The Four Stages of Awakening

Some speculations and developing a train of thought….


This excerpted from Wikipedia

“The ordinary person

An ordinary person or puthujjana (Pali; Sanskrit: pṛthagjana; i.e. pritha: without, and jnana: knowledge) is trapped in the endless cycling of samsara. One is reborn, lives, and dies in endless rebirths, either as a deva, human, animal, male, female, neuter, ghost, asura, hell being, or various other entities on different categories of existence.

An ordinary entity has never seen and experienced the ultimate truth of Dharma and therefore has no way of finding an end to the predicament. It is only when suffering becomes acute, or seemingly unending, that an entity looks for a “solution” to and, persisting, finds the Dharma (the ultimate solution/truth).

The four stages of awakening in Early Buddhism and Theravada are four progressive stages culminating in full awakening (Bodhi) as an Arahant.

These four stages are Sotāpanna (stream-enterer), Sakadāgāmi (once-returner), Anāgāmi (non-returner), and Arahant (conqueror). The oldest Buddhist texts portray the Buddha as referring to people who are at one of these four stages as noble people (ariya-puggala) and the community of such persons as the noble sangha (ariya-sangha).

A stream-enterer, having abandoned the first three fetters, is guaranteed enlightenment within seven lifetimes, in the human or heavenly realms.

Sole dominion over the earth,
going to heaven,
lordship over all worlds:
the fruit of stream-entry
excels them.

Pratyekabuddhayāna is a Buddhist term for the mode or vehicle of enlightenment of a pratyekabuddha or paccekabuddha (Sanskrit and Pali respectively), a term which literally means “solitary buddha” or “a buddha on their own” (prati- each, eka-one). The pratyekabuddha is an individual who independently achieves liberation without the aid of teachers or guides and without teaching others to do the same. Pratyekabuddhas may give moral teachings but do not bring others to enlightenment. They leave no sangha (i.e. community) as a legacy to carry on the Dhamma (e.g. Buddha’s teachings).”

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There are some elements of Buddhism which I struggle with. This stems from the notion of evolution, a planetary principle. Things change and generally get more efficient adapting to the times and circumstances. Therefore, to my eyes it is very unlikely that a “human” would reincarnate as an animal. If the being had progressed from monkey to human, it would not make a retrograde step even as karmic punishment. The being, a human, reincarnating, would need a human form. There are plenty of human forms in which life is difficult, so there is no need to invoke life as a dog.

Bearing in mind that the origins of Buddhism are ~2500 years old, humanity was very different back then. Life was different and complex abstract thought very uncommon. The majority were illiterate and living in a manner not so very different from their livestock. Life was generally short and hard. Animism as a basis for interpreting world was using the available daily template, a reality encountered on a day to day basis. The teaching metaphor and allegory available to Siddartha would reflect daily life, belief and superstition.

I am not a member of any mundane Sangha and do not go to “teachings”. I am a trained academic researcher and have read widely on Buddhism. It seems to me there remains debate about what the various teachings mean. I am aware that discussion and/or arguing the toss is not the same as attainment. Being attached to wanting to be right or winning an argument does not seem enlightened to me, it seems petty.

People like definitions, especially those educated in modern ways. People might then discuss what an arahant is and profess on the subject. It is human nature. I’ll speculate that most people pertaining to being Buddhist have never nor will they ever meet one. The arahants can be seen aloof and uncaring.

A cornerstone of Buddhism is taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the sangha. Some schools of Buddhism subscribe to the Bodhisattva ideal. A Bodhisattva roughly means one who will {one day} become a Buddha. They can be “beginners” or be very highly realised. These realised Bodhisattvas put off their own nirvana in order to come back to teach. They can put if off for multiple lifetimes. There is entreaty and prayer begging them, so to do. There is a prejudice perhaps in that they are more compassionate than an Arahant who pisses off, but too much compassion can be a weakness.

If we see evolution as a ladder, if you are on the top step, you need to vacate it so that someone else can use it.

There is perhaps a prejudice against pratyekabuddhas in that they do not need a sangha or teachers nor do they have a sangha of their own.

Implicit is that people seek and need teachers or guides. The student can thereby hand his/her power over to a guru or teacher. In so doing the responsibility for development is shunned to an extent. The teacher becomes partially responsible for progress.  

Those in a sangha do not “like” those not in a sangha. The human “we” does not like the rejection of the outsider “they”.  They are not a part of the/our gang. I have seen pratyekabuddhas talked down as lesser Buddhas. A little thought suggests that THE Buddha was pratyekabuddha. The sangha came later. This snobbishness is logically unwarranted.

If you boil it down the fetters are simply human foibles, without which there would be no television soap operas. Getting rid of anger, envy, hatred and jealousy. Lessening attachment, ambition and pride makes for a less exciting and emotional script. One could say that the core direction of Buddhist development is a reduction in human folly, even a tendency to be less “human”. In the limit one no longer wants to partake of the drama and simply stops coming back, stops taking on more meat. Someone like that would be weird to society and not readily integrated therein. If they wore robes it might be easier for society to accept them.

The sangha is a stepping stone offering camaraderie as one lessens engagement with the socio-political world view prevalent at the time of a life. The sangha is kind of like a crutch or support mechanism for those ordained monastic.

I personally have doubts that monasticism is altogether good. The temptation is to an extent removed. It is easier to remain calm and detached when removed from the mundane “lunacy”. Celibacy can cause deviance; suppression can cause explosion.

The basic requirement to enter the stream is to see and acknowledge the truth of the Dharma, the impermanence of all conditioned things. Attaining and realising impermanence starts to untie attachment. “They” say that there is a maximum of seven lifetimes before nirvana once the stream has been entered.

The sixteen close disciples of Buddha are given arahant “status”. They are almost deified and their intervention sought via prayer. There are statues, painting and thangkas.

If they came to Siddartha as a fresh disciple when the Dharma was in infancy it seems to me that to go from zero to hero in such a short time and achieve arahant in one lifetime was some pretty fast work. Religious hagiography is often exaggerated and idealised. One could say through the power of the Buddha evolution was vastly accelerated.

There was no stream until Siddartha, in this context.

If I use the dreams in the blog as a basis I have had three Buddhist lifetimes, one Indian, one Thai and one Japanese. In all of these I was monastic. The next lifetime was as a Christian priest / soldier. The most recent prior lifetime I was a civilian. This current life started with science, a lot of it.

I have reason to believe that my first Buddhist life was at the dawn of Buddhism ~2500 years ago. If I entered the stream then I am now five lifetimes on. Which means I may not be doing an Arnie many more times.

Of course, the only way that I will know for sure is to pop my clogs and see what happens.

I’ll speculate that the human love of ritual and ceremony has lead to quasi-deification. The social need of groups is for some kind of celebratory focus or rite. This has little to do with what I understand to be the core teachings. In some texts removal or ritual is at a later stage of the enlightenment journey. It serves a good social purpose but must be transcended, being attached to ritual is an attachment after all.

My hunch is that the days of guru-yoga are drawing to a close. There have been many scandals and some far out cults.

Humanity might need to do more for and by itself.  

Dream Recall as a Metaphor for Past-life Recall.

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Phowa is a tantric practice found in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It may be described as “transference of consciousness at the time of death”, “mind-stream transference”, “the practice of conscious dying”, or “enlightenment without meditation”. In Tibetan Buddhism phowa is one of the Six yogas of Naropa and also appears in many other lineages and systems of teaching.

