2015億次彌陀心咒持誦大法會Day2：六中陰講授
2015 100 Million Amitabha Mantra Recitation Day 2: Six Bardos Teachings (English translation provided below)
睡夢中陰
嗟呼！睡夢中陰現前時，
拋棄如屍放逸眠，
心處無散正念中；
轉化睡夢為光明，
莫若傍生般癡眠，
睡夢修行合為一。
睡眠的本質是愚癡的，人們很容易耽著於睡眠之中，雖然我們需要睡眠，但仍需要節制。睡眠時也需要保持正知、正念，否則睡著的我們就如同屍體一般。行者利用觀修夢境，知道自己在睡夢中陰裡面（睡夢中陰的起迄，是進入深層睡眠直到醒過來），若是明確地知道自己在作夢，那麼就不會陷入「無念」的黑暗之中，這是修持睡夢中陰的優點。若能把握夢境的話，就能對睡夢中陰的顯相嫻熟，心無阻礙。
在睡夢中陰時，觀修升起次第等修法，則能真正到種種淨土、行種種利生事業，這都是駕馭心的力量。如龍樹菩薩曾說的：「正因諸法本性皆為空」，事物的本質不存在自我，心的本性如同明鏡一般，若瞭解心的本質為空，則看待任何事物都能通達這個道理，那麼就能行種種利生的修持。如：明觀度母，則度母如實在前。
睡夢中陰的修持轉化睡夢昏暗為光明，在此過程中，我們會經歷白明點下降，紅明點上提；這跟我們死亡時遇到的紅白明點變化狀況幾乎相同，只差在我們現在壽數未盡而已，不瞭解這一點的人，就會產生恐慌感。在沈睡轉入夢境之前，會有一小段時間知道自己在睡夢之中，只要能把握那一段時間提起正念，就不會隨夢境流轉。
有些人對睡眠非常執著，若是失眠，則會一直想著「『我』睡不好」，那就會陷入強化我執的惡性循環；倘若利用這個時間來進行禪修，那麼情況就完全不一樣了，這就是利用睡眠時進行禪修的例子之一。這些練習對我們面臨死亡有很大的幫助，若能清朗地認出心的本來面目，那就是進入法身的境界，再進一步進入報身境界而現種種利生事業。瞭解日間的生活與夜間的夢境是無二致的，這也是密勒日巴尊者的教言。
THE BARDO OF DREAMS
Now when the bardo of dream is dawning upon me,
I will abandon the corpse-like sleep of care less ignorance.
And let my thoughts enter their natural state without distraction:
Controlling and transforming dreams in luminosity.
I will not sleep like any animal,
But completely unify sleep and practice.
The nature of sleep is ignorance. People tend to indulge in sleep. Although we need sleep, we need to practice abstention. We need to keep mindful awareness, otherwise our sleep will be like corpse. The practitioner meditate in the dream and knows that he/she is in the dream bardo (The beginning and end of dream bardo is from one entering the deep dream until waking up). If one clearly knows that one is dreaming, he/she will not fall into the darkness of "non-thought", which is one benefit of practicing the dream bardo. If one can gain control of dream, one can be familiar about dream bardo and the mind can have no hindrance.
During dream bardo, if one meditates on the creation stage, one can literally goes to purelands and exercerise all kinds of activities. These are signs of controlling the mind. Substance does not have a self and the nature of mind is like a mirror. If one understands the nature of mind is emptiness, then it can be applied to all things. In this case, one can exercise all activities that benefit all sentient beings. For example, one practice Tara, Tara is in front of oneself.
The practice of dream bardo transforms the darkness of dream into luminosity. In this process, we experience the falling of white bindu and the uplifting of red bindu. This is almost like what we experience when we are dying. The only difference is that now our life has not been consumed. If one does not understand this, one will have fear. Before entering into deep sleep, there will be a period of time when we know that we are sleeping. If we can practice mindful awareness, we will not be under the control of dreams.
Some people have strong attachment to sleep. If one has insomnia, one will keep thinking "I don't have good sleep" and falls to the viscous cycle of strengthening the self. If we take this opportunity to meditate then the situation will totally change. This is one example of taking sleep as a way of meditation. This practice is very helpful for us to face death. If one can clearly see the natural face of the mind, it's entering the state of Dharmakaya. Next, one enters the state of Sambogakaya and exhibit all kind of activities. Understanding daytime life and night time dream have not difference is also the teachings of Milarepa.
