Are You Dreaming Or Are You Awake?

Ask yourself right now: Are you dreaming or are you awake? Whatever the answer is, how do you know that you are dreaming or that you are awake?

SUTRA (the key): Only when your awareness rises, then you can know! Before that, you really have no way of knowing.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Dhyansey and you're listening to Dhyansey Meditation Podcast.

This meditation session was given on 7th of January 2019 in Basel,

Switzerland.

In this session,

I talk about the dream,

The dreamer and the awareness in meditation.

Are you dreaming right now?

Are you dreaming or are you awake right now?

Give yourself this moment.

If you want,

You can close your eyes and ask yourself,

Are you dreaming or are you awake?

Are you dreaming or are you awake?

You can open your eyes.

The next question arises,

How do you know that you're dreaming or you're awake?

In Taoism,

There was a master,

His name was Chuang Tso.

He was a famous master and once he was dreaming.

In his dream,

He was a butterfly flying from one leaf to the other,

Happy from one flower to the other,

Just being in the moment.

And suddenly,

He woke up from this dream,

He found himself lying in bed,

He looked at himself,

He looked at the body and he asked himself,

He asked himself whether he is that man who dreamt that he was a butterfly or he's a butterfly who is now dreaming that he's a man.

How do you know that you're dreaming or you're awake?

Only when your awareness rises,

Only then you know.

Before that,

You do not know that you're dreaming or you're awake.

For example,

When you go to sleep,

You are in a dream,

A sweet dream where you are sitting on the beach,

It's nice,

Sunny,

Blue sky,

Turquoise water.

You hear the shore,

The waves,

It's very serene,

It's hot and you feel like now you need to eat an ice cream because it's so hot.

And you see there is an ice cream seller,

You buy an ice cream,

You lay back again and you start licking that ice cream.

Everything is amazing,

So much pleasure and somehow somebody wakes you up or you wake up and you find yourself licking the pillow.

Some of us may want to continue licking the pillow and go back to sleep,

But this is one situation.

It could also be a nightmare where one night you're dreaming,

You find yourself in a jungle chased by a tiger and you're running and the tiger is running behind you.

You're trying to run as fast as you can in that dream and the tiger is running behind you in that dream.

The tiger is faster than you,

It's coming and chasing you and the distance is decreasing and comes a moment where the tiger puts his claw on your back and you shout,

Ah!

And in that noise,

In that fearful state,

You wake up and you realize that it was just your husband or wife or loved one,

Somebody touching your back,

No tiger.

Meditation is to come out of the dream.

Meditation is a process of knowing that you are dreaming.

Meditation is the way to come out of the dream that there is no tiger.

Also,

There is no ice cream.

The choice is yours,

But at least it takes you out of the dream.

Whether you would like to go back to sleep and enjoy the dream is up to you,

But it gives you the possibility to come out and experience that it was a dream.

Life,

When it's just a dream,

It's full of vulnerabilities,

All highs and lows,

All winnings and losses,

Happinesses,

Sadnesses,

Everything that you experience is just a dream until you know that it is a dream.

In meditation,

We try to raise the awareness so that you come out of this dream.

There are three things,

The dream,

The dreamer and the awareness.

Let's understand very briefly what these three things are.

In a dream which you sleep,

Which you take at night while you're sleeping,

You understand this phenomena very well,

Where you understand that yes,

There is a dream.

And also,

There is a dreamer who is in a sweet dream enjoying the ice cream and in a nightmare is getting terrified by a tiger.

And there is something which is breaking you out of the dream,

That awareness.

The dreamer is a part of the dream,

But the awareness is not a part of the dream.

When you are in the dream,

You are the dreamer.

But when you are out of the dream,

When you have recognized that it was a dream,

You are the awareness.

You're not the dreamer of the dream anymore.

The entire spiritual process,

The entire spiritual journey in whichever tradition you pick up is nothing but this journey from the dreamer to the awareness.

You recognizing yourself,

Identifying yourself as the dreamer to recognizing yourself as the awareness.

What we're going to do today is to separate the dream,

The dreamer and the awareness.

We will do it as an assumption in the session today,

But you can extend this to your daily life in the next days and practice this in situations which are not just sitting down for meditation,

But also in your daily routines,

You can practice this meditation technique.

This technique is coming out of the tantra tradition.

It is a one single sentence sutra which is witness everything as if it is a dream.