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Tibetan Vajrayana Bon and Dzogchen inspired Buddhism is highly complex and rooted deep in tradition and lineage. It has an extensive death practice called Phowa in which one transfers consciousness, consciously, at the transition between corporeal and not. Timing is everything. Lamas and priests can enable others with ritual and there are publications like “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”. To an experimentalist like me these could be seen as recipes or syntheses to attempt in my body laboratory. One aspect is to hold a visual of pure white Amitabha Buddha for another being in transition.

A text might stimulate a memory recall of something done before.

It is common parlance to suggest memory from past lives. I’ll speculate that a lot of this is wishful thinking. Anecdotally many claim “famous” named prior incarnations. Ordinary people claim these. I’ll speculate that a non-ordinary or special being will incarnate in an even less ordinary vehicle next time around. There is a bit of dodgy logic with Joe Bloggs claiming Genghis Khan. Evolution is a planetary principle. Most people will have “normal” “humdrum” lives, over and over.

To develop a train of thought.

If the consciousness leaves the body by sudden jolt or force or with the mental incapacity of age it is unlikely to remember the former abode. With jolt comes trauma which might overarch any memory.  To have sufficient control of mind to consciously withdraw requires a considerable degree of realisation and attainment, which is likely to be rare. Such beings able to exit smoothly and under control are more likely to retain memories of previous lives. They are lucid in the act of death, aware of event and conscious therein. They may have practised this across several lifetimes. They practise lucid dying.  So, if they set their intent on remembering a life learning, they do. Just as one learns to remember and recall dreams. Dream recall is a skill which can be developed. Metaphorically life recall may also be a skill which can be honed.

In this train of thought only the more highly skilled and practiced will have any decent recall. It is likely that they may be able to recall many lives. There will be a first time recall of life.

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From Wikipedia

Enumerations of special knowledges

In the Pali Canon, the higher knowledges are often enumerated in a group of six or of three types of knowledge.

The six types of higher knowledges (chalabhiññā) are:

  • “Higher powers” (iddhi-vidhā), such as walking on water and through walls.
  • “Divine ear” (dibba-sota), that is, clairaudience.
  • “Mind-penetrating knowledge” (ceto-pariya-ñāṇa), that is, telepathy.
  • “Remember one’s former abodes” (pubbe-nivāsanussati), causal memory, that is, recalling one’s own past lives.
  • “Divine eye” (dibba-cakkhu), that is, knowing others’ karmic destinations; and,
  • “Extinction of mental intoxicants” (āsavakkhaya), upon which arahantship follows.

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This suggests that past life recall is not a beginner’s skill.

To extend the metaphor just as one learns to remember and recall dreams night after night one starts to recall former abodes. The knowledge from which advises on karmic effort needed. In order to better recall one needs to die lucidly just as one needs to be lucid and aware of the enactment of the dreaming state of consciousness.

Each life is a new dream for the dreamer.

In the logic of reincarnation lucid dream recall is a metaphor for the putative recall of past life memories. It is internally consistent. The degree of lucidity and extent and detail of recall must vary.

If you start to remember your dreams better you might re-member previous lives.

Dramatizations by the Soul

The Tibetan on Dreams:

We will now touch upon the subject of dreams, which is assuming such importance in the minds of certain prominent psychologists and in certain schools of psychology. It is not my intention to criticize or attack their theories in any way. They have arrived at a most important and indicative fact – the fact of the interior, inner subjective life of humanity, which is based on ancient memories, on present teachings, and on contacts of various kinds. A true understanding of the dream-life of humanity would establish three facts:

  • The fact of reincarnation.
  • The fact of there being some activity during sleep or unconsciousness.
  • The fact of the soul, of that which persists and has continuity.

These three facts provide a definite line of approach to the problems which we are considering and they would, if analyzed, substantiate the position of the esotericists.

The origin of the word “dream” is in itself debatable and nothing really sure and proved is known. Yet what is inferred and suggested is of itself of real significance. In a great standard authority, Webster’s Dictionary, two origins of the word are given. One traces the word back to a Sanskrit root, meaning “to harm or to hurt”; the other traces it back to an old Anglo-Saxon root, signifying “joy or bliss.” Is there not a chance, that both derivations have in them a measure of truth, and that in their mutual tracing back to some most ancient origin and root we should discover a real meaning? In any case two thoughts emerge from an understanding study of these derivations.

The first is that dreams were originally regarded as undesirable, probably because they revealed or indicated, in the majority of cases, the astral life of the dreamer. In Atlantean times, when man was basically astral in his consciousness, his outer physical consciousness was largely controlled by his dreams. In those days, the guidance of the daily life, of the religious life, and of the psychological life (such as it was) was founded on a lost science of dreams, and it is this lost science (little as he may like the idea) which the modern psychologist is rapidly recovering and seeking to interpret. Most of the people (though necessarily not all of them) who find themselves needing the care and instruction of the psychologist are Atlantean in consciousness, and it is this fact which has predisposed the psychologist unconsciously to lay the present emphasis upon dreams and their interpretation.

May I point out again that the true psychology will only appear and right techniques be used when psychologists ascertain (as a first and needed measure) the rays, the astrological implications and the type of consciousness (Aryan or Atlantean) of the patient.

However, as time elapsed, the dreams of the more intelligent minds became of an increasingly forward-looking, idealistic nature; these, as they came to the surface and were remembered and recorded, began to control the brain of man so that the Anglo-Saxon emphasis on joy and bliss eventually became descriptive of many so-called dreams. We have then the emergence of the utopias, the fantasies, the idealistic presentations of future beauty and joy which distinguishes the thought life of the advanced human being, and which find their expression in such presented (and as yet unfulfiled) hopes as Plato’s Republic, Milton’s Paradise Regained and the best Utopian, idealistic creative productions of our Western poets and writers. Thus Occident and Orient together present a theory of dreams – of a lower astral or higher intuitional nature – which are a complete picture of the wish life of the race. These range all the way from the dirty ideas and the bestial filth, drawn forth at times from their patients by psychologists (thus revealing a wish life and an astral consciousness of a very low order), up to the idealistic schemes and the carefully thought-out paradises and cosmic orders of the higher types of aspirants. All, however, come into the realm of Dreams. This is true, whether such dreams are tied up with frustrated sex or unfulfiled idealism; they are all indicative of an urge, a powerful urge, either to selfish satisfaction or group betterment and group welfare.

These dreams can embody in themselves ancient astral illusions and glamors, potent and strong because of ancient origin and racial desire, or they can embody the sensitive response of advanced humanity to systems and regimes of existence which are hovering on the borderland of manifestation, awaiting future precipitation and expression.

This will indicate to you how vast is this subject, for it includes not only the past astral habits of the race, ready – when given certain pathological conditions or fostered by fretting frustrations – to assert themselves, but they also include the ability of the spiritually-minded aspirant in the world today to touch the intended plans for the race and thus see them as desirable possibilities.

Having thus indicated the scope of our theme, I would like to point out that I seek only, in the limited space at my disposal, to do two things:

  • Touch briefly upon the conditions which foster dreams.
  • Indicate the sources from which dreams can come and what produces them.

I do not expect to have these theories accepted by the average psychologist, but there may be somewhere those minds which will be open enough to accept some of the suggestions and thus benefit themselves and certainly benefit their patients.

The major cause of a distressing dream life is, in every case, a frustration or an inability of the soul to impose its wishes and designs upon its instrument, the man. These frustrations fall into three categories:

Sex frustration. This type of frustration leads in many cases, especially in the average person, to an over-emphasis of the fact of sex, to an uncontrolled sex thought-life, to sexual jealousies (oft unrecognized) and to physical underdevelopment.

