How Does Dream-Like Contemplation

Help the Bardo Body?

Like dreams, like illusions

The external phenomenon, our affliction, and the body are all illusory and dreamlike. Everyone must always practice looking at them like dreams, like illusions, and accept it this way. All manifestations in reincarnation are like dreams and illusions. We must carefully look at all the existences like dreams and illusions. It is excellent if we always practice it.

How do we practice it? For example, what we see with our eyes, what we hear with our ears, what we think in our mind, and so on, we think, “Oh, this is a dream."  We need to always think this way. We need to think this way repeatedly: "This is a dream and that is also a dream."

It is better to practice like this today. Try your best to visualize this way every day. If you always think about it in your mind, you will be able to realize it even in your dreams during sleep at once. “Oh, I am in a dream, not real. I am in the stage of the dream”.

Quick Liberation from Bardo (between death and conception)

If we can always recognize that life is a dream, we will be able to recognize the bardo body in the future when we are in it. What are the benefits of knowing the bardo body? When we are in the bardo body, our mind feels very painful and sad. If you recognize the bardo body at this time, you can think of Amitabha Buddha, and you will be very anxious to be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Blessings.  Then you will be able to be reborn in the Paradise of Pure Land immediately. This has such benefits and is also an absolute necessity.

All worries are eliminated

If we always treat all the phenomena that we see, hear, and think about as a dream, our worries and attachments will slowly decrease and won't be so heavy. This is very important. We often look at all the phenomena as if they are in a dream, then we can balance equally both the very happy situation and the very painful situation. If you are in a dream, you will not be bothered whether things are good or bad. This cultivation of the mind is greatly beneficial to your mind. There will be great improvement and a positive attitude in your mind. During practicing the Dharma, you will not pay attention to all the worries and suffering.

Waking and Dreaming

Have you all learned "The Waking and Dream Debate Song" written by Mipham Rinpoche? This metaphor similes the dreamer to a person, and similes the waking, daytime state to another person. The two of them had very different ideas and kept arguing. At the beginning of the debate, the person who was awake and more able to speak had greater mental energy. He feels that what he thinks may be right, and the dreamer's point of view is wrong. This is a determinate point and says a lot. But in the end, both are wrong. The day person and the night person are the same as in a dream. Both are not real.

Take a good look at this "The Waking and Dream Debate Song". All phenomena are like dreams and illusions. They are all illusory and everyone should meditate carefully. If you always look at it this way, there is no need to be attached to anything. This addiction to attachments is an obstacle to liberation.  Attachments are divided into obstacles to knowledge and obstacles to defilement. 

Our beliefs about the phenomena and attachments are the cause and root of our reincarnation, and it is a very big obstacle. Keep practicing and help yourself in this way.  Gradually you won’t be so limited anymore. All the attachments in our minds need to be removed and eventually eradicated in the future.

We should always think about this cultivation. This is a common dharma. From a tantric perspective, this is a very special practice and a deeper way of cultivation. According to Mahayana Buddhism, it says that all phenomena are like dreams and illusions are illusory. This is how it is said.

Toxic devotion

In fact, it is not a good idea to practice the Dharma with strong attachments in our minds. Why? If redundantly using an attachment to the three wheels (the donor, the receiver, and what is donated), it is poisonous to be dedicated in this way. The dedication has non-toxic dedication and toxic dedication. There is a big difference between non-toxic dedication and toxic dedication.

If we focus on the three wheels: 1) I did good deeds.  2) I have released lives, chanted sutras, listened, contemplated, and practiced dharma. 3) I have dedicated myself to sentient beings. These are examples of persistence and attachment to three wheels, and it is an unclean good deed, and the dedication is poisonous. That is why when we do good deeds or practice Dharma, we cannot have too many attachments.

Bodhicitta and Renunciation

We must have renunciation and Bodhicitta. We must realize that all living beings are our parents once a upon time. This is definitely needed. Why are some areas not needed, and some areas are needed? For the time being, our renunciation and Bodhicitta are needed. They must be cultivated and Bodhicitta must be aroused. Bodhicitta must arise.

However, whether it is the renunciation or Bodhicitta that arises, the real attachments in it cannot exist, and they will all be seen as illusory. In this case, the person who cultivates is also illusory, and the method he cultivates is also illusory. The idea we seek is to become a Buddha, and becoming a Buddha is also illusory. Look at it this way.

Since they are all illusory, reincarnation is also illusory. So, stay away from illusory reincarnation, then you can achieve the illusory fruition of becoming a Buddha. It is not in conflict with whether we do good deeds or develop the Bodhicitta that we need, they are all illusory like dreams. In this way, our cultivation will be more powerful and faster.

Namo Shakyamuni! Thank you!