Dreams and Their Significance

梦

'Life is nothing but a dream.'

生命无他，只是一场梦。

One of man's greatest unsolved problems is the mystery of dreams. From the very earliest of times man has tried to analyze dreams and has tried to explain them in prophetic and psychological terms, but while there has been some measure of success recently, we are probably no nearer the answers to the baffling question: 'What is a dream?'

人类无法解决的问题，就是梦的神秘性。从原始到现在，人类不断的尝试透过各种不同的途径，来阐释梦的起因，仍然无法找到答案──什么是梦？

The great English Romantic poet William Wordsworth had a startling concept: that this life we live is merely a dream and that we will 'awake' to the 'real' reality when we die, when our 'dream' ends.

英国诗人W.吴得儿次认为：「我们生活在梦中，当我们清醒时，生命结束了，梦也结束了。」

'Our birth is but a sleep and forgetting:

The Soul, that rises with us, our life's star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar.'

「我们的『生』，只不过在睡眠中，忘记了一切。灵魂是我们的星宿，依我们而生。它来自远方，会在其他地方殒落。」

A similar concept is expressed in a charming old Buddhist tale which tells of a deva who was playing with some other devas. Being tired, he lay down to take a short nap and passed away. He was reborn as a girl on earth. There she got married, had a few children and lived to be very old. After her death again she was born as a deva amongst the same companions who had just finished playing their game. (This story also illustrates the world is very different from time in another plane of existence).

在一个传统佛教故事里，这么记载：有一位天人，在与同伴游戏的当儿，感到疲倦便找个地方打盹，他就这样去世了。他转世到人间，成为一个女性。结婚生子，活到很老才去世。去世后，他又转生天界，一切就好像在做梦，他醒觉时，同伴的游戏刚刚结束。这故事也向我们显示了人间与天界不同的时间概念。

What has Buddhism to say about dreams? Just as in every other culture, Buddhism has had its fair share of people who claimed to be skilled in interpreting dreams. Such people earn a lot of money exploiting the ignorance of men and women who believe that every dream has a spiritual or prophetic significance.

佛教如何看待「梦」呢？佛教和其他的传统概念一样，不认为自己拥有解梦的能力。很多解梦者，为那些愚昧、无知的人解梦，从而赚取大笔的金钱。

According to Buddhist psychology dreams are ideational processes which occur as activities of the mind. In considering the occurrence of dreams it is relevant to remember that the process of sleeping can be regarded as falling into five stages.

根据佛教的看法，梦是一种心理现象，也是一种思维的程序，一种在睡眠中思维不受意识操纵的活动。我们的睡眠经过五个程序：

drowsiness,

light slumber,

deep slumber,

light slumber and

awakening.

一、产生睡意。

二、浅睡眠。

三、深睡眠。

四、浅睡眠。

五、觉醒。

The significance and the cause of dreams were the subject of discussion in the famous book 'Milinda Panha' or 'The Questions of King Milinda', in which Ven. Nagasena has stated that there are six causes of dreams, three of them being organic, wind, bile and phlegm. The fourth is due to the intervention of supernatural forces, fifth, revival of past experience and sixth, the influence of future events. It is categorically stated that dreams occur only in light slumber which is said to be like the sleep of the monkey. Of the six causes given Ven. Nagasena has stated positively that the last, namely prophetic dreams are the only important ones and the others are relatively insignificant.

在《弥林达问经》(Milinda Pànha，古译：弥兰王问经)里，那噶瑟纳(又称龙军)尊者(Nagasena)为梦做了六种解释。其中三种是因为器官受到呼吸、胆汁分泌失调(暴躁)和痰堵塞了气管的影响。第四种是受到超自然力的影响。第五种是过去经验的影响。第六种是为了将来而造成的烦恼所影响。那噶瑟纳尊者有次序的解释了梦的产生，在心猿意马的情况下入睡，怎么不会做梦呢？其他都是次要的。