Frustrated ambition. This dams back the resources of the life, produces constant inner fret, leads to envy, hatred, bitterness, intense dislike of the successful, and causes abnormalities of many kinds.

Frustrated love. This would perhaps be included under sex frustration by the average psychologist, but it is not so viewed by the esotericist. There can be full sexual satisfaction or else complete freedom from its grip and yet the outgoing magnetic love nature of the subject may meet only with frustration and lack of response.

Where these three types of frustration exist, you will frequently have a vivid, unwholesome dream life, physical liabilities of many kinds and a steadily deepening unhappiness.

You will note that all these frustrations are, as might be expected, simply expressions of frustrated desire, and it is in this particular field (tied up as it is with the Atlantean consciousness) that the work of the modern psychologist primarily and necessarily lies. In an effort to bring the patient to an understanding of his difficulty and in line with that which constitutes the way of least resistance, the psychologist endeavors to relieve the situation by teaching him to evoke and bring to the surface of his consciousness forgotten episodes and his dream life. Two important facts are sometimes forgotten and hence constitute a fruitful source of the frequent failure to bring relief.

First, the patient as he descends into the depths of his dream life, will bring to the surface not only those things which are undesirable in his unrecognized “wish-life” but also those which were present in previous lives. He is penetrating into a very ancient astral past. Not only is this the case, but also – through the open door of his own astral life – he can tap or tune in on the astral life of the race. He then succeeds in producing the emergence of racial evil which may have absolutely no personal relation to him at all. This is definitely a dangerous thing to do, for it may prove stronger than the man’s present capacity to handle.

Secondly, in his desire to be freed from the things in himself which are producing trouble, in his desire to please the psychologist (which is encouraged by certain of them under the method of “transference”) and in his desire to produce what he believes the psychologist wants him to produce, he will frequently draw upon his personal imagination, upon the collective imagination or, telepathically, tune in on the imagination of the one who is seeking to treat and help him. He, therefore, produces something which is basically untrue and misleading.

These two points warrant careful attention and the patient must be safeguarded from himself, from the environing racial thought life, and also from the psychologist whose aid he is seeking. A difficult thing to do, is it not?

I would like, at this point, to make what I feel to be a needed and suggestive interpolation. There are three main ways in which the person who seeks psychological aid can be helped and this is true of all types and cases. There is, first of all, the method with which we have been dealing. This method delves into the patient’s past; it seeks to unearth the basic determining conditions which lie hidden in the happenings of childhood or infancy. These discovered events, it is held, gave a wrong direction or twist to the desire nature or to the thought life; they initiated predisposing germ-complexes, and therefore constitute the source of all the trouble. This method (even if the psychologist does not realize it) can carry over into past lives, and thus open doors which it might be well to leave shut until they can be more safely opened.

The second method which is sometimes combined with the previous one is to fill the present moment with constructive creative occupation and so drive out the undesirable elements in the life through the dynamic expulsive power of new and paramount, engrossing interests. I would like to point out that this method could be more safely applied if the subjective dream life and the hidden difficulties were left untreated – temporarily at least. This method is (for the average ordinary person who is pure Atlantean in consciousness but is just beginning to develop mental activity) usually a sound and safe way to work, provided the psychologist can gain the understanding cooperation of the person concerned.

The third method, which has the sanction of the Hierarchy and which is the one its members employ in Their work, is to bring in consciously the power of the soul. This power then pours through the personality life, vehicles and consciousness, and thus cleanses and purifies all aspects of the lower nature. It will be apparent to you, however, that this method is of use only to those who have reached the point in their unfoldment (and there are many such today) where the mind can be reached and trained, and where the soul can consequently impress the brain, via the mind.

If these three methods are studied, you can arrive at an understanding as to the three systems which psychologists could elaborate and develop in order to handle the three types of modern consciousness – the Lemurian, which is the lowest found upon our planet at this time; the Atlantean, which is the commonest found today, and the Aryan, which is developing and unfolding with great rapidity. At present, psychologists are using the lowest type of aid for all groups and states of consciousness. This does not seem wise, does it?

The question now arises as to the source of dreams. Again, as in those cases we considered in connection with the sources of guidance, I shall simply enumerate such origins and leave the student of psychology to make adequate application of the information, when faced with a dream problem. These sources are about ten in number and could be enumerated as follows:

1. Dreams based upon Brain Activity. In these cases, the subject is sleeping too lightly. He never really leaves his body and the thread of consciousness is not completely withdrawn as it is in deep sleep or in unconsciousness. He remains, therefore, closely identified with his body, and because of the partial withdrawal of the thread of consciousness, his condition is more like a dazed, benumbed self-recognition than real sleep. This condition may persist throughout the entire night or period of sleep, but it is usually found present only in the first two hours of sleep and for about one hour prior to returning to full waking consciousness. The problems, worries, pleasures, concerns, etc., etc. of the waking hours are still agitating the brain cells, but the recognition and interpretation of these vague or agitated impressions is uncertain and of a confused nature. No importance whatever need be attached to this type of dream. They indicate physical nervousness and poor sleeping capacity but have no deep psychological significance or spiritual meaning. These dreams are the most common at this time, owing to the prevalence of the Atlantean consciousness and the stress under which people live today. It is easy to attach undue importance to the wild and stupid or jumbled vagaries of a restless brain, yet the sole trouble is that the man is not sleeping soundly enough.

The effort to make people dream and to train them to recover their dream life when they are naturally sound sleepers, and drop easily into deep and dreamless sleep is not good. The evocation of the dream life, as brought about through the methods of certain schools of psychology, should only be brought about forcibly (if one may use this word in that connection) through the determination of the will during the later stages upon the Path. To do so earlier produces frequently a kind of continuity of consciousness which adds the complexities of the astral plane to those of daily living upon the physical plane; few people are competent to handle the two and, when there is persistence in the endeavor to evoke the dream life, the brain cells get no rest and forms of sleeplessness are apt to supervene. Nature wills that all forms of life should “sleep” at times.

We now come to two forms of dreams which are related to the astral or emotional nature and which are of great frequency.

2. Dreams of Remembrance. These are dreams which are a recovery of the sights and sounds encountered in the hours of sleep upon the astral plane. It is on this plane that the man is usually found when the thread of consciousness is separated from the body. In this case, the man is either participating in certain activities, or he is in the position of the onlooker who sees actual sights, performances, people, etc., etc., just as any person can see them as he walks down a street in any large city or as he looks out of a window in any environment. These sights and sounds will often be dependent upon the wish-life and the predilections of the subject, upon his likes and dislikes and his desires and recognized attractions. He will seek for and often find those he loves; he will sometimes search for and find those he seeks to damage, and find occasion to hurt those he hates; he will favor himself by participating in the fulfilment of what he desires, which is always imaginatively possible upon the astral plane. Such desires may range all the way from desire for sexual gratification to the longing of the spiritually-minded aspirant to see the Master, the Christ or the Buddha. Thought forms, created by the similar wishes of the multitude, will be found to meet his desire and – on returning to his body in the morning – he brings with him the recollection of that satisfaction in the form of a dream. These dreams, related to astral satisfactions, are all of them in the nature of glamor or illusion; they are self-evoked and self-related; they indicate however real experience, even if only astral in accomplishment and can be of value to the interested psychologist in so far as they indicate the character trends of the patient. One difficulty can, however, be found. These thought forms (to which the man has responded and in which he has found an imaginative satisfaction) embody the expression of the wish-life of the race and exist, therefore, upon the astral plane for all to see. Many people do see and contact them and can identify themselves with them upon returning to waking consciousness. In fact, however, they have really done no more than register these thought forms in the same manner as one can register the contents of a shop window when passing by. A shocked horror can, for instance, induce a person to relate, quite innocently, a dream which is, in reality, no more than the registering of a sight or experience which was witnessed in the hours of sleep but with which the man has no real connection whatever. This experience he relates with dismay and disgust; most feelingly he tells the experience to the psychologist, and frequently receives an interpretation which reveals to him the depths of evil to which his unrealized desires apparently bear witness. His unexpressed longings are “brought to the surface” by the psychologist. He is told that these longings, when faced, will then leave him, and that the ghost of his mental and psychological disorder will then be laid. Unless the psychologist is of real enlightenment, the subject of his care is then saddled with an experience which was never his but which he simply witnessed. I give this as an example of great frequency and of much damaging value. Until psychologists recognize the actuality of the life of humanity when separated at night from the physical body, such errors will be of increasing occurrence. The implications are obvious.

