The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep [Paperback]

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Author), Mark Dahlby (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 1998

"If we cannot carry our practice into sleep," Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche writes, "if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."

This book gives detailed instruction for dream yoga, including foundational practices done during the day. In the Tibetan tradition, the ability to dream lucidly is not an end in itself, rather it provides an additional context in which one can engage in advanced and effective practices to achieve liberation.

Dream yoga is followed by sleep yoga, also known as the yoga of clear light. It is a more advanced practice, similar to the most secret Tibetan practices. The goal is to remain awake during deep sleep when the gross conceptual mind and the operation of the senses cease. Most Westerners do not even consider this depth of awareness a possibility, yet it is well known in Tibetan Buddhist and Bon spiritual traditions.

The result of these practices is greater happiness and freedom in both our waking and dreaming states. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep imparts powerful methods for progressing along the path to liberation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A detailed guide to using our night-lives for awakening: thought-provoking, inspiring, and lucid."—Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., author of Lucid Dreaming    

"This explication of the dream and sleep practices becomes a window on the entire teachings of Tibetan Tantra and Dzogchen. I enjoyed this book immensely...powerfully and beautifully presented."—Martin Lowenthal, co-author of Opening the Heart of Compassion    

"A highly useful manual to initiate one into dream and sleep yoga"—D.R. Chaudhry, The Tibet Journal    

"...extremely clear and detailed"—Shambhala Sun    

"This is an appealing book, not only for Buddhist dream yoga practitioners, but for anyone interested in the whole area of lucid dreaming or dream work. The Tibetan syllables and the places they are to be visualized within the body are clearly illustrated; the practical instructions are well placed within a theoretic framework; and the entire work has the flavour of direct oral teaching from an expert."—Angela Sumegi, The Tibet Journal

"Using clear concepts, illuminating images and metaphors, and effective practices, Rinpoche transmits a comprehensive, profound view of the teachings that lead to realization of our true nature."—Martin Lowenthal, author  

"The most illuminating book on this topic to appear to date."—J. Marvin Spiegelman, Ph.D.

"The result of these practices is greater happiness and freedom in both our waking and dreaming states.... [I]mparts powerful methods for progressing along the path for liberation."—The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies

About the Author

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a lama in the Bon tradition of Tibet, presently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the founder and director of Ligmincha Institute, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bon tradition. He was born in Amritsar, India, after his parents fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet, and received training from both Buddhist and Bon teachers, attaining the degree of Geshe, the highest academic degree of traditional Tibetan culture. He has been in the United States since 1991 and has taught widely in Europe and America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Snow Lion Publications; 1st. ed edition (January 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559391014
• ISBN-13: 978-1559391016
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Dreams

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

152 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clearly written and surprisingly accessible, January 16, 2001

By 

Walter O. Koenig "Amoxtli" (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep (Paperback)

I was intrigued by this book when I first saw it, but was afraid, that it was like others in this subject, difficult to understand and written unclearly. What a pleasant surprise then it was to read this book. It is clearly written, concise, with a lot of examples that we, who are not experts in this practice, can relate to. What I really like about the way that Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche writes is that no only does he want to sincerely convey difficult teachings previously not taught to the General Public (see Final Words), but he writes with genuine Compassion.

The Book begings with discussions on the Nature of Dreams and their relationship to "Reality" and Karma. He also provides an introduction to breathing, chakras and the nature of dreams before moving on to the actual practice. Here another great feature of the book is the emphasis that the practice can be gradually incorporated into one's life, but that already from the beginning one can benefit greatly. I think that this is very important, because otherwise potential practitioners might be discouraged, because the practice is quite involved and requires great discipline. The book ends with elaborations on the practice as well as kind encouraging words from the author.

What a pleasure it is to finally have a book that describes these important practices, which are instructions for understanding our reality, our dreams, ourselves and are preparations for our eventual death. I highly recommend this book, and am looking forward to more books by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.

191 of 195 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Guide to Tibetan Bon Buddhist Practice, May 29, 2002

By 

Nicq MacDonald (Sioux Falls, SD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep (Paperback)

After reading Sogyal Rinpoche's "Tibetan Book of Living and Dying", I was intrigued by the practice of "Dream Yoga", which, although mentioned and discussed several times in Sogyal's book, was never covered in any depth. "Living and Dying" didn't include any instructions in the practice of this exercise either, so I decided to look elsewhere. While glancing through the Eastern Religion section of a local bookstore, I stumbled upon this fine little volume.

Wangyal Rinpoche delivers more than a guide to the practice of Dream Yoga- he delivers a guide to a complete nondual practice. The book includes meditation instructions, Guru Yoga and Dakini practices, breathing instructions, a guide to basic Tibetan bioenergetics, a little history of the Bon tradition, a brief introduction to Tantra and Dzogchen, and even a glossary filled with Tibetan and Sanskrit terms used throughout the book. There is enough here to begin a spiritual practice beyond dream yoga.

To the seeker looking for a guide to Tibetan mysticism, look no further- "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" is the perfect introduction.

173 of 185 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkably well-written and informative., April 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep (Paperback)

Even for a seasoned lucid dreamer like myself, this book was highly useful in offering traditional Tibetan practices for lucid dream induction, as well as various suggestions for activities to attempt within a fully lucid dream. However, what is most amazing about this book is its instructions for abiding as the pure, empty Awareness (rigpa) that is our true Self. As a Zen Buddhist, I am quite familiar with maintaining this "mirror-mind," but I usually cannot maintain it for very long, and I've never held it past the dream stage, into deep dreamless sleep. The practices in this book are helping me to change all that. Maintaining meditation practice during sleep--literally 24 hours a day--accelerates things profoundly. When the gross, manifest world of spacetime has dissolved into the subtle realm of souls and dreaming, and when even that realm has dissolved into Emptiness, your truest self shines forth clearly as the one and only Mind behind all illusory manifestation. Truly, the awareness within you that is right now reading these words is the Buddha. Your true nature is absolutely vast, silent, empty, blissful, and timeless Consciousness as Such--the source and substance of all that seems to exist. When you become identified with this Consciousness, your true Self, and not merely with the deluded, individual mind (or ego), you find yourself in a state of constant consciousness--never blinking, never fading, 24 hours a day--remaining completely "awake" even during dreaming and deep sleep. You'll have discovered your true Home--the Home you've never left, the Home you couldn't possibly leave, but a Home that you refused to admit you were in while you suffered for lifetimes in this silly dream.