Dreams are mind-created phenomena and they are activities of the mind. All human beings dream, although some people cannot remember. Buddhism teaches that some dreams have psychological significance. The six causes mentioned earlier can also be classified in the following manner:

梦是一种心识在无意识活动中而产生的现象。每个人都会做梦，可是往往无法记起自己的梦境。佛教认为梦是一种心理现象。让我们详细的分析前面所提到的六种解释。

Every single thought that is created is stored in our subconscious mind and some of them strongly influence the mind according to our anxieties. When we sleep, some of these thoughts are activated and appear to us as 'pictures' moving before us. This happens because during sleep, the five senses which constitute our contact with the outside world, are temporarily arrested. The subconscious mind then is free to become dominant and to 're-play' thoughts that are stored. These dreams may be of value to psychiatry but cannot be classified as prophetic. They are merely the reflections of the mind at rest.

一、梦境所产生的一切景物，早已储存在我们的潜意识里，他们之所以会影响我们的意识，只要是因为忧虑。当我们睡眠时，感官活动虽然暂停，可是意识还在活动，为我们呈现了「梦境」。梦境与精神有关，但是，绝对不能把它当作是一种预言。梦是人类在休息时，心识的反射作用。

The second type of dream also has no significance. These are caused by internal and external provocations which set off a train of 'visual thoughts' which are 'seen' by the mind at rest. Internal factors are those which disturb the body(e.g. a heavy meal which does not allow one to have a restful slumber or imbalance and friction between elements that constitute the body). External provocation is when the mind is disturbed(although the sleeper may be unaware of it) by natural phenomena like the weather, wind, cold, rain, leaves rustling, windows rattling etc. The subconscious mind reacts to these disturbances and creates pictures to 'explain' them away. The mind accommodates the irritation in a seemingly rational way so that the dreamer can continue to sleep undisturbed. These dreams too have no importance and need no interpretation.

二、第二种梦境也是非意识状态的。是因为内外的刺激，在人们休息时，被心识呈现出来。内部因素是由于身体的干扰，如：入睡吃得太饱。外在的刺激是由于自然现象，如：气候、风、寒冷、雨、树叶的声音等等。潜意识对外在刺激的反应而呈现种种景象──梦境。意识理智的处理这些现象，以致不干扰人的睡眠。这一类的梦境无关紧要，也不需要任何解释。

Then there are prophetic dreams. These are important. They are seldom experienced and only when there is an impending event which is of great relevance to the dreamer. Buddhism teaches that besides the tangible world we can experience, there are devas who exist on another plane or some spirits who are bound to this earth and are invisible to us. They could be our relatives or friends who have passed away and who have been reborn. They maintain their former mental relationships and attachments to us. When Buddhists transfer merits to devas and departed ones, they remember them and invite them to share the happiness accrued in the merit. Thus they develop a mental relationship with their departed ones. The devas in turn are pleased and they keep a watch over us and indicate something in dreams when we are facing certain big problems and they try to protect us from harm.

三、带预测性的梦是重要的。它向做梦的人预先提示了将要发生的事，这种梦很少发生。佛教认为，除了我们能够看见和感触到的以外，还有其他的天人和精灵是我们无法察觉得。他们可能是我们至亲的人死后轮回转世的，他们维持了以往与我们的关系。他们也会庇护我们，因此，当我们面对问题时，他们就会以梦来提示我们。

So, when there is something important that is going to happen in our lives they activate certain mental energies in our minds which are seen as dreams. These dreams can warn of impending danger or even prepare us for sudden over-whelming good news. These messages are given in symbolic terms (much like the negatives of photographs) and have to be interpreted skillfully and with intelligence. Unfortunately too many people confuses the first two kinds of dreams with these and end up wasting valuable time and money consulting fake mediums and dream-interpreters. The Buddha was aware that this could be exploited for personal gain and He therefore warned the monks against practising soothsaying, astrology and interpreting dreams in the name of Buddhism.