3. Dreams which are Recollections of true Activity. These dreams are registrations of true activities. They are not simply witnessed, registered and related by the subject. As soon as a person has reached:

  • A state of real integration of the astral body and the vital or etheric body, plus the physical body, then these three aspects function harmoniously.
  • A capacity to pursue ordered activity at night or in the hours of sleep. Then the man can impress the physical brain with a knowledge of those activities and on returning to waking consciousness put it to actual use by the physical body.

The man’s dreams will then be, in reality, nothing more nor less than the relation of the continuance of the day’s activities, as they have been carried forward on the astral plane. They will be simply the record, registered on the physical brain, of his doings and emotions, his purposes and intentions, and his recognized experiences. They are as real and as true as any of those which have been recorded by the brain, during waking hours. They are, nevertheless, only partial records in the majority of cases, and mixed in nature, for the glamors, illusions and the perceptions of the doings of others (as recorded in the second category of dreams above) will still have some effect. This condition of mixed recording, of erroneous identifications, etc., leads to much difficulty. The psychologist has to make allowance for:

  1. The age or soul experience of the patient. He has to determine whether the related dream is an illusory participation, a perceived or registered activity, or a real and true happening in the experience of the man during the hours of sleep.
  2. The ability of the subject to bring through correctly the related experience. This ability is dependent upon the pre-establishing of continuity of consciousness, so that at the moment of return, the brain of the man concerned is easily impressed by the experience of the true man when out of the body.
  3. The freedom of the patient from the desire to make an impression upon the psychologist, his innate truthfulness, his control of the imagination, and his power of verbal expression.

Where advanced aspirants and disciples are concerned, we have a somewhat different situation. The demonstrated integration has involved the mind nature and is involving the soul likewise. The activity, registered, recorded and related, is that of a server upon the astral plane. The activities which interest a world server are, therefore, quite different in nature to those earlier experienced and related. They will be concerned with deeds which are related to other people, to the fulfilment of duties involving other people, to the teaching of groups rather than individuals, etc. These differences, when carefully studied, will be recognized by the psychologist of the future (who will necessarily be also an esotericists) as most revealing because they will indicate in an interesting manner, the spiritual status and hierarchical relationship of the patient.

4. Dreams which are of a Mental Nature. These have their origin upon the mental plane and presuppose a consciousness which is, at least, becoming more sensitive mentally. At any rate, they are not recorded in the waking brain consciousness until there is some measure of mind control. I might add at this point that one of the major difficulties with which a psychologist is confronted, as he attempts to interpret the dream life of his patient, is based not only on his inability esoterically to “place” his patient as to ray type, evolutionary status, astrological indications and inherent characteristics, but also he is confronted with the inability of the patient to relate his dream correctly. What is presented to the psychologist is a confused and imaginative description of brain reactions, astral phenomena, and (where there is a measure of intellectual poise) some mental phenomena also. But there is no capacity to differentiate. This confusion is due to lack of alignment, and of true mental relation between the mind and the brain. It becomes, therefore, oft a case of the “blind leading the blind”.

Dreams which are of mental origin are fundamentally of three kinds:

Those dreams which are based on contact with the world of thought forms. This comprises a vast realm of ancient thought forms, of modern thought forms, and those thought forms also which are nebulous and emerging. They are of purely human origin and are definitely a part of the Great Illusion. They constitute, in the bulk of cases, man’s effort at the interpretation of life and its meaning down the ages. They merge with the soul of glamor which is astral in nature. It will be obvious to you that these thought forms comprise all possible themes. They do not embody the wish-life of the race, but are concerned with men’s thoughts about the ideas and ideals which – down the ages – have controlled human life and which, therefore, form the basis of all history.

Those dreams which are geometrical in nature, and in which the subject becomes aware of those basic patterns, forms and symbols which are the blue prints of the archetypes determining the evolutionary process, and which produce eventually the materializing of God’s Plan. They are also the great symbols of man’s unfolding consciousness. For instance, the recognition of the point, the line, the triangle, the square, the Cross, the pentagon and similar symbols are simply the recognition of a connection with, and a founding upon, certain lines of force which have, to date, determined the evolutionary process. There are seven such forms, evolved and recognized in every race and, for our present purposes, there are, therefore, twenty-one basic symbols which, in geometrical form, embody the concepts which determine the Lemurian, Atlantean and Aryan civilizations. It is interesting to realize that there are fourteen more to come. The symbols which are already evolved are deeply ingrained in the human consciousness, and lead, for instance, to the constant use of the cross in its many diverse forms. Two symbols are at this time taking form as the basis of the coming civilization. These are the lotus and the flaming torch. Hence the frequent appearance of these two in the life of meditation and the dream life of the world aspirants.

Those dreams which are symbolic presentations of teaching received in the hours of sleep by aspirants and disciples in the Hall of Learning on the highest level of the astral plane, and in the Hall of Wisdom on the mental plane. In the first Hall is the best that the race has already learnt through its Atlantean experience and in the world of glamor. Through these, wise choice can be developed. The Hall of Wisdom embodies the teaching which the two coming races will develop and unfold, and thus trains the disciple and the initiate.

I cannot do more than thus indicate the nature of these three basic mental experiences which find their way into the dream life of the man on the physical plane. These are given expression by him in the form of related dreams, creative work, and the expression of the ideals which are building the human consciousness.

5. Dream which are Records of Work done. This activity the aspirant carries on at night and when absent from the body, and it is carried on

  • In the borderland between the astral plane and the physical plane.
  • In the so-called “summerland” wherein the entire wish-life of the race is centered and all racial desire takes form.
  • In the world of glamor which is part of the astral plane which embodies the ancient past, which fertilizes the desire life of the present, and which indicates the nature of the desire life of the immediate future.

These phases and spheres of activity are very real in nature. Aspirants who succeed in functioning with any measure of consciousness on the astral plane are all occupied, at some level or another, with some form of constructive activity or work. This activity, selfishly performed (for many aspirants are selfish) or unselfishly carried forward, constitutes much of the material of many of the so-called dreams, as related by the average intelligent citizen. They warrant no more attention or mysteriously applied interpretation or symbolic elucidation than do the current activities and events of daily life as carried on in waking consciousness upon the physical plane. They are of three kinds:

  1. The activity of the patient himself when freed, in sleep, from the physical body.
  2. His observation of the activities of others. These he is apt to appropriate unwillingly and quite erroneously to himself because of the egocentric tendency of the average human mind.
  3. Instruction which is given to him by those responsible for his unfoldment and training.

