NORBU MI-LAM

PREFACE
In the Dzog-chen Upadesa series (msn ngag), the dream practice, Mi Lam (rmi lam)
, is one of the four secondary practices for overcoming attachments; the three o
thers being the overcoming of the attachment to food (bcud len, taking in the es
sences of the elements), attachment to clothing (closely similar to qtum mo. the
internal heat) and attachment k
to the karmic traces (bag chaqs). The dr
eam practice leads the
practitioner to recognize that one i3 dreaming while dreaming, to be able to use
the dream state for practice and thus develop the clarity of the state of conte
mplation.
While the path of Tantra considers the dream practice one of the essential metho
ds ( Mi lam is one of the Six Yogas of Naropa in the Mahasiddha tradition of Ind
ia), in the Dzog-chen teaching it is considered secondary in relation to the pra
ctice of the Natural Light (rang bzhin 'od qsal),in which the practitioner maint
ains the presence of the primordial state (rig_J3a) at the moment of falling asl
eep. Moreover one gets by this practice all the results attained by the dream pr
actice.
This transmission was given by the Master Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche during the firs
t retreat of the Dzog-chen Community, at Subiaco, Italy, July 1976.
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PART 1
The preparations and the practice
Concerning the dream practice there is a preliminary practice and a principal dr
eam practice.
How does one prepare oneself for the actual practice?
Above all it is necessary to do the practice for the purification of the karmic
causes of the six lokas, until many very disordered dreams
A
having a lot of movement manifest themselves. This will happen because during sl
eep the purification process will unite the prana, or t
lung (rlung), and the mind, sem (sems), at the points of concentration in the pr
actice of the six lokas. When the disordered dreams present themselves, the prep
aration is complete: one can proceed to the principal practice.
There are three essential points in the dream practice: 1 - to examine the dream
; !l - to distinguish a dream and to control it; 111 - to recognize the karrnic
traces or baqchaq (bag chags). 1 - Examination.
First, for some days, one should relax the body by means of baths, massage, etc.
Before falling asleep, one should concentrate on the intention to remember the
dream. Lay on one side and close the corresponding nostril with a finger of the
hand which is under you and under your cheek. The right, positive, 3ide is the s
ide of clarity and the left, negative, side is that of the void or emptiness; to
sleep on the left side allows the right side, that is clarity, the feedom to op
erate in a relaxed way and vice versa. The position, however, is only a means of
coordinating dreams: when dreams have become more oriented, one can sleep in wh
atever position one feels mo3t comfortable.
In case one does not remember any dreams, sleep has been too deep. It may be adv
isable to use a higher pillow and lighter covers, to let more air into the 3pace
where one sleeps or to move to a more open
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place, to see that the darkness is not too deep and maybe to light a small lamp,
as long a3 it does not prevent you from falling asleep. If, nonetheless, dreams
are not remembered, concentrate before falling asleep on the throat chakra, vis
ualizing there a red A or a small red sphere of light, and increase its luminosi
ty night after night, if you still fail to remember.
In case there is still no result, visualize a white bead on your forehead, at th
e location of the third eye, making it slowly more radiant until you have attain
ed a clear memory of your dreams.
Increase the luminosity of the red A or the red sphere as well as the white bead
of light gradually, giving it slowly more brightness from night to night. This
is important, otherwise you will risk damaging the dream. At this point the prac

tice cannot not bring results. The dreams will necessarily be clearly remembered
. Dreams must manifest themselves, for dreams always exist until one has reached
the level called chosed, which is the fourth and final level of realization in
the practice of thoqhel. which is the same as the level of qommed. the ultimate
state in the practice of liahamudra.
To return to the practice: in order to remember dreams one should, before fallin
g asleep, concentrate on the red A in the throat chakra; if one still fails to r
ecall dreams one has had, one should gradually increase the luminosity of the re
d A or the sphere, and if the practice still does not function, go over to the v
isualization of the white bead on one's forehead. Also, in this case the increas
e of the luminosity must be gradual.
II - If one is not conscious of dreaming while dreaming, one obviousl y has not
mastered the dream. It is quite difficult to realize that one is dreaming while
actually doing so.
To recognize the dream at the time of dreaming, to be able to control the dream
and to govern it, one should, during the day, continually think that everything
that happens, everything that is seen and done, the entire vision as it presents
itself throughout the
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day, is in fact a dream. In other words, one should blend, mixing the 3tate of d
reaming and the state of awakeness.
Regarding everything during the day as a dream, one should, before falling aslee
p, focus well on the red A in the throat and fall asleep maintaining all attenti
on concentrated on it. In this way the thought and the senses are reunited in th
e point where the red A is visualized. To focus all attention to one point befor
e falling asleep makes the prana and the mind to automatically centralize in tha
t spot.
Sometimes frightful nightmares occur. One may, for example, dream of falling dow
n from a precipice and one is frightened to death; then one instantly grasps tha
t it is a dream, and one may change the frightening fall into controlled flying.
This is called: distinguishing the dream by forceful means.
Continuing the practice one will gradually begin to distinguish that one is drea
ming even when no feeling of anguish is present. Having now attained the level w
here one instantaneously recognizes the dream as a .dream, progress in the pract
ice then depends very mueh on training and exercising the mind while awake, ff,
for example, one wants to manifest oneself in a dream as a Yidam, one should con
centrate during the day intensely on that visualization, without, however, empha
sizing the details too strongly. For the mind to produce a transformation, one h
as to train the mind to visualize oneself as a divinity or whatever form one wan
ts, or to multiply one's image or to reduce it.
Having done all this during the day, one should always in the evening, at the mo
ment one i3 falling asleep, visualize the red A in the throat chakra. What one h
a3 visualized during the daytime will manifest in the dream.
One can further develop this by producing journeys to far-off . countries or to
unknown realms. One may think of going, for example, to Japan. Even if one does
not have a precise idea of that country, concentrating on this thought during th
e day will bring the corresponding result, and in one's dream one will see Japan
as it really is. When this capacity has teen developped, it will be possible
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with dayti me concentration to produce visions of the pure di mensions as, for e
xample, the paradise of Amithaba.
111 - When many dreams arise contai ni ng i mage3 of the past or of past lives,
it means that the dreams are too heavily influenced by the karmic traces. In thi
s case transforming the dreams may be difficult. When, on the other hand, the dr
eams are linked with the present, transforming them will be easier. To dream of
completely unknown countries, places and people signifies that the level of chos
ed. where there is no more dreaming, will be difficult to obtain.
If all the above mentioned types of dreams occur, and thus the level one has att
ained is the union of the three types of karmic traces, or baqchag sumdu (bag ch
ags gsum *dus), it implies that the cessation of dreams is still quite far off.

In this way, by examining the dreams, a practitioner may determine what is one's
actual level with respect to attaining the state of jsliiphowachenmo C'ja' lus
'pho ba cheri mo) end practise accordingly.
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PART 2
Eight met tods for utilizing dreams
There are eight different ways of utilizing dreams: 1. Whether during the day on
e considers everything to be a dream, or whether in the actual dream-state one i
s conscious of dreaming, in both cases the vision is the object, sunqwa (gzung b
a), and one's mind is the subject, dzfnpa Cdzin pa).
At this point one must turn one's attention to the subject, the mind: when one d
issolves it, there remains nothing concrete as a reference point. As the result
of understanding the real nature of the