92 SUMMARY INTRODUCTION This study —focused on the Indo-Tibetan region— was motivated mainly by the interest of discovering those mystical schools where the level of consciousness of sleep was an integral part of the work of Ascesis. The more personal interest was to compare the experiences and conclusions of the mystics with our own observations in this field; observations we have formulated under the following 7 “hypotheses": 1. In the context of Ascesis, dreams are indicators of our spiritual growth: psychological dreams tend to diminish while "significant" dreams increase. 2. Transforming natural sleep into intentional sleep, introducing direction, reversibility and lucidity, is not only possible but also of great interest. 3. When the Purpose occupies a central place, it invades all levels of consciousness, including our reveries and our sleep; dreams then become "spiritual experiences". 4. When the Ascesis is extended to sleep, the dreams may become sort of "allegorised Ascesis practices", that is, “the trains of oneiric images" lead us to the Profound. 5. In this case, the vanishing of the images/registers no longer corresponds to a "fainting" of the consciousness but to a "rupture of the levels" (suspension and suppression of the I); so, the vegetative dream of “diffuse vitality” is converted into an experience of Awakening. 6. Many of the significant dreams are but later translations of the reminiscences of this contact with the Profound during sleep. 7. The significant dreams should be studied and interpreted so that the consciousness can fully integrate their meanings and teachings. At this point, we will comment some aspects of the methodology and documentation we used. FIRST PART In the three thousand years of Indian spirituality, we have highlighted three key periods in which mystics have put a particular intention in the study and control of the level of consciousness of sleep. The first period is located within the classical Indian era, mainly between 700 and 500 BC, with early Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. As a consequence of a deep crisis of the official religion —Vedaism-Brahmanism— religiosity takes a new direction: many spiritual seekers abandon the "worldly" life and the external rituals in order to dedicate their lives to meditation, retiring to the forests as hermits, wandering ascetics or yogis. From these works of self-exploration and self-transformation of consciousness, yoga techniques will emerge, as well as a new mysticism, which has been developed in the Upanishads. The power of the purpose —enlightenment and immortality— impels ascetics to study not only the psychophysical functioning of sleep but also its spiritual dimension. Procedures will be searched for to extend the Ascesis also to the level of sleep, in large part through the control of breathing and mental prayer. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad, the "Great Book of the Forest", we find a long description of an experience of mystical awakening during sleep. Although allegorical dreams are not presented in the Upanishads, in other writings of this epoch and also in later writings referring to this same period, several of them are related. Moreover, these texts mention "experts in the interpretation of dreams" working with so-called "keys of dreams", a kind of dictionary of symbols. In that same period Jainism and Buddhism will emerge. Its founders, Mahavira and Buddha, both wandering ascetics, will build their respective paths of enlightenment filled with "great dreams". We present here some of them, focusing more particularly on the "five great dreams” of Buddha. 3 Finally, we will take a small leap in time, quoting an excerpt from a text of the 2nd century BCE —the dialogue between the monk Nagasena and King Menander—, which informs us about the Buddhist stance regarding dreams: for example, the difference between ordinary and significant dreams, between natural sleep and intentional and lucid sleep. SECOND PART The second period corresponds to the medieval era, more precisely the period between the years 800 and 1100, with the apogee of the Hindu and Buddhist Tantric currents in North India and Tibet. Context. Tantrism is a metaphysic and mysticism based on non-dualism (unification of opposites), and above all, an initiatory teaching transmitted directly and orally from master to disciple. Although tantrism is an energetic path in its essence, it has also incorporated the mental dimension of Buddhism and various iconographic and morphological aspects, without forgetting the devotional component. The great novelty that Tantrism brings is the importance it gives to the "integral experience of life" as a constitutive part of the ascesis practice (sadhana): rather than despising the psychophysical mechanics, it is a matter of knowing and controlling its functioning to perfection, and then transcending it. The Tantric path is a complex and demanding discipline: indeed, the yogis we are presenting here carry out an uninterrupted practice of ascesis, day and night. In the texts of the Shivaism of Kashmir —Hindu Tantric current— various procedures are referred to in order to provoke significant dreams; however, lucidity seems to prevail over oneiric content. Kashmiri yogis exercise with techniques of attention and consciousness-of-self. One of the techniques is to pay attention to the "in-between" —space/instant between two breathings, two postures, two thoughts, etc.— ; and in the context of "night ascesis", to the gap between levels, e.g. between semi-sleep and dream, with the aim of breaking the mechanics of the levels (this "level rupture" that permits suspension/suppression of the I). Of course, the experiences, even if they are frequent, will not be enough. What matters is the stabilisation of the state of Awakening, to progress from "partially enlightened" to "fully enlightened" i.e. permanently and definitively. Of course, the yogis have a "grid" to evaluate their progress. This framework proposes a "scheme of consciousness" which, although it may seem vague or incomplete to our eyes today, nevertheless represents a great advance in the knowledge of consciousness. The texts of Tantric Buddhism, Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism, offer us more complete information about the work with sleep and dreams, which later on —thanks to the Indian mystic Naropa—, will become a full yoga: the "yoga of dreams". Naropa's teaching will reach Tibet, where it will take root and develop incorporating elements of the local religion (the Bon). The Yoga of Dreams and of Clear Light aims to create a "double" capable of transcending. This is a lengthy process, the difficulty of which requires ongoing training. Like the Kashmiri Shivaists, the Buddhist tantrics strive to live in the Purpose all the time, day and night. Their yoga consists of complex procedures organised in successive steps. The preparatory work (so called "outer mandala") and the practices of perfecting ("inner mandala") —some of which remind us of those of our own discipline— propose a path of profound transformation. If during sleep, the yogi knows that he is dreaming (consciousness, lucidity), if he has also acquired the ability to transform his oneiric images at will (mobility, reversibility) and to give them a clear direction (intention, purpose), he will no longer be taken by them and will be able to transcend them and continue without "supports" (i.e. without images, forms). His dreaming will thus become a path of liberation and enlightenment. The lucidity that the yogi will have developed in his sleep will also be of use to him when he dies, since the bardo post mortem is assimilated to the dream state. Instead of getting lost in his own mental labyrinth, the practitioner will be able to avoid the traps of his "mental projections" to go towards the Light. But one must learn to distinguish the different "lights/voids" before arriving to the ultimate Light, to the Light to which the dead also approach, who often cannot integrate it because they are not able to endure its power.