This category of dreams is becoming increasingly prevalent as the alignment of the astral body and the physical body is perfected and continuity of consciousness is slowly developed. The activity involves religious activity, sexual living in its many phases (for not all of them are physical, though all of them are related to the problem of the polar opposites and the essential duality of manifestation) political activity, creative and artistic activity and the many other forms of human expression. They are as varied and as diverse as those in which humanity indulges on the physical plane; they are the source of much confusion in the mind of the psychologist and need most careful consideration and analysis.

6. Telepathic Dreams. These dreams are simply the record upon the physical brain consciousness of real events which are telepathically communicated from one person to another. Some friend or relation undergoes some experience. He seeks to communicate it to his friend or – at the moment of crisis – he thinks powerfully of his friend. This registers on the friend’s mind but is often only recovered in the hours of sleep and is brought through in the morning as a man’s own personal experience. Many of the dreams related by people are records of the experiences of other people of which a man becomes aware and which he is appropriating to himself in all sincerity.

We come now to a group of dreams which are a part of the experience of those people who have made a definite soul contact and are in process of establishing a close link with the world of souls. The “things of the kingdom of God” are opening up before them and the phenomena, the happenings, the ideas, and the life and knowledge of the soul realm are being registered with increasing accuracy in the mind. From the mind, they are being transferred to or imprinted upon the brain cells. We have therefore:

7. Dreams which are Dramatizations by the Soul. This type of dream is a symbolic performance by the soul for the purpose of giving instruction, warning or command to its instrument, man, on the physical plane. These dramatic or symbolic dreams are becoming increasingly numerous in the case of aspirants and disciples, particularly in the early stages of soul contact. They can express themselves in the hours of sleep and also during the meditation period or process. Only the man himself, from his knowledge of himself, can rightly interpret this class of dreams. It will be apparent to you also that the ray type of the soul and of the personality will largely determine the type of symbolism or the nature of the dramatization employed. This must be determined, therefore, by the psychologist before interpretation can be intelligently given and prove useful.

8. Dreams concerned with Group Work. In this type of dream, the soul trains or fits its vehicle, the lower man, for group activity. This type of dream is also the higher correspondence of the dreams dealt with under our fifth heading. The group work involved is not this time carried on in the three worlds of human expression but in the world of soul life and soul experience. Soul knowledges and purposes are involved; work in a Master’s group may be registered and regarded as a dream in spite of its reality and basically phenomenal occurrence. The realities of the kingdom of God may for a time seep through into the brain consciousness in the form of dreams. Much of the experiences recorded in the mystical writings during the past few centuries in the Occident, are in this category. This is a point worth careful consideration.

9. Dreams which are Records of Instruction. This type of dream embodies the teaching given by a Master to His accepted disciple. With these I shall not deal. When a man can receive these instructions consciously, either at night when absent from the body or in meditation, he has to learn to direct them correctly from mind to brain and to interpret them accurately. They are communicated by the Master to the man’s soul. The soul then impresses them on the mind, which has been held steady in the light, and then the mind, in its turn, formulates them into thought forms which are then thrown down into the quiescent waiting brain. According to the mental development and educational advantages of the disciple so will be his response and his correct use of the communicated teaching.

10. Dreams connected with the World Plan, the solar plan, and the cosmic scheme. These can range all the way from the insane brain and recorded experiences of the mentally unbalanced to the wise and measured teaching of the World Knowers. This teaching is communicated to the world disciples and can be regarded by them as either an inspired utterance or a dream with a deep significance. It should be remembered in both cases (the mentally unbalanced and the trained disciple) that a similar condition exists; there is a direct line from the soul to the brain. This is true of both types. These dreams or recorded instructions indicate a high stage of evolutionary advancement.

A consideration of all the above will indicate to you the complexity of the subject. The superficial student or the mystically inclined person is apt to feel that all these technicalities are of minor importance. The charge is often made that the “jargon” of occultism and its academic information is of no true importance where knowledge of the divine is concerned. It is claimed that it is not necessary to know about the planes and their various levels of consciousness, or about the Law of Rebirth and the Law of Attraction; it is an unnecessary tax upon the human mind to study the technical foundation for a belief in brotherhood, or to consider our distant origin and our possible future. It is nevertheless just possible that if the mystics down the ages had recognized these truths we might have had a better managed world. It is only today that those forces are being set in motion which will lead, to a truer understanding of the human family, a wiser comprehension of the human equipment, and, therefore, to an effort to bring human living into line with the basic spiritual truths. The sorry condition of the world today is not a result of the intellectual unfoldment of man as is often claimed, but it is the working out of the unalterable effects of causes, originated in the past of the Aryan race.

That good can come from evil, that the bad effects of man’s mental laziness can be transmuted into teaching point in the future and that humanity is now intelligent enough to learn wisdom will be the result of the widespread dissemination of the academic truths of the esoteric teaching and its correct interpretation by the trained minds in the Occident. The East has had this teaching for ages and has produced numerous commentaries upon it – the work of the finest analytical minds that the world has ever seen – but it has made no mass use of the knowledge, and the people in the Orient do not profit by it, as a whole. It will be different in the West and is already modifying and influencing human thought on a large scale; it is permeating the structure of our civilization and will eventually salvage it. Be not, therefore, afraid of the technicalities of wisdom but seek for the reason of the undesirable reaction against them in the latent inertia of the mystical mind, plus the lowered vital condition of the entire race.

—————

Excerpted from:

Esoteric Psychology II – Chapter II – The Ray of Personality – Some Problems of Psychology

Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul

The Tibetan – Djwhal Khul – Dream 16 – 06 – 2008.

We are in a mountain village – a sort of base camp. We have just been up Everest and look back at its snow covered peak. We walk around the village and go to see the Tibetan. He welcomes us and we spend some time with him. He has five golden circles in a row interlinked with him. He gives us these five golden rings.

We wander back in the village to our flat which is there. We comment that it has gotten a bit touristy. We show others the mountain.

Someone is coming to see us. We go down onto the river and are in a modern pedalo style boat with a motor. The authorities know that this person is coming. I must ensure that the Tibetan has his head set so that he can communicate with whoever is coming.

Dream ends

Gold is the dreaming symbol for the spirit or Nagal

Ring is the symbol for power or circle the symbol for inclusiveness and unity

Five is the freedom and change {need for}

Mountain is the dreaming symbol for hope

Djwal Khul (variously spelled ‘Djwhal Khul’, ‘Djwal Kul’, the ‘Master D.K.’, ‘D.K.’, or simply ‘DK’), is believed by some Theosophists and others to be a Tibetan disciple in “The Ageless Wisdom” esoteric tradition. The texts describe him as a member of the ‘Spiritual Hierarchy’, or ‘Brotherhood’, of Mahatmas, one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, defined as the spiritual guides of mankind and teachers of ancient cosmological, metaphysical, and esoteric principles that form the origin of all the world’s great philosophies, mythologies and spiritual traditions. According to Theosophical writings, Djwal Khul is said to work on furthering the spiritual evolution of our planet through the teachings offered in the 24 books by Alice Bailey of Esoteric Teachings published by The Lucis Trust (then named the Lucifer Publishing Company); he is said to have telepathically transmitted the teachings to Bailey and is thus regarded by her followers as the communications director of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.”

The Not Being Believed Theme

“It was just a dream!”

