Scriptural quotes on basic self awareness and lucidity

[VagalTone]

I hope these quotes, while unavoidably directing the reader to spiritual/religious terminology, will inspire one to build confidence, or even faith and devotion, on the practice of simplicity ( in the sense that our life is unnecessarily complicated). There are so much more interesting passages on the books i have read that it would be a painstaking nightmare to put them all here. However, i will copy past here from now on. The degree to which one becomes familiar with the practice can be measured by the extent of one's control over the dream state, recognizing one's dreams to be dreams while still dreaming. Through practice, day by day one overcomes attachments and so sensations of pleasure and pain no longer condition the individual. One finds oneself in a state of integration which is in no way clothed in conceptions and judgments (ma gos mnyam-nyid ngang). Because primal awareness is present, all appearances arise as friends who can help one on the path. In fact, everything encountered along the path can now be something utilized to help develop one's practice. Therefore, one can interrupt the continuity of illusory visions ('khrul-pa'i rgyun chad) and one finds oneself in the state of the dharmatii, the real condition of existence. Norbu Rinpoche, The cycle of day and night When one practices the essence of this yoga both day and night, the whole of our dimension of life enters into contemplation. Becoming familiar with the practice, our passions will arise on the path (as something useful to us). Certainly we will attain the full measure of accomplishing the benefit of beings, whose numbers are equal to the vastness of the sky, because of realizing the three dimensions of our existence. (44) The measure of our familiarity (with this practice is the degree to which we are able to) recognize our dreams to be dreams while we are still asleep. Since attachments to sensations of pleasure and pain (will be overcome day by day), we find ourselves in a state of integration, in no way clothed (in concepts or judgments). Because primal awareness is present, all appearances arise as friends (who can help us on the path). The continuity of illusion is thus interrupted and we find ourselves in the presence of the state of the real condition of existence. (45) Since the practitioner of Atiyoga, throughout both the day and the night, remains without moving from this state of the real condition of existence, it is said that he or she may realize Buddhahood even in the instant between two breaths. So it was said by that great being Garab Dorje. Norbu Rinpoche, The cycle of day and night The Essence of Wakefulness - A Method in Sustaining the Nature of Awareness Homage to the glorious Primordial Protector. When sustaining the nature of awareness, the three stages of recognizing, training and attaining stability will gradually occur. First of all, scrutinize the naked and natural face of awareness by means of your master's oral instructions until you see it free from assumptions. Having resolved it with certainty, it is essential that you simply sustain the nature of just that. It is not enough just to recognize it, you must perfect the training in the following way: You may already have recognized the face of awareness, but unless you rest in just that, conceptual thinking will interrupt it and it will be difficult for awareness to appear nakedly. So, at that point it is essential to rest without accepting or rejecting your thoughts and to continue by repeatedly resting in the state of un-fabricated awareness. When you have practiced this again and again the force of your thought waves weakens while the face of your awareness grows sharper and it becomes easier to sustain. That is the time when you should abide in the meditation state as much as you can and be mindful of remembering the face of awareness during post-meditation. As you grow used to this the strength of your awareness is trained further. At first, when a thought occurs you need not apply a remedy to stop it. By leaving it to itself it is, at some point, naturally freed - just as the knot on a snake becomes untied by itself. When you become more adept, the occurrence of a thought will cause slight turmoil but immediately vanish in itself - just like a drawing on the surface of water. When you train in just that, you gain experience that transcends benefit and harm, at which point thought occurrences cause no problem whatsoever. Thus, you will be free from hope or fear about whether or not thoughts do occur - just like a thief entering an uninhabited house. By practicing further you perfect the training so that, finally, your conceptual thinking and the all-ground along with its moving force dissolve into un-fabricated Dharmakaya. That is the attainment of the natural abode of awareness. Just as you cannot find any ordinary stones on an island of gold even if you search for them all that appears and exists will be experienced as the realm of Dharmakaya. Attaining stability is when everything has become all-encompassing purity. In the same way, just as conceptual thinking gradually falls under the power of awareness during the daytime, at night you do not need to apply some other instruction, but should simply understand how the recognition of dreams and the luminosities of the shallow and deep sleep correspond. Until you attain stability, by all means continue with undistracted diligence like the steady flow of a river. This was taught by Mipham. May virtuous goodness increase! Mipham Rinpoche http://wearebuddhamind.blogspot.pt/2...method-in.html CULTIVATING LUCIDITY DIRECTLY One of the best ways to lay a firm foundation for attaining proficiency in lucid dreaming is to train in the shamatha technique of settling the mind in its natural state. In this practice one's attention is placed neither on the tactile sensations of the body nor on the breath but on the phenomena of the mind itself. That means that your object of attention will be the space of the mind and whatever thoughts, emotions, images, and other kinds of mental phenomena arise in that domain of experience. The goal is to simply observe this passing parade without becoming involved-without cultivating, investigating, being attracted to, encouraging, or rejecting any mental phenomena that appear in your mind. You maintain an even, calm presence whether those phenomena come fast and furious or few and far between. You have no preference as to what might appear. Just attend to what· ever arises. Using this practice as a complement to lucid dreaming makes perfect sense. Settling the mind in its natural state closely parallels the act of lucid dreaming. When you practice settling the mind in its natural state, you are becoming lucid to the mental activity of the waking state. You recognize these mental events as mental events, not mistaking them for events in the outer, intersubjective world. Normally we are as caught up in and carried away by our mental activities in the daytime as we are in the nocturnal mental activity we call dreaming. Rarely do we step back and simply observe our minds in action, becoming cognizant of the nature of the reality we are experiencing in the present moment. It makes sense, then, that if you can become lucid in your daytime experience, this will greatly facilitate lucidity when you're dreaming. Settling the mind in its natural state can also be effective for reentering dreams when you awaken at night. Alan Wallace, Dreaming Yourself While Awake A Lamp to Dispel Darkness An Instruction that Points Directly to the Very Essence of Mind In the Tradition of ‘the Old Realized Ones’ by Mipham Jampal Dorje [.................................................. ......READ IF YOU WANT ........................................] The true measure of your familiarity with this is the ability to maintain the state of clear light during sleep. The signs that you are on the right track can be known through your own experience: your faith, compassion and wisdom will increase automatically, so that realization will come easily, and you will experience few difficulties. You can be certain about how profound and swift this approach is if you compare the realization it brings with the realization gained only through great effort in other approaches. As a result of cultivating your mind’s own natural clear light, the obscurations of ordinary thinking and the habits it creates will be naturally cleared away (sang), and the two aspects of omniscient wisdom will effortlessly unfold (gyé). With this, as you seize the stronghold of your own primordial nature, the three kāyas will be spontaneously accomplished. Profound! Guhya! Samaya! This profound instruction was written by Mipham Jampal Dorje on the twelfth day of the second month, in the Fire Horse year (1906), for the benefit of village yogis and others, who, while not able to exert themselves too much in study and contemplation, still wish to take the very essence of mind into experience through practice. It has been set out in language that is easy to understand, in accordance with the experiential guidance of a great many old realized masters. Virtue! Mangalam! A Lamp to Dispel Darkness | Lotsawa House