当某些重大的事故将要发生时，他们就会透过梦境向我们警告。这类的梦可以让我们预知危厄和喜事的发生。这些信息要好好的掌握，并以智慧加以分析。不幸的是很多人将这一点和第一和第二项梦境相混淆，浪费了大量金钱在解梦和向灵媒谘询。佛陀告诫出家人，不可以佛教的名誉从事算命、解梦、占卜等活动。

Finally, our mind is the4 depository of all kammic energies accumulated in the past. Sometimes, when a kamma is about to ripen (that is, when the action we did in a previous life or early part of our life, is going to experience its reaction)the mind which is at rest during sleep can trigger off a 'picture' of what is going to happen. Again the impending action has to be of great importance and must be so strongly charged that the mind 'releases' the extra energy in the form of a vivid dream. Such dreams occur only very rarely and only to certain people with a special kind of mental make up. The sign of the effect of certain kammas also appears in our minds at the last moment when we are going to depart from this world.

四、我们的心识，是过去一切业力的积累。有时候，业力现前时，我们在休息中的意识，会显现某些景象来提醒我们。这些即将发生的事，必定是一件重大的事，因此才会有如此清晰的梦境。这类梦境很少发生，只发生在某些特殊的人身。当我们临终时，某些业力也会同样的展现在我们面前。

Dreams can occur when two living human beings send strong mental telepathic messages to each other. When one person has an intense desire to communicate with another, he concentrates strongly on the message and the person with whom he wishes to communicate. When the mind is at rest, it is in an ideal state to receive these messages which are seen as dreams. Usually these dreams only appear in one intense moment because the human mind is not strong enough to sustain such messages over a long period of time.

五、梦也可以将两个生活在不同空间的人，以他们强烈的意识相互沟通。当一个人想要与另外个人沟通时，他只要集中精神，以强烈的意识发出信息就可以了，当一个人处于心识非常平静的状态，在梦境中就能接受他人的信息。通常这种情况只发生在一瞬间，这是因为人们一般意识的动力并非那么强大。

All worldlings are dreamers, and they see as permanent, what is essentially impermanent. They do not see that youth ends in old age, beauty in ugliness, health in sickness, and life itself in death. In this dream-world, what is truly without substance is seen as reality. Dreaming during sleep is but another dimension of the dream-world. The only ones who are awake are the Buddhas and Arahats as they have seen reality.

六、所有人类都是做梦者，他们把梦视为「常」，其实梦是「无常」的。他们还未发现年老将取代年青、丑陋将取代美貌、疾病将取代健康、死亡将取代生命。在这梦幻的世界里，把无常的一切当作真实。在睡眠中做梦只不过是梦境中的梦境。唯一清醒者就是佛陀与阿拉汉。

Buddhas and Arahants never dream. The first three kinds of dream cannot occur in their minds, because their minds have been permanently 'stilled' and cannot be activated to dream. The last kind of dream cannot happen to them because they have eradicated all their craving energy completely, and there is no 'residual' energy of anxiety or unsatisfied desire to activate the mind to produce dreams. The Buddha is also known as the Awakened One because His way of relaxing the physical body is not the way we sleep which results in dreams. Great artists and thinkers, like the German Goethe, have often said they get some of their best inspiration through dreams. This could be because when their minds are cut off from the five senses during sleep, they produce clear thoughts which are creative in the highest degree. Wordsworth meant the same thing when he said that good poetry results from 'powerful emotions recollected in tranquility.

佛陀与阿拉汉不会做梦。前三项梦境不会产生，是因为他们的心识，只获得永恒的平静。第四项的梦境也不会发生在他们身，是因为他们已完全断除贪欲，没有触发梦境的因素。佛陀是一位大觉者，他放松自己身体的方式与我们的睡眠不同，因此，他不会做梦。伟大的艺术家和思想家，如：德国的歌德说，他最大的创作灵感是来自梦境。这可能是因为他们在睡眠中，意识与其他五识完全断绝关系，因此能产生清楚的意识，来启发他们最高程度的创造力。诗人吴德兀次认为，好的诗作是来自最平静的灵感。