夢 Dreams and Their Significance

Dreams and Their Significance

夢

‘Life is nothing but a dream.’

生命無他，只是一場夢。

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?’

人類無法解決的問題，就是夢的神秘性。從原始到現在，人類不斷的嘗試透過各種不同的途徑，來闡釋夢的起因，仍然無法找到答案──什麼是夢？

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.

英國詩人W.吳得兒次認為：「我們生活在夢中，當我們清醒時，生命結束了，夢也結束了。」

’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.’

「我們的『生』，只不過在睡眠中，忘記了一切。靈魂是我們的星宿，依我們而生。它來自遠方，會在其他地方殞落。」

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).

在一個傳統佛教故事里，這麼記載：有一位天人，在與同伴游戲的當兒，感到疲倦便找個地方打盹，他就這樣去世了。他轉世到人間，成為一個女性。結婚生子，活到很老才去世。去世後，他又轉生天界，一切就好像在做夢，他醒覺時，同伴的游戲剛剛結束。這故事也向我們顯示了人間與天界不同的時間概念。

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「夢」呢？佛教和其他的傳統概念一樣，不認為自己擁有解夢的能力。很多解夢者，為那些愚昧、無知的人解夢，從而賺取大筆的金錢。

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.

根據佛教的看法，夢是一種心理現象，也是一種思維的程序，一種在睡眠中思維不受意識操縱的活動。我們的睡眠經過五個程序：

drowsiness,

light slumber,

deep slumber,

light slumber and

awakening.

一、產生睡意。

二、淺睡眠。

三、深睡眠。

四、淺睡眠。

五、覺醒。

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《彌林達問經》(Milinda Pànha，古譯：彌蘭王問經)里，那噶瑟納(又稱龍軍)尊者(Nagasena)為夢做了六種解釋。其中三種是因為器官受到呼吸、膽汁分泌失調(暴躁)和痰堵塞了氣管的影響。第四種是受到超自然力的影響。第五種是過去經驗的影響。第六種是為了將來而造成的煩惱所影響。那噶瑟納尊者有次序的解釋了夢的產生，在心猿意馬的情況下入睡，怎麼不會做夢呢？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:

夢是一種心識在無意識活動中而產生的現象。每個人都會做夢，可是往往無法記起自己的夢境。佛教認為夢是一種心理現象。讓我們詳細的分析前面所提到的六種解釋。

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、夢境所產生的一切景物，早已儲存在我們的潛意識里，他們之所以會影響我們的意識，只要是因為憂慮。當我們睡眠時，感官活動雖然暫停，可是意識還在活動，為我們呈現了「夢境」。夢境與精神有關，但是，絕對不能把它當作是一種預言。夢是人類在休息時，心識的反射作用。

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、第二種夢境也是非意識狀態的。是因為內外的刺激，在人們休息時，被心識呈現出來。內部因素是由于身體的干擾，如：入睡吃得太飽。外在的刺激是由于自然現象，如：氣候、風、寒冷、雨、樹葉的聲音等等。潛意識對外在刺激的反應而呈現種種景象──夢境。意識理智的處理這些現象，以致不干擾人的睡眠。這一類的夢境無關緊要，也不需要任何解釋。

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、帶預測性的夢是重要的。它向做夢的人預先提示了將要發生的事，這種夢很少發生。佛教認為，除了我們能夠看見和感觸到的以外，還有其他的天人和精靈是我們無法察覺得。他們可能是我們至親的人死後輪迴轉世的，他們維持了以往與我們的關系。他們也會庇護我們，因此，當我們面對問題時，他們就會以夢來提示我們。

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.

當某些重大的事故將要發生時，他們就會透過夢境向我們警告。這類的夢可以讓我們預知危厄和喜事的發生。這些信息要好好的掌握，並以智慧加以分析。不幸的是很多人將這一點和第一和第二項夢境相混淆，浪費了大量金錢在解夢和向靈媒咨詢。佛陀告誡出家人，不可以佛教的名譽從事算命、解夢、占卜等活動。

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、我們的心識，是過去一切業力的積累。有時候，業力現前時，我們在休息中的意識，會顯現某些景象來提醒我們。這些即將發生的事，必定是一件重大的事，因此才會有如此清晰的夢境。這類夢境很少發生，只發生在某些特殊的人身。當我們臨終時，某些業力也會同樣的展現在我們面前。

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、夢也可以將兩個生活在不同空間的人，以他們強烈的意識相互溝通。當一個人想要與另外個人溝通時，他只要集中精神，以強烈的意識發出信息就可以了，當一個人處于心識非常平靜的狀態，在夢境中就能接受他人的信息。通常這種情況只發生在一瞬間，這是因為人們一般意識的動力並非那麼強大。

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、所有人類都是做夢者，他們把夢視為「常」，其實夢是「無常」的。他們還未發現年老將取代年青、丑陋將取代美貌、疾病將取代健康、死亡將取代生命。在這夢幻的世界里，把無常的一切當作真實。在睡眠中做夢只不過是夢境中的夢境。唯一清醒者就是佛陀與阿拉漢。

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.

佛陀與阿拉漢不會做夢。前三項夢境不會產生，是因為他們的心識，只獲得永恆的平靜。第四項的夢境也不會發生在他們身，是因為他們已完全斷除貪欲，沒有觸發夢境的因素。佛陀是一位大覺者，他放松自己身體的方式與我們的睡眠不同，因此，他不會做夢。偉大的藝術家和思想家，如：德國的歌德說，他最大的創作靈感是來自夢境。這可能是因為他們在睡眠中，意識與其他五識完全斷絕關系，因此能產生清楚的意識，來啟發他們最高程度的創造力。詩人吳德兀次認為，好的詩作是來自最平靜的靈感。