Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Hello forum members. I practice anapanasati meditation. I focus on breathing. I feel pleasure during focusing on the breathing.

Sometimes I am dreaming during meditation. These dreams are vivid dreams. I stay mindful during dreaming. I do not lose mindfullness. Dreams fade away quickly. There was a dream about a forest. There was a dream about food. Sometimes I am dreaming about ugly monsters. Why does my mind going to dream during meditation? Why do I dream about ugly monsters? Do ugly monsters refer to unwholesome aspects of mind? Should I ask the monster to leave me when I see any ugly monster in dream? Thanks.

It sounds like the hindrance of sloth and torpor. You need to sleep more, and during meditation, exert yourself so that you can stay pleasurably with the meditation object. You can also try opening the eyes slightly, or walking meditation.

I don't think the content of the dreams is significant.

Unless you are sleeping, it isn't really dreaming. You can have clairvoyant visions. If you are doing a concentration practice, the visions are not your object so they are distractions. If you are doing insight then note them as seeing and move on. If you want to do clairvoyance, do it as a separate practice. No one can interpret your visions for you. You will just have to compare what you see with what is going on in your life at the time.

Sounds to me like as Sam said, sloth and torpor--is sometimes referred to as "delusion concentration", which is where the mind feels focused but is actually day dreaming and fantasizing. I'd recommend speaking to a meditation teacher in person as this can take some effort to un-stuck.

Sam Vara wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 4:38 pm It sounds like the hindrance of sloth and torpor. You need to sleep more, and during meditation, exert yourself so that you can stay pleasurably with the meditation object. You can also try opening the eyes slightly, or walking meditation.

I don't think the content of the dreams is significant.

Been there, done that, fixed it with either or both of the methods Sam Vara suggests.

For a Western understanding of the state you were slipping into - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia which says -

...Threshold consciousness (commonly called "half-asleep" or "half-awake", or "mind awake body asleep") describes the same mental state of someone who is moving towards sleep or wakefulness, but has not yet completed the transition. Such transitions are usually brief, but can be extended by sleep disturbance or deliberate induction, for example during meditation...

Kim

it arise and cease they are just mere vision

the thoughts and concepts originating from them also arise and cease with meaning intentionally imagined

whatever comes will go.. nothing good or bad about it...

white wolf wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 4:31 pm ugly monster

Very common is the ugly monster sloth & torpor sinking mind.

Sam Vara wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 4:38 pm It sounds like the hindrance of sloth and torpor. You need to sleep more, and during meditation, exert yourself so that you can stay pleasurably with the meditation object. You can also try opening the eyes slightly, or walking meditation.

I don't think the content of the dreams is significant.

I Agree with the above.

When I do sitting meditation, I keep my eyes open and focused gently towards the end of my nose. I also prefer to meditate outside (weather permitting) or next to an open window.




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Please try generating metta for the monsters. Accept them completely for who they are and stop judging them. As an experiment.

This is the fifth Mara.
The good thing about is you have now defeated four Mara's.
Now you have to go beyond the fifth Mara to face the rest.

https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.p ... ra#p549952

Thank you everyone for the helpful posts.

Inedible wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:00 pm Please try generating metta for the monsters. Accept them completely for who they are and stop judging them. As an experiment.

Could you tell more about this? What is the meaning of the monsters? Do they refer to unwholesome aspects of my mind? Thanks.

Things, people, and beings tend to look different when you reject them and push them away. If you direct metta at those monsters it is possible they will change and stop being monsters. It doesn't work if you try to change them because that is just more trying to make them go away. So I didn't say that part the first time.

white wolf wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 3:48 pm Could you tell more about this? What is the meaning of the monsters? Do they refer to unwholesome aspects of my mind? Thanks.

Monsters are very common images in sloth & torpor. No need to take it seriously.

I understand. Thank you.