Many do not pay attention to their dreams and discount them. Many others pay a little more attention. It is easy to write them off with the perhaps adamant assertion above. I have heard many anecdotes where people have been very unsettled by dreams. I’ll speculate that the more hard-core scientist you think you are the more likely it is that you will discount the import of dreams. They are fluffy febrile stuff for tree huggers, hippies, conspiracy theorists, whackos and new agers. Only space cadets are into dreams.

You can work out for yourself if I am a hippie space-cadet or not. Perhaps I am in a superposition state.

I am doing a little experiment here in the blog in which I group dreams in a time ordered sequence according to theme. It seems to me one dream is easily ignored but a time ordered sequence appears to have a tad more substance. It is a feeling. I challenge you to read one of these themed collections, see what you reckon. It might twist your melon man.

I am not all that interested in “winning” arguments, nor do I like to argue the toss incessantly. I do not need to convince or win people over. I will not try to cajole or coerce belief. In fact, when I have noted that somebody badly wants to “win” an argument I have let them do so on occasion, because it seems so important to them. I capitulate and say that they are “right”. Nobody has ever asked me what I mean by that. People tend to take the short-cut easy way out.

In quite a few of my dreams I am “told” that I will not be believed and that I will not be listened to.

Viewed from one angle not believing me and not listening to me, has karmic implications. One could argue that it is my karma to be treated like this. One could make a counter case that by acting thus “they” are making a massive karmic error.

I have a rule of thumb, “99% of people only think about themselves 99% of the time”. Obvs it is the 99% rule. This is a concise re-wording of the self-diagnosed omniscient / auto proctology rule.

If my dreams tell me I will not be believed there are two options, try to be heard or not bother. I have given up on banging my head against a brick wall.

The other big recurring theme in the dreams is someone else’s mess, often ginormous.

There is a catch 22. Because of the karmic mess created by others, if I try to tell them about said karmic mess, I will not be believed, and the karmic mess will get deeper. If I try to help, I will make it worse. It is an SEP, someone else’s problem.

Let me be specific if anyone claims to know my mind and to be speaking on my behalf, they are a liar and a charlatan. I have never appointed a spokesperson, a port-parole or any kind of PR agent to speak on my behalf. If you believe anyone claiming to know me and where I am coming from / what I am up to, then you are gullible and buying snake oil.

I have just made a statement and according to my dreams it will not be believed or listened to either.

Elephant – Bodh Gaya – India – Dream 1-9-2013

In the dream and the dreaming…

I show Piero my second thesis. I explain there was / is no need to get it marked.

The page then opens up to reveal a massive three-dimensional palace garden. In which there are tables, mirrors, candles and plants. The detail is exquisite as is the furniture. I light the candles and take Piero on a tour of the garden and when we have completed a full circuit, I notice that candles have gone out. The attendants notice me lighting the candles again and join in. There is no need to light the candles anymore. The story continues.

I take Piero over to a map. It is a map of India. I say to him that India looks like an Elephant from the front. We look closer and zoom in onto an Elephant like structure. Closer and closer we zoom at what appears to be a bindi on the Elephant’s head. We zoom in even more and see that it is a cluster of small tables under a tree.

This is where Buddha began the Bodhicitta it is Bodh Gaya.

I am now in the streets alone walking towards the Bodhi tree. There are market stalls everywhere selling souvenirs and changing money. At one stall I overhear a young woman who is a seer. “He has come. Let us watch and see what he does.”

I go over to her to give her some money as a donation. My coins are blue. I now have a guide standing with me. He says that Sunchita (or something similar an Indian female name) will have sex with me at the dinner should I so want.  I move on with the guide to show many more pictures of Elephants.

“This is my dreaming class”, I say. “I am an Elephant.”

“What colour is that?”, he asks.

I point him towards a magnificent picture of an Elephant done in Indigo Blue.

“I am Indigo Blue.” I say, “it runs in my veins.”

We continue to wander around under the Bodhi tree looking at the stalls as my guide chats with the locals. The girl re-iterates her offer which is of little interest to me.

Dream Ends

Three 14th Dalai Lama – Karmapa – Dreams

Karmapa / Dalai Lama Dream 7-9-2012

I am in my nan’s house when two large limousines pull up and out of them come loads of Tibetans together with security who set up a perimeter around the house.

One of them is the “Dalai Lama”, another is a doctor / healer and a third is a guide for protocol. The DL has a hooded cowl over his head. They all enter into the house and we go upstairs to my grandfather’s room which is in the centre of the three story house. (I used to gaze out of here across the valley to Clydach when I was young)

They all sit down on the floor. The doctor wants to take a good look at me naked. So, I strip and he goes over me examining me very thoroughly. He seems to be satisfied. The DL is sat down on the floor. I am sat on a chair. The protocol man says that no-one should have his head above the DL. So, I sit down on the floor next to him. He removes the cowl from his head and looks me direct in the eye. He is a Tibetan man with very dark hair and roughly my own age only a bit younger. I refer to him as Lhamo only he isn’t the man who goes around as the DL, he is too young for that.

He says to me; “Can you empty your mind?”

I shift quietly and quickly into a deep meditation.

“Of course you can!” He says smiling.

He says that he has been interested to read what I have sent them

“First let’s do a little healing for someone…”

He hands me a small object and asks me to concentrate. Out of the object I materialise a scorpion.

“Detach the scorpion and you will heal the person…”

I detach the scorpion with a little difficulty and throw it into the fire.

Looking out of the window we can see that some people have turned up. The DL is used to this and he motions to security to remove them gently.

Back in the room the DL says jokingly,

“It is always fun to do a bit of shamanism, isn’t it?”

I sense that this has been a test.

He then shows me his back. It has black marks upon it. “What are these he asks?”

I say that they are bones

“Yes, I can express my bones through my skin. It is a part of the martial arts we do in Tibet which can be very deadly…”

As he speaks pins come out of the “bones” on his back.

He brings in three security guards who are dressed in brightly coloured robes. They are all trained in this. They are a mixed bunch, tall and with poor teeth. They all have a glint in the eyes.

“They are very fast and would probably win any Mixed Martial Arts contest. We have thought about entering them just for fun but thought better of it. You are trained in martial arts too, aren’t you? Perhaps you too are deadly?”

“Maybe…”

We are then in mind to mind contact for a very long time. After this he rummages around in a cupboard and sees artist’s materials there. I hand these to him and he starts to make an elaborate construction.

My aunt is downstairs. I explain to her what is going on.

Back upstairs the DL is busy building his construction. He asks me to put the fire up one level. He is a little cold. (Implied it is cooler here than in India)

The security guards come in and say that people and the press have started to gather outside the house. I have no idea how long we have been talking, perhaps days.

They decide that they will go out the front door and not the back one. Security goes out and brings around the limousines. The DL who is really the Karmapa, or a mix of the two, says that things will now really start to change. I go with them to the door and the press are there all flashlights and cameras. There are metal barriers and police to contain the crowd. The Karmapa gets into a car and they drive off.

The press interviews me wanting to know what has been going on.

“He came here for a chat and for one of the doctors to look at me. It was all very nice,” I say.

Now I am somehow back in a city. The ex-wife is for some reason around. She has heard about what has happened. She asks if I can bring her some chilli on my way back from town. I am on a tube train and footage of the visit is being played on a TV screen in the carriage. A small Ethiopian looking man is there. He says,

“That is you in the footage, isn’t it?”

“Yes”

The whole carriage turns to look at me and the footage.

I am now living on a small country estate. There are two male lions prowling around the front gate for security.

