Why Do We Not Realize It Is a Dream While Dreaming?

Who knows the awareness within a dream? Who knows the dust (phenomena) during wakefulness? Both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses possess awareness in both dreaming and waking states. The awareness of all dharmas is primarily governed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The five sense consciousnesses can only perceive the objects of the five dusts (sensory fields) in the waking state; they cannot perceive the dream state because the five dusts are absent in dreams. The knowing faculty of the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) is greatly related to the physical body (rūpa-kāya). When the physical body encounters obstructions, the awareness of the mental consciousness becomes weak or ceases. Those who attain the four dhyānas and eight samādhis have an unobstructed physical body. The awareness of their mental consciousness is clear, vast, and luminous; whether asleep or awake, they remain clearly aware. Even after consuming numerous bottles of wine, they do not become intoxicated, as the wine no longer paralyzes the central nervous system of the brain. Consequently, their consciousness remains unaffected.

The awareness of the mental consciousness is also greatly related to the awareness of the manas (the seventh consciousness, the defiled mental consciousness). Generally speaking, the manas knows all dharmas, but the issue pertains to whether it can know them as they truly are. How the part that the manas knows truly can influence the mental consciousness, enabling it to also know and promptly process what is known, involves the communicative capacity between these two consciousnesses. This so-called communicative capacity is wisdom. How what the mental consciousness knows can effectively influence and guide the manas also involves communicative capacity, which is a matter of wisdom. Wisdom, in turn, is closely related to meditative concentration (dhyāna). Meditative concentration can calm, pacify, and stabilize the mind, enhancing thinking capacity and the power of wisdom. Thus, the mutual influence between these two consciousnesses becomes great. Meditative concentration can also render the physical body unobstructed. When the physical body is unobstructed, the mental consciousness encounters no hindrances; its knowing becomes sensitive, penetrating, and thus can effectively influence the manas. Conversely, the manas can also effectively influence the mental consciousness. The two mutually communicate and share, enabling the knowing of all dharmas to flow smoothly with minimal obstruction.

The unity of waking and dreaming states is a realm of wisdom cultivated through practice. Knowing it is a dream and not being trapped by the dream state is wisdom. This cultivation primarily refers to the practice of meditative concentration, which is an indispensable aspect. Only with meditative concentration can wisdom be developed, enabling the knowing of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses to become more true to reality and principle, knowing more truly, subtly, and vastly. Only by removing the cover of sleep can deep meditative concentration arise. Those with deeper meditative concentration think clearly while awake and remain non-deluded even in dreams, perceiving states without obstruction just as when awake.

Ordinary people's knowing has obstacles; this is what common speech calls lacking psychic powers (abhijñā). Those with psychic powers have unobstructed knowing, possessing powers like mind-reading (cetopariya-ñāṇa) and divine eye (dibba-cakkhu), etc. This is the meritorious fruit of concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (prajñā). Knowing within a dream is the fruit attained by those whose minds are purified through excellent meditative concentration. The monk Jigong (Daoji) possessed the four dhyānas and eight samādhis and had psychic powers. No matter how much wine he drank, his nervous system was unaffected and remained unanesthetized; his consciousness was always clear, able to observe and know all states as they truly are. After ordinary people fall asleep, their mental consciousness ceases. The part of the manas that relies on the mental consciousness to know states becomes inoperative. Therefore, during dreams, the discriminative power of the manas is weak; it does not know it is a dream. The isolated consciousness (a function of the sixth consciousness operating alone) within the dream also has very weak discriminative power and likewise does not know it is a dream. Practitioners, however, possess strong power of meditative concentration, an unobstructed physical body, and clear, luminous sixth and seventh consciousnesses; their discriminative power is strong. While dreaming, they know it is a dream and are not deluded.

Master Kuiji possessed the four dhyānas and eight samādhis and had psychic powers. At night while sleeping, he was extremely clear and luminous, more so than ordinary people when awake. His sixth and seventh consciousnesses were sharp. After falling asleep, if a louse's leg fell off and it cried out in pain, Master Kuiji could hear it. This is the meritorious fruit of the power of meditative concentration and psychic powers. Does hearing the cry of the louse while asleep mean he was not actually asleep? For ordinary people, sleep is a cover (āvaraṇa) that obscures their mind, making them unaware and unhearing, like a dead person. For those who have eliminated the cover of sleep, very little sleep is sufficient to nourish the physical body. Their meditative concentration reaches at least the first dhyāna; their mind is clear and luminous, with minimal or no obscurations. During sleep, their consciousness may not be completely severed, yet they obtain sufficient sleep, which differs from ordinary people.

Especially for those with psychic powers, their sleep is like wakefulness, even clearer and more luminous than ordinary people when awake. In ancient times, martial artists also slept lightly and had high alertness. This alertness could be said to belong to the mental consciousness, but the manas indeed also possesses alertness; its alertness function is even stronger than that of the mental consciousness. Therefore, without considering the manas, the functional role of the mental consciousness cannot be fully explained. Sleep and dullness (styāna) are of the same category; both are covers (āvaraṇa) that obscure the luminosity of the conscious mind. Only after the cover of sleep is eliminated does the first dhyāna arise. The more dull and heavy the sleep, the worse the meditative accomplishment, or the absence of meditative concentration, indicating heavy covers. The more deluded one is in dreams, the less meditative concentration one has. The more easily one gets drunk from wine, the greater the obstruction of the physical body, indicating less meditative concentration. Those with deep accomplishment in meditative concentration can regulate their physical body well, unaffected by environmental factors, and unimpeded in the functioning of the six consciousnesses. Therefore, the power of concentration (samādhi-bala) is extremely important. Even without learning Buddhism or practicing cultivation, mastering meditative concentration brings very great benefits.