The Meaning of Dreaming That One's Chest Is Being Pried Open (2024-10-17)

Ru Chun: These past few days, because my daughter was injured, I have been sleeping at the hospital to keep her company. Last night, just after I fell asleep, I dreamed that my daughter told me a joke, and I was so happy that I laughed heartily. As I was laughing, it felt as if a mass of qi gathered in my chest and pushed my chest open. I was quite astonished at how this could happen, and then I woke up. Today upon waking I remembered it very clearly, but I don't know what it means. Master, could you look at what message this dream is conveying?

Answer: The nature of this dream is not a precognitive dream but an allegorical dream, one used to reveal a certain fact. Who is revealing it to whom? It is the manas revealing something for the mind consciousness to know, or the manas, out of joy, expressing this matter. Something very joyful must be expressed in order to feel relieved, so as not to feel stifled. 

What joyful thing did the manas encounter? It is because it has gained some meditative concentration (samādhi), has learned to contemplate the Dharma correctly, is able to deliberate on many teachings, and has contemplated them clearly, gaining a more thorough understanding of the Dharma. After long, persistent effort, there are finally initial results, and of course this is a cause for great joy, so it produced such a dream—even to the point of laughing oneself awake. What is the evidence? In the dream, a mass of qi gathered in the chest, and because of the hearty laughter, this mass of qi burst open the chest—it was the qi meridians in the chest opening up, which refers to meditative concentration. The other refers to wisdom: the chest is also called the depths of the mind, and this place opening up means that the wisdom of the manas in the depths of the mind has opened. Both concentration and wisdom have appeared—this is the result of persistent effort. 

Some people belong to the category of clumsy birds, but a clumsy bird can start flying early; it can be diligent and persistent, and in the end the bird is no longer clumsy and has gained wisdom—this is something worthy of congratulations. On the other hand, some people are not clumsy at all but are instead too clever, too smart. How smart? So smart that they disdain the hands-on practice of meditative concentration, using only their mouths and tongues, fearing hardship, fatigue, and exertion, craving ease and enjoyment. The result is that these clever birds are even clumsier than the clumsy birds; their cleverness obstructs the Path, and in future lives they will probably have to go be clever in the three evil destinies. 

Merely from the initial progress in concentration and wisdom, there was already such a dream to reveal it. Then after eliminating the self-view, realizing the fruit, and awakening to the true mind and seeing its nature, how magnificent and extraordinary the allegorical dreams would be! Yet some people who claim to have realized the fruit and awakened to the true mind have no better suggestive states of any kind. What does this show? It shows that the false cannot become true, and the true cannot become false. Those who deceive themselves can only deceive themselves, but in the end they cannot deceive others—least of all Grandpa Yama, who cannot be deceived in the slightest, and one's own tathāgatagarbha even less so. The result, then, is self-evident.

Ru Chun: Thank you, Master! The path of cultivation is always accompanied by the eruption of karmic obstructions; it is very difficult, terrifying, like standing on the tip of a knife. One can only rely on powerful vows and faith, striving to overcome them one by one, and as one overcomes them, wisdom gradually arises as well. I am grateful to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions for their blessings and protection, allowing me to fight my way to this point. If it were not for the Bodhisattvas' protection, I would not know how to face so many problems.

Reply: Everyone's karmic obstructions accumulated over beginningless kalpas are too many and too heavy; there is no way around it. One can only find ways to eliminate them when they are encountered, and those that cannot be eliminated can only be endured. Once you have endured through them, there is another world on the other side, so do not let karmic obstructions block you and bring you to a standstill. Very often, your own karma cannot be expected to be carried by others; you can only bear it yourself, and once you get through it, it is fine. There is no karmic obstruction that cannot be borne—everyone has come through beginningless kalpas in exactly this way.