Question asked by M.C
Dear Rinpoche,
I started doing prostration retreat last year after watching your teachings on "Cosmic Tantra"
Very often 3 things happen and I am not sure if this is related to prostation (maybe it's nothing but I was wondering if you can shed some light)?
1. Quite often, I dream of my altar at home either empty or the statues melting in front of my eyes. I have a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and Kuan Yin and sometimes I even dream that one of the is missing from the altar.
2. I also very frequently sit up suddently from my sleep either due to dreams of anxiety such as losing a key to somewhere important or being locked in a cave and feeling claustrophic or forgetting something really important or forgot to do my prostration for the day. I don't know how to explain this feeling but it usually makes me very anxious when I wake up.
3. In addition, I very often dream about getting into a car accident – the last time I dreamt of this was last week, it was so real and in my dream I thought, I can't believe this is happening to me now for real and not a dream anymore.
Rinpoche, these may or may not be due to the prostration I am doing and I apologize for taking up your precious time. I am just curious to know what your thoughts are.
In March of this year, I completed 20K prostrations and have dedicated to Rinpoche's long life. Thank you for everything.
M.C
Dear M.C,
Happy to hear you are doing prostrations. A few points to remember:
1. Prostration retreats are very powerful for purifying karma that we have collected and constantly collect. As long as our minds operate out of delusionary projections we will continue to collect karma by body, speech and mind of course. So collecting stained karma is a constant act even while we are ‘doing nothing’. As long as we are alive we collect karmas. How our mind thinks and the space it operates from determines the types of karmas arising. So during prostration retreats it is a very good sign when we have disturbing dreams/experiences. It means the karma is coming out and purifying. The karma has to come out somehow and if it’s in dreams it causes us the anxiety without experiencing the actual event. This is good.
2. If your dreams continue after retreat, it will be good to engage in Black Manjushri practice. He will alleviate disturbing dreams that arise from wrong sources. It would be good to have a photo/statue of this powerful deity near us and do His mantra daily up till you reach 100k. His main mantra is the one to focus on. You may consult the Pastors for more information.
I thank you for your kind dedication.
Please continue your practice and the good news is Adeline Woon, Niral and others are starting a prostration retreat in Kechara very soon also.
Tsem Rinpoche