The Relationship Between States and Meditative Concentration (Part 2)

Question: In the past three or four years, in my dreams I have dreamed that I was reading sutras and listening to the Dharma. Some of the sutras were in the ancient thread-bound format, and some were carved on agate and lapis lazuli, crystal-clear and pervading empty space. In the dream there was a grand, profound and distant voice expounding the Dharma, and in the dream I could perceive with perfect clarity such Dharma meanings as "forms arise from the mind" and "form and emptiness are not two," and I could understand them all and take them to heart. After waking up, however, I could not remember clearly which specific Dharma meanings I had contemplated. Is this due to the blessing of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or is it merely that what one thinks of by day one dreams of by night?

Answer: Listening to the Dharma in a dream is done by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) together with the manas. If only the manas were listening alone, there would be no dream at all, and the mind consciousness would not know it was dreaming. The solitary consciousness that has awakened cannot remember the states in the dream clearly, first because the dream is not extremely important, second because the awakened solitary consciousness is not closely connected with the solitary consciousness in the dream, and the information handover is incomplete, causing part of it to be forgotten, and third because the manas' habituation to the Dharma meanings is not yet particularly deep. Such dreams appear, first, because what one thinks of by day one dreams of by night, and second, possibly as the result of the blessing of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If it were a deliberate blessing from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, generally speaking, one would remember it very clearly upon waking and would feel somewhat emotionally stirred.

Question: There was also one time in a dream when I genuinely experienced a transformation between emptiness and existence: as soon as a thought of discrimination arose in the mind, the body-mind and the world immediately appeared; as soon as the mind became empty and pure, the body-mind and the world all became empty, and only a lucid, ineffable knowing awareness remained, with not a single thought arising. This repeated itself two or three times in the dream, very clearly. I wonder whether this counts as a bit of good news? In the dream it felt that as long as a thought stirred slightly, the body-mind and the world, the mountains, rivers, and the great earth would immediately manifest; and if the switch were turned to "not a single thought arising," in that very moment only the lucid knowing awareness remained. This repeated itself two or three times, always the same.

Answer: Being able to control one's own mind and the images indicates that there is meditative concentration (samādhi). When the mind thinks of anything, all dharmas float up in the mind; if the mind does not think of them, they will not float up in the mind. As for whether or not there are dharmas outside the mind, that is another matter. Therefore, this physical phenomenon of emptiness and existence is a matter of the transformation of mental thoughts. True emptiness is an empty mind. When the mind is truly empty, even if there are hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of colors before you, brilliant and resplendent, you will not consider them truly existent, will not take these forms as real, and will have no grasping attachment. The lucid knowing awareness within "not a single thought arising" is the mind consciousness; you can control it yourself. If you control it well, no thoughts will appear; if you control it poorly, it becomes a jumble of chaos. Whether or not you can control it is a matter of meditative concentration (samādhi).