Self Inquiry During A Lucid Dream

[Emerald]

The night before last, I woke up with sleep paralysis and from that state fell asleep into a lucid dream. Realizing that I was dreaming, I decided to experiment with self-inquiry during the dream state since the nature of being is ever-present. So, perhaps the breakthrough of enlightenment could be possible to have even in mid-sleep or it could at least give me insight as to what the dream experience shares in common with waking experience relative to being. So, I started asking myself "What's perceiving this?" Things got a little wavy and strange, but no Earth-shattering breakthroughs. But I do find it an interesting thing to experiment with because it seems like it could possibly work, and perhaps the fuzziness of the dream-state might allow for greater open-ness and receptivity. Just sharing... any thoughts?

[Leo Gura]

I remember hearing of reports of people having an enlightenment experience in their sleep. It's possible if you do lots of self-inquiry and carry the inquiry with you into bed.

Try doing inquiry for 5 days straight, day and night, 24/7, no matter what you're doing. I've tried it. It's fucking brutal. Even in my dreams I was inquiring. Don't really care to repeat that, but it can be very effective.

[Emerald]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I remember hearing of reports of people having an enlightenment experience in their sleep. It's possible if you do lots of self-inquiry and carry the inquiry with you into bed.

Try doing inquiry for 5 days straight, day and night, 24/7, no matter what you're doing. I've tried it. It's fucking brutal. Even in my dreams I was inquiring. Don't really care to repeat that, but it can be very effective.

Thank you for the info. I will try this more in the future.

[Leo Gura]

I think it was Shinzen Young who I heard once say that some Eastern master told him that when he awakens in the morning he should remember whether he fell asleep that night on an in-breath, or on an out-breath. Hehe, those crazy Buddhists

[Emerald]

10 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I think it was Shinzen Young who I heard once say that some Eastern master told him that when he awakens in the morning he should remember whether he fell asleep that night on an in-breath, or on an out-breath. Hehe, those crazy Buddhists

That makes sense. As a child, I remember trying to remain aware of the exact moment that I went to sleep. I was never successful, but it seems like cultivating the ability to do this could sort of flex the awareness muscles. 

[str4]

I decided to reply to this — albeit a year old thread — since I had a strange experience while self-inquiring in sleep.

I've been self-inquiring like hell lately, and sure enough, this night it transferred to my sleep. Immediately when I concentrated on the inner feeling of "I" in my sleep, I had a violent burst of energy all through my "sleep body". I don't really know how to describe it other than it being some kind of energy, and so violent that it woke me up, and I remained stunned after that. No traces left of the energy after waking up though.

I don't really know what to make of these enlightenment experiences while sleeping. My logical mind, of course, says that anything is possible in sleep so I shouldn't think about it too much, but then again, what is a dream and what is not...

[Emerald]

4 hours ago, str4 said:

I decided to reply to this — albeit a year old thread — since I had a strange experience while self-inquiring in sleep.

I've been self-inquiring like hell lately, and sure enough, this night it transferred to my sleep. Immediately when I concentrated on the inner feeling of "I" in my sleep, I had a violent burst of energy all through my "sleep body". I don't really know how to describe it other than it being some kind of energy, and so violent that it woke me up, and I remained stunned after that. No traces left of the energy after waking up though.

I don't really know what to make of these enlightenment experiences while sleeping. My logical mind, of course, says that anything is possible in sleep so I shouldn't think about it too much, but then again, what is a dream and what is not...

It may have been a Kundalini movement or an energetic experience in general. Several times during sleep paralysis and one time after Kundalini meditation while I was sleeping, I've gotten bursts of energy running up and  my spine. The last one, felt just like electricity violently moving up my spine.

[AlwaysBeNice]

I'm practicing almost all day for a few weeks now.

It seems to carry over into dreams to some degree, dreams definitely have trippy deep moments in them at times (which also started after 5-MeO/ayahuasca, so I am not sure how related). As for the lucid dreams, after a shroom trip which started this journey some years ago, which clearly showed me life is a dream, all dreams have become semi-lucid, and I have given up trying to discern the waking/dream state.

Self-inquiry is there to some degree always, but I find that dreams are usually so dynamic and involving that there's nothing for me to do more except watch and enjoy the awe-inspiring (emotional) roller coaster.

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I think that doing wake induced lucid dreaming is the only thing worth practicing on this field

Other techniques during the day are not worth the time because self-inquiry is already doing that.

WILD is really really hard though, not in terms of technique, but in terms actually doing it.

You need a strong mind to resist the grace of sleep and get up, keep yourself awake to then slowly go back into it.

But if you can manage it it's a strong spiritual tool for sure.

[Nahm]

In a way, every dream stands to enlighten as we sure do convincingly perceive that there are others in our dreams. They seem so real, but there is just the dreamer.