The word as if is important because it's an assumption in the beginning.

It's an assumption in the beginning,

But when you practice it,

It changes the nature of your experience.

It becomes your reality and that's where the separation between the dream,

The dreamer and the awareness begins for you.

For today's meditation technique,

We are going to do this in three steps.

We're going to like always sit down restfully,

Be here,

Sit in a comfortable posture.

And then we are going to assume that everything that you hear,

That you can feel,

Your body,

The noises outside,

Anything that is going on in your mind is nothing but a dream.

That's it.

What you have to do is to imagine that all that you are experiencing,

All that is what you are hearing from your senses,

All what is going on in your thoughts,

Everything is just a dream.

Go deep into this imagination,

Into this assumption,

Into this very idea that maybe it's all a dream.

And indulge with it,

Go as deep in it as possible.

That would be the step number one.

Step number two,

When you have settled into this imagination of everything is a dream,

Try to identify who is the dreamer,

Who is this dreamer.

Is this dreamer creating the dream?

Is this dreamer a part of the dream?

Who is this dreamer?

Explore this dreamer,

Explore this dream.

When you have done that enough,

When you have played with it enough,

Leave the dream,

Leave the dreamer,

Stay aware.

Because while you are observing the dream,

While you are observing the dreamer,

There is something,

There is this awareness that allows you to see the dream,

Allows you to see the dreamer,

Recognize that,

And turn towards it.

Stay in it.

If you do not follow the meditation instructions,

Just stay quiet,

Simply stay quiet,

Stay relaxed,

Stay aware in silence of this group,

In silence of this meditation for the next 20-25 minutes.

Shall we start?

Close your eyes.

Take a nice deep breath,

Inhale from the nose,

And also exhale from the nose.

Once again,

Inhale from the nose,

And exhale from the nose,

And continue breathing very naturally as you always do.

Keep your back straight,

Shoulders down,

Face relaxed,

Face relaxed,

And your entire body completely relaxed.

Become aware of the noises that you hear outside.

Become aware of this moment that you are sitting here in meditation for the next minutes.

Become aware of your body.

Become aware of your body.

Slowly allow yourself to get into this assumption,

Imagination,

That all that you can hear,

Feel is a dream.

You are a part of this alive dream.

You are sitting silently and experiencing everything as a part of the dream.

Go deeper.

Your body is also a part of the dream.

You are just dreaming that you have a body.

Stay silent and observe this dream.

Stay still without getting involved.

Let this feeling grow that everything is a dream.

You are simply observing this dream.

Your environment is a dream.

Your body is a dream.

All that is going on in your mind is also a dream.

The outside is a dream and also inside is a dream.

You are fully immersed in this dream.

Everything that you can experience is a part of the dream.

All that is going on in your mind is also a dream.

Simply remain silent and observe.

Now turn your attention towards the dreamer.

The dreamer who is dreaming this dream.

Draw your attention from everywhere and turn towards the dreamer.

Who is dreaming?

Who is dreaming?

Allow yourself to go deeper and become aware of the dreamer.

The dreamer who is dreaming.

Hold your awareness on the dreamer.

Draw all your energies towards the dreamer.

Draw your energy from the dreamer.

Now leave the dreamer.

Leave the dream and simply sit in this awareness,

In this silence,

In this moment.

No more movement.

Let yourself dissolve in this awareness,

In this silence,

In this energy.

No movement.

No thought.

Simply awareness.

Let loose in this silence,

In this awareness.

Let go in this silence,

In this awareness.

Stay like this.

Just like this.

Remain silent and aware.

Let go in this silence,

In this awareness.

Let go in this silence,

In this awareness.

And take your awareness back to your body.

Feel the sensations in your body.

Awareness back to your mind.

Back to your surroundings.

And take this moment to recognize the dream,

The dreamer and the awareness.

The dream,

The dreamer and the awareness.

May you move from being a dreamer to the awareness very gently and slowly.

You may open your eyes.

You may close your eyes.

What we just did today is a technique which is,

As I mentioned,

Not just for 30 minutes.

It's a technique to be lived.

It's a technique that when you bring into your daily life,

It changes the experience of life.

It takes you out of the dream.

It makes you recognize that you are dreaming.

And when you know that you are dreaming,

The experience of everything that you do completely changes.

Now I would like to open this session for any questions,

Any comments,

Any experiences,

Anything that comes to your mind.

Or are you dreaming?

