"If we cannot carry our practice into sleep," Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche writes, "if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."

This book gives detailed instructions for dream yoga, including foundational practices done during the day. In the Tibetan tradition, the ability to dream lucidly is not an end in itself, rather it provides an additional context in which one can engage in advanced and effective practices to achieve liberation.

Dream yoga is followed by sleep yoga, also known as the yoga of clear light. It is a more advanced practice, similar to the most secret Tibetan practices. The goal is to remain aware during deep sleep when the gross conceptual mind and the operation of the senses cease. Most Westerners do not even consider this depth of awareness a possibility, yet it is well known in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon spiritual traditions.

The result of these practices is greater happiness and freedom in both our waking and dreaming states. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep imparts powerful methods for progressing along the path to liberation.
Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 1998, 219 pages, $19.95

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a lama in the Bon tradition of Tibet, presently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the founder and director of Ligmincha Institute, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bon tradition. He was born in Amritsar, India, after his parents fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet and received training from both Buddhist and Bon teachers, attaining the degree of Geshe, the highest academic degree of traditional Tibetan culture. He has been in the United States since 1991 and has taught widely in Europe and America.

CONTENTS: Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
Preface					11
Introduction					15
	Receiving the Teachings				17
PART ONE: THE NATURE OF DREAM					21
	1	Dream and Reality			23
	2	How Experience Arises			24
			Ignorance		24
			Actions and Results: Karma and Karmic Traces		26
			Negative Karma		29
			Positive Karma		29
			Liberating Emotions		30
			Obscurations of Consciousness		31
			Karmic Traces and Dream		32
			The Six Realms of Cyclic Existence		34
				Hell Realm	37
				Hungry Ghost Realm	38
				Animal Realm	38
				Human Realm	39
				Demi-god Realm	39
				God Realm	40
			Why "Negative" Emotion?		40
	3	The Energy Body			42
			Channels and Prana		42
			Channels (Tsa)		43
			Prana (Lung)		44
				Karmic Prana	45
				Three Kinds of Karmic Prana	45
				Wisdom Prana	46
				Pranic Activity	46
			Balancing the Prana		46
			Prana and Mind		47
			Chakras		48
			Blind Horse, Lame Rider		49
	4	Summary: How Dreams Arise			52
	5	Images from the Mother Tantra			53
			Teaching Metaphors		56
PART TWO: KINDS AND USES OF DREAMS					59
	1	Three Kinds of Dreams			61
			Samsaric Dreams		61
			Dreams of Clarity		62
			Clear Light Dreams		63
	2	Uses of Dreams			65
			Experience in Dream		65
			Guidance and Guidelines		66
			Divination		68
			Teachings in Dream		70
	3	The Discovery of Chod Practice			72
	4	Two Levels of Practice			76
PART THREE: THE PRACTICE OF DREAM YOGA					79
	1	Vision, Action, Dream, Death			81
	2	Calm Abiding: Zhine			84
			Forceful Zhine		86
			Natural Zhine		87
			Ultimate Zhine		88
			Obstacles		88
				Agitation	88
				Drowsiness	88
				Laxity	89
	3	The Four Fundamental Practices			90
			One: Changing the Karmic Traces		90
			Two: Removing Grasping and Aversion		93
			Three: Strengthening Intention		94
			Four: Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort		95
			Consistency		96
	4	Preparation for the Night			97
			Nine Purifications Breathing		98
			Guru Yoga		99
				The Practice	101
			Protection		102
	5	The Main Practice			104
			Bringing Awareness into the Central Channel		104
			Increasing Clarity		106
			Strengthening Presence		108
			Developing Fearlessness		110
			Position		111
			Focusing the Mind		112
			The Sequence		116
	6	Lucidity			119
			Developing Flexibility		121
	7	The Obstacles			127
			Delusion		127
			Laxity		128
			Self-distraction		128
			Forgetting		129
			Four Obstacles according to Shardza Rinpoche		129
	8	Controlling and Respecting Dreams			131
	9	Simple Practices			134
			The Waking Mind		134
			Preparing for Night		136
	10	Integration			138
PART FOUR: SLEEP					141
	1	Sleep and Falling Asleep			143
	2	Three Kinds of Sleep			145
			Sleep of Ignorance		145
			Samsaric Sleep		145
			Clear Light Sleep		146
	3	Sleep Practice and Dream Practice			148
PART FIVE: THE PRACTICE OF SLEEP YOGA					151
	1	The Dakini, Salgye Du Dalma			153
	2	Preliminary Practice			157
	3	Sleep Practice			159
			Entering Sleep		160
	4	Tigle			163
	5	Progress			165
	6	Obstacles			167
	7	Supportive Practices			170
			Master		170
			Dakini		170
			Behavior		171
			Prayer		171
			Dissolving		171
			Expanding and Contracting		172
	8	Integration			174
			Integration of Clear Light with the Three Poisons		174
			Integration with the Cycles of Time		177
				External Unification	177
				Internal Unification	179
				Secret Unification	180
				The Three Unifications: Conclusion	181
	9	Continuity			183
PART SIX: ELABORATIONS					185
	1	Context			187
	2	Mind and Rigpa			188
			Conceptual Mind		188
			Non-dual Awareness: Rigpa		189
				Base Rigpa and Path Rigpa	191
	3	The Base: Kunzhi			192
			Mind and Matter		193
	4	Knowing			194
	5	Recognizing Clarity and Emptiness			197
			Balance		199
			Discrimination		199
	6	Self			200
	7	Paradox of the Essenceless Self			203
Final Words					205
Appendix: Outline of Dream Yoga Practices					209
Glossary					213
Bibliography					218