Niguma Guru Yoga for Dream Practice

Preliminaries

1. Start Practice w/ Breath Observation

2. In 7 point posture, observe breath 7-21 times, then 9 fold purification breath

*AH PURIFICATION 21 TIMES

Refuge & Bodhichitta

Generating the Mind of Refuge and Bodhicitta

(3 X)

Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,

Until enlightenment I take refuge in you,

Through my merit of generosity and so on*

May I attain Buddhahood for the good of all sentient beings.

The Four Immeasurables

(3X)

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,

May all beings never be separated from the supreme joy that is beyond all suffering,

May all beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment, aversion, and sorrow.

Emptiness Meditation

OṀ SVABHĀVA ŚUDDHĀḤ SARVA DHARMĀḤ SVABHĀVA ŚUDDHO ‘HAṂ

Everything dissolves into emptiness, all things are pure in nature.

Guru Yoga

Upon one’s head is a jeweled throne supported by eight lions. There, seated upon cushions of a lotus and a moon, is my personal guru in the form of a white Buddha Vajradhara. He has one face and two arms. In his right hand is a vajra and in his left a bell, which he holds at his heart. Adorned with the precious ornaments and clothed in the silken garments of a bodhisattva, he is embellished with all the marks and signs of perfection and is locked in embrace with the consort Vajraishvaridhatu. A white letter OM marks the crown of each of their heads, AH their throats, and HUM their hearts. Lights emanate from these syllables at their hearts, summoning forth the lineage gurus and mandala divinities, surrounded by the buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as the dakas and dakinis of the three worlds, and the Dharma protectors and wisdom guardians. These dissolve into the root guru.

JAH HUM BAM HOH

They unite and become non-dual. One then concentrates on the guru as an embodiment of the objects of refuge, and makes the following prayer:

A form embodying all buddhas,

In nature a holder of diamond knowledge, 

The root of the Three Jewels of Refuge:

Homage to the holy root guru.

Then make the following prayer (3 Xs)

O precious guru, send forth your inspiring blessings to help me cleanse and purify from within myself the seeds of all negative deeds, downfalls, and weakened commitments created since beginningless time. Send forth inspiring blessings to help me pacify and eliminate all diseases and hindrances. Send forth inspiring blessings to help me to generate quick insight into the stages and paths of practice.

Now lights emanate forth successively from the three mantric letters at the guru’s three sites— white light from the crown, red from the throat, and blue from the heart. They come to one’s crown, throat, and heart, respectively, and dissolve into these sites, giving blessings of the guru’s body, speech, and mind. All three lights then shine forth

simultaneously, giving the three blessings at once.

In this way the four initiations are successively gained, and one’s body, speech, and mind are purified of stains, together with their subtle instincts. The guru then dissolves into light, which comes above one’s head and enters one’s body via one’s Brahma aperture. Contemplate that the guru then reappears as a white letter AH, in nature light, residing near one’s Brahma aperture, with oneself visualized as the tantric divinity.

Dream Yoga Practice

Dream Yoga Prayer (3 X)

Precious guru, bless me to recognize my dreams.

Bless me to refine my dreams.

Bless me to increase my dreams.

Bless me to change my dreams.

Bless me to look into objective appearance.

Please confer upon me the full four empowerments.

With that supplication, a white OM emerges from the OM in the guru’s forehead. You receive the vase empowerment which purifies physical stains and empowers you to meditate on creation phase as the path. Red AH emerges from the AH in the guru’s throat and dissolves into your throat, purifying verbal obscurations. You receive the secret empowerment, empowering you to meditate on completion phase as the path. Blue Hum emerges from the Hum in the guru’s heart and dissolves into your heart, purifying mental obscurations. You receive the wisdom-awareness empowerment, empowering you to meditate on combined creation and completion as the path. Finally, the guru melts into and dissolves into you. Your body, speech, and mind and the guru’s awakened body, speech, and mind become inseparable. Rest in that state for a long time. Your physical, verbal, and mental obscurations along with the habitual patterns are all purified. You receive the fourth empowerment. Think that you will actualize the four Kayas. This precedes the Six Dharmas, such as Dream Practice.

Now see a four petaled red lotus at the throat with an OM Syllable at the center of the lotus. Meditate that the red OM at the center of the lotus generates red light that permeates all areas of the throat. Hold the Vase Breathing or gentle breathing. Before Midday, set a powerful intention. “No matter what, I will grasp my dreams tonight. I will recognize dreams a dream.”

After midday, intensify intentionality by thinking, “I have fallen asleep. These appearances are dreams.” In the evening session, set the intention by thinking, “now dreams will soon come. I must know them to be dreams.”

Meditate on the Guru in your heart, either white Vajradhara, or your actual guru with a white syllable HUM, the nature of light, in their heart. Meditating with both devotion in the guru and the intentionality of dreaming, mentally supplicate.

Light radiates from the HUM and pervades all appearance. Think that it is a dream. All appearance melts into light and dissolve into you. Imagine yourself as the deity and recall the intentionality of dreaming. That melts into light and dissolves into the guru at your heart. For that also recall the intentionality of dreaming. The guru melts into light and dissolves into the HUM. Then think that the HUM also vanishes like a rainbow, and maintain that vey experience. Train vigorously in the intentionality of dreaming and meditate repeatedly on this visualization without regard for the number or duration of sessions. That is how you must practice.

Dedication of Merit:

Through the positive energy of this practice May I quickly attain the enlightenment state of Buddha Vajradhara, and thus may I help bring all living beings without exception to the very state of enlightenment. May precious and supreme bodhichitta If not yet aroused, be now aroused. And if I already have some of this peerless bodhichitta, May it grow from high to higher.