Still dreaming?

Anyone?

Yes?

I mean.

.

.

When we were talking,

You were talking about being in a dream.

I remember you once exactly mentioning that in one of the previous sessions.

And I also remember what I told you,

Which is that it's just an indicator that you are tired,

That your mind is tired.

If you are falling asleep in the process of meditation,

Either it could be that meditation is very boring,

Or you just need rest.

And you don't give yourself rest otherwise.

So only in these moments when your mind is relatively more unoccupied,

Then you realize,

Oh,

You need rest and you fall into sleep.

Ideally,

The process of meditation is completely the opposite,

Where instead of falling into sleep,

Instead of falling into drowsiness,

You should be more aware.

You should be rising in more awareness.

But again,

Practice and you will see that it takes you away from drowsiness and more towards awareness.

Now,

Thanks for asking again.

Anybody else?

Did anyone practice this ever before?

It sounds trivial.

It sounds,

You know,

What is it to assume life is a dream?

But try it.

My whole effort for today is that some of you will try this outside this hour.

Just try to for a moment,

For a few minutes,

While you're sitting down at the bus station or wherever,

Just for a moment,

Assume that it's all a dream and allow that to expand for you to go deep into it.

And you will be surprised that slowly this difference between dream and reality starts to fade away.

And you really start to recognize,

Feel that as a dream.

The purpose of doing that is not to make you dream more.

The purpose of that is that you get that spark of awareness,

That moment of awareness where you can come out of the dream.

I cannot explain this more in words.

It's something to experience,

It's something for you to explore.

I picked this technique,

As I said,

From tantra tradition.

It's one of the most powerful set of techniques that were developed and it sounds trivial,

As I said,

But go give it a try and figure it out yourself.

If you have no more questions,

Yes?

It is not to assume that you're daydreaming,

It's to really feel that you are in a dream.

Not that you are dreaming,

But you are in a dream.

It's difficult to explain what does that mean.

If you subject yourself in this assumption that you are in a dream,

It creates a different state than you daydreaming and assuming that something is.

.

.

Daydreaming is when you're sitting down and you're assuming something that is not happening.

And this technique is when you are assuming that you are in a dream,

Wherever you are,

Whatever you are doing,

Everything is a part of the dream.

Give it a try.

It's playful,

There's no harm in doing that if you're not doing it in a situation where you need to act and not just dream.

Try doing that whenever you get a chance.

If there are no more questions,

I have a small announcement.

In the last year we saw you sitting in pain.

I heard it for every half an hour that we sat in meditation.

I heard so many of you in pain.

Me and Christine,

We decided to somehow figure out a solution for that.

And we went out to find a solution to product designers.

We went to do everything that we could to find out a solution,

A cushion that would be giving you a posture,

Which is easier to sit,

Easier to sit with your back straight and not always be in pain during the meditations.

So,

Christine would take five minutes after I close the session to explain this cushion that after hundreds of iterations we finally reach to a point where we find that this is something which is very useful.

If you don't want to hear the sales pitch,

You're free to go.

But if you're interested to see and try to sit and see if you can sit more easily,

More comfortably,

You're more than welcome to do so.

Otherwise,

I will see you next Monday from 7 to 8 pm.

Thank you very much for joining me.

Namaste.

Reviews

It is easier when in awareness of the dream and the dreamer by watching them to not take the dream seriously but be more light hearted and expansiveness occurs. Thank you so much! It was a wonderful meditation.
Namaste 🙏🏼

Very cool, I'm going to listen and keep in my awareness of the dream, and experience the difference and find how my life changes... very excited! Thank you 🙏💜

Wow, that's a strong one.
Thank you

One of the most affecting meditations I’ve experienced. It just goes further, and I’m not going to go further with a description or an evaluation. Words don’t do it here, but I recommend trying it. (This appears doubled in comments, an app glitch I can’t prevent).

Excellent. Difficult, but so good.

Very illuminating

I'll keep trying this concept and pass it onto my meditation group.
It's different from 'accept this moment as if you chose it.".. which is something I'm already working on!!!
Namaste

Excellent.
Not for beginners, but absolutely worth a listen when you are ready for a deeper dive.

More to say after another listen or two, perhaps.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom v

That was very intriguing. I will experiment!
Thanks,
Becky

It was an interesting experience to sit in silence and become a part of the dream. When you realize you are the dreamer you become aware. Thank you. Namaste.