ONE NIGHT, many years ago, I dreamed a snake was in my mouth. I pulled it out and found it was dead. It was quite unpleasant. An ambulance arrived at my house. The paramedics told me the snake was poisonous and that I was dying. I said, “Okay.”
They took me to the hospital. I was afraid and told them I needed to see a statue of Tapihritsa, the Dzogchen master, before I died. The paramedics did not know who he was, but they agreed with my request and told me I would have to wait to die, which relieved me. But then they surprised me by bringing the statue right away. My excuse for delaying death had not worked for very long. So I told them there was no death; this was now my crutch. The minute I said that, I awoke with a rapidly beating heart.
It was New Year’s Eve, and the next day I was to fly to Rome from Houston. Feeling uncomfortable after the dream, I thought perhaps I should take it seriously and cancel my travel plans. I wanted my teacher’s advice. So I went back to sleep and, in a lucid dream, traveled to Lopon in Nepal and told him of the disturbing dream.
At that time, Houston was having a lot of trouble with flooding. My teacher interpreted the dream to mean that I was representing the garuda, the mystical bird who has power over the nagas, the snakelike water spirits. Lopon said the dream meant that the garuda was conquering the water spirits who were causing the flooding. This interpretation made me feel much better. The next day I went to Rome as planned. This is an example of using lucid dream for something practical, for making decisions.
This may all sound strange and unbelievable. The real point is to develop the flexibility of the mind and to pierce the boundaries constricting it. With greater flexibility, we can better accept what arises without being influenced by expectations and desires. Even while we are still limited by grasping and aversion, this kind of spiritual practice will benefit our daily lives. If I am truly living in the realization that there is no death and no one to die, then I will not seek interpretation of a dream as I did in this case, when the dream left me feeling anxious. Our desire for interpretation of a dream is based on hope and fear; we want to know what to avoid and what to promote, we want to obtain understanding in order to change something. When you realize your true nature, you do not need to seek meaning. You are then beyond