I go outside for a wander. I see a small crowd and they start to throw silver CDs at me like discuses, the intention is one of harm. I turn my back on them and by using “the force” block the CDs causing them to drop to the floor. I then fly over them and up into a truly massive tree. I then fly back into the house.

In an annexe, a type of out building for the main house, the “Toltec” group is gathered. I am now moving rapidly through the house pushing open doors as I do. I am going to give them a piece of my mind.

I go into the room and they are all sat upon chairs around the outside of the room, in a “circle”. There are many familiar faces there. I speak to them about my life path and what it means for them. {implicit is that it is very important for them} The ex-wife is in the audience and all she wants to know is whether or not I got her chilli.  This typifies the mood and even when they are shown footage of the DL’s / Karmapa’s visit and him leaving my house, they are unmoved and disinterested.

Later I am outside by a rubbish heap. I meet again the Ethiopian man only now his head is much larger.  I understand him to be a knowledgeable being. He tells me not to be worried and that he too cannot believe what he has just witnessed in terms of their arrogance and utter stupidity.

I now realise that the being I was interacting with before was definitely the Karmapa, who is known for his magical capacities.  We are now linked.

He says,” Things of true importance are always revealed in dreams and visions…”

Dream ends.


Karmapa Dream 27th June 2014

Here is my dream from 27th June 2014.

It starts in a mountain setting. The wife and I are walking along a ridge either side of the ridge the mountain falls away into azure blue mountain lakes. There is no vegetation. The air is crisp and clear. We arrive in a small mountain village and go to our hotel.

Some while after, when we have settled in a young female child comes to visit us. Her eyes are most striking. They are blue despite the fact that she is Tibetan. I tell her she has beautiful eyes and she giggles happily. She says that the Karmapa will see me now and that I am to come to the monastery / palace for instructions. She skips off. She is the Karmapa’s little sister.

That night I go out onto the mountainside and see there the fish rearing pens. They are full of young hatchlings, which are moved from one pool to another as they mature. They must be raised like this otherwise the culture will die out. They change colour as they grow and mature. The pools are guarded by a Tibetan fish stock man who is dressed in traditional ceremonial costume.

I put my hand into the water and the fish swim to it.

The next morning, I go to the palace / monastery and am shown in. Before long I am in the presence of a young man. He shows me around and tells me that they have many visitors. He is wearing monk’s robes. He shows me a long object shaped like a barometer which holds important “relics” in it. It is a staff of office and is “magical”. He lets me take it out of its box and handle it. He repeats,

“We have had many visitors, many delegations…”

He watches how the staff interacts with me. It accepts me.

We must now get you ready to meet the Karmapa, you can meet him here at this mountain cave. He points at a map.

“You must come here at 2AM tomorrow morning. “

“Will you be OK walking in the mountains in the darkness?”

I reply,

“Yes! I was born in the mountains. I will meet you there!”

I know that the young man is in fact the Karmapa.

An older more wizened Tibetan then comes in to speak with me. He is shortish and thickset. He is a combination of Chöje Akong Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his appearance flits between these two.

He shows me a map of both the front and back faces of the mountain. It is in relief. I can zoom into the map to see the detail.

He makes emphasis on a little cabin. This is where the gatekeeper is. He keeps the keys. You will need to get a key from the gatekeeper before you meet the Karmapa.

In the dream I know it will not be the Karmapa who I will meet at the top of the mountain but the Akong / Trungpa being. I say that I will meet “them” there as they are the gatekeeper. This is a non-verbal communication “mind to mind”. This man is insistent upon the protocol, the tradition. The Karmapa however has already seen enough. He is satisfied.

The young man is now sat between two others, one of them is the Akong / Trungpa being. The Karmapa is reciting the mantra “Om Mane Padme Hum” quietly. He looks at me to see if I join in, in deep voice, or not. I do this in my head only. There is a silent acknowledgement between us that he can “hear” me doing this.

I walk out of the palace / monastery with the sensation that the Karmapa is in need of a friend. There is now a sense of inevitability “it” has now changed to when and not if.


Dalai Lama-Karmapa-Gandalf Dream 16-12-21

On top of everything else I have just had this whopper of a dream.

I am sat in a fairly sparse room somewhere in Northern India. It is one of the outbuildings to the complex of the Dalai Lama’s residence. I know this dream to be deep into Vajrayana and so I am already anticipating that things will get a little strange.  I go to the door of the building and a small red model car pulls up. It is like an open top version of a modern VW beetle. The car is just big enough for one and the exterior if a very vibrant deep red. The inside is a very dark black. I know the car to be remote controlled. I am being summoned.

I get in the car, and it sets off. It drives me around the building and then up a very steep and very prolonged staircase which it glides up. It then makes a sharp turn and heads into a building. It takes me into a room in which seated in meditation is the Dalai Lama. I get out of the car, and it vanishes.

The Dalai Lama then says, “we have been wondering what to do with you. Please take a stroll with me.”

I accompany him outside and there is a tower like structure in front of us. Near the top there are a pair of white feathered wings. He says, “they are yours; you know. Go get them.”

Instead of climbing up the tower I simply will them down into my hands. I hold them and I integrate them after which they disappear visually, but I know I have embodied them.

The Dalai Lama then berates me a little for being too cooperative and nice. He says that I am too apologetic.

He says that a man must have personality and presence in order to succeed.

In the distance inside his enclosure there are a number of wolves and a male from that enclosure is looking directly at me from a distance. We lock eye to eye.

I then say, “the Dalai Lama is sixth ray?”

“Yes, ask me and you shall be told…”

I think to myself that this is unexpected, a six ray Dalai Lama. Then on reflection why not. Why else would he keep coming back?

We re-enter a building and there are now a number of monks around. One of them is spilling milk on the floor. He is making quite a mess.

We enter the Dalai Lama’s room, and he tells me to clean up the mess. He hands me a small rag. I go to the room and instead of doing it myself I tell one of the others to clean up which he does.

The monks come in and start to kick me.

I sit down, cross legged, now dressed as a Tibetan monk. I put my hands into the thumb touching mudra and start to meditate. The monks and their blows disappear.

I then find myself dressed normally in a room full of monks. They are all sat around a throne upon which sits the Dalai Lama. I am sat next to a young man dressed in robes and with a shaven head.

He says, “do you know who I am?”

“Yes, you are the Karmapa.”

“Do you know who I am?

“Yes, you are the one we call Gandalf. Will you help me?”

“Yes, in any way I can”

We both adopt the hand position of offering and touch our foreheads together.

I awake and think that after a dream drought and with everything else going on that was a veritable whopper.

RSRE QinetiQ Malvern – Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche-Dream 20-06-2021

It is 7.27 AM I have just woken up and the kettle is on for coffee.  Here is this morning’s dream.

I am at some kind of personal development conference with one of the followers of a different blog. She is somehow convening the course and we are participating together. I tell her that I know where we are. We are at the Royal Signals Research Establishment, RSRE Malvern and that I have been here before. There are a number of us at this event.

There is a break for lunch. I leave the room and get into a lift. The lift takes me to a sub-basement floor by accident where I disembark. I see a men’s toilet and go into it. I stand in front of the urinal for a piss. In the toilet there are a number of young men. They are all talking about semiconductors and semiconductor growth.

I follow them out and into a mess hall where everyone is having lunch. I stand in a queue and behind a couple of youngish men. They too are talking about semiconductor growth.  I interject that I know a little about the subject. They are highly sceptical. I say that I know about MBE, chemical beam epitaxy CBE and MOCVD. This surprises them. I say that I worked with Bruce Joyce whom they have probably heard of. This surprises and interests them. I ask them what they are working on. They say Bragg reflectors. I suggest that they must be using graded materials so as to accommodate the strain between layers as they grow their reflector stacks. Wherever there are two different materials with different lattice parameters there will be strain. This demonstrates some knowledge to them. I say that I have a number of papers with Prof. Jing Zhang. They ask if I would like to see their clean room. Yes, I would.

They run off up some stairs and onto a raised platform. The platform is made out of metal and one can see the floor through it. They jump from one platform to another. I am nervous that I will be unable to make the jump because of the height and my injured hip. When I get there, the gap does not look so large.  I jump over and they lead me downstairs. We are now in the entrance to the clean room. They hand me over to a dark-haired man who is a Tibetan and who is dressed in Tibetan Buddhist monks’ robes. I make to enter the clean room, but he says that I must put on some overshoes first. I do this and he leads me through some doors into the clean room.

I ask him why he is here. He says that he likes to do research and enjoys science. He leads me into a room where there is a large Tibetan Buddhist monk with long grey hair and a large head. He is sat meditating. He is a big man.  My “guide” sits to his right and ushers me to sit to his left. The big man is beaming and radiant. There is a sense of much fun and considerable good-natured mischief to him. I sit down. His “aura” is enjoyable and welcoming, it is full of charm.  He turns to me and gently grabs hold of my chin. He says that I must open my mouth and look upwards. This I do. He carefully inspects my bottom front teeth and is happy with what he has seen. He says that I have the four signs that he has been looking for. He says meditate. I shift quickly into a deep state of meditation. He says of course you can do this I never doubted it. I come back from the state.

He ushers me to stand up and leads me outside. We look back at the building of RSRE Malvern and to my astonishment tagged on to the research facility is a truly vast Buddhist temple in the Tibetan / Bhutanese style. We are viewing the facility from the Queen’s Lawn in South Kensington. He leads me on and into the temple.

As we enter the building there is a chamber in which many young men dressed as monks are meditating. He says that all of these will want to give me my first hug of welcome. He leads me up to his rooms, his office. I know that I am with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and that he has been inspecting me. I recognise him from the you tube footage I have watched, way back.

I awaken and although still tired feel the need to note this dream down. As I am writing I feel the warmth of the being from the dream. He is “here” now somehow with me for the moment.

*He passed away 28 September 1991.

Bakula – Buddhist Arhat – Dream 12-08-2011

A thangka depicting Bakula, one of Buddha’s sixteen arhats, with his mongoose.

I am in a roof top garden, there is some sort of party going on with loads of people sat around and at tables. There are people of many ethnicities from all over the world. They are dressed in brightly coloured “hippie” style clothes. As the party carries on, they draw a curtain around one part of the garden and gather around some Buddhist icons. A south American man there starts to do some chanting. I butt in with Tibetan deep voice chanting. They do not recognise me and are annoyed at my interruption. I point out to them that it is my garden which they are in. I strike up again and do White Tara. I need a drink of water before I can find my voice. After several cups I strike the right note and do some White Tara. Everyone joins in and after a while the party resumes happily.

The wife and I are in one segment of the garden when Anna L and a friend turn up. They have been travelling in India. She has remained pale but her friend has gone brown. She talks of her travels and I say that we will in time need to have a proper talk. She has something for me. At which point she shoots straight up into the air and then lands. She has brought many “ethnic”, clothes and trinkets.


Next I am on a mountain train. I arrive at a terminus in a hillside town way up in the mountains. It is very much like Nepal / Tibet / Bhutan. I get out of the train and wander along the high street. Turning instinctively to the right I go up a hill to “my” palace. Again, there is a vibrant garden with peacocks. It is “my” garden.


Later I make another journey on the mountain train and end up at another terminus. Here the streets are filled with market traders selling saffron and magenta clothes, together with gold trinkets and jewellery. I have time to explore. Everyone is trying to barter with the merchants trying to buy goods in various currencies. The merchants will not trade unless the currency matches the passport of the person trying to buy.


I am not interested in bartering and look on watching. Somehow, I am “in tune” with the locals. I wander back to the main street and notice various pins sticking in my back. Somehow, I am now in an off the shoulder monk’s robe. One by one I pull the pins out of my back. They are made of a very fine gold pin topped with a tiny ivory chess figure. There is a castle, a knight, a king and a queen. I have also been adorned with much golden jewellery.


I go into an emporium as I am pulling out these pins and sit down. I ask the shopkeeper about what has been happening. She says that they have done this to me so as to make me unattractive to the locals so that they won’t fall for me and want to have sex with me.


Anna L comes into the shop and sits next to me. We start talking about my palace. An old Indian man with very short hair suddenly starts to talk in a very proper English accent. He says that she holds for me a key and that we must find it. It relates back to 1773. He says that I must get back to Bakula.


We leave the shops and seek out the train station. “All trains go through Bakula”, says the station announcer. We look at the map and it is configured like this.

  • Before this dream I had never heard of Bakula nor the sixteen arhats.
  • It is possible that Anna L is dakini.

13th Dalai Lama Dream 01-03-2024 

I am in a village hall here in Brittanny. There is an event going on organised by some of the British expat community. Sat at the back in monk’s robes is a man roughly my age with a small retinue. He is Tibetan. They are in monochrome. They are chatting amongst themselves. A woman turns to them and says to the man that he talks too much.

I turn to the wife and say that she has just told the Dalai Lama that he talks too much. He hears me and we lock eyes. He is grinning profusely and we both find the situation hysterically funny. He turns to his retinue and says, “The Dalai Lama talks too much!” They all giggle slightly because he is known for not saying that much at all.

In the dream I know that this is a previous incarnation of the current Dalai Lama. Because he looks different. I recognise him.

The sense of fun at being told off we share is uplifting.

{On searching Google, it is the 13th Dalai Lama as an older man.}

The scene changes and I am now deeper in the hall with the wife. I am making an herbal tea with citrus rind, bright yellow berries and ginger in a large Pyrex bowl. I pour this through a sieve into two cups. We go outside to let it cool.

I say that we have to go back in because the meeting is starting. We find that someone has tidied up our mugs. We sit down on a couple of chairs and the meeting kicks off in English. The expats are mobilising for some cause or other. They tell us we have every right to be there.

The scene changes and I am in a mountain {possibly Tibet} monastery. I am with a young boy aged around ten. We are in a bedroom and he is standing on the bed. He is of Tibetan origin with jet black hair. We are touching foreheads and playing a gentle game of headbutts with each other. His English is impeccable and I tell him so. He seems very familiar to me. We are having a great deal of fun.

Someone comes to the door and escorts us to a room with large step like seats. The boy instructs me to go some way up the steps and I am joined by the wife.

Some men come in and put a carved wooden chair on the floor. The boy says that the Dalai Lama likes to have people higher than he because it reminds him to stay humble. The Dalai Lama comes in and sits on the chair. The boy stands next to him. It is clear that they know each other well. In the dream I know that this is yet another prior incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

The scene changes and I am outside by the shore of a mountainous lake. I am sat with a young white American. A dharma bum. In the background the Dalai Lama is organising a spectacle a ritual with white flags and huge prayer wheels. There is a horse riding display. Implicit in the dream is that the Dalai Lama will see me soon.

I am talking with the American about the nature of reality. I say to him that I know that reincarnation is real because I have recollection of my prior lives in dreams.

As the dream is fading, I get a full colour image of the current the 14th Dalai Lama and a sensation of joining Ajna centres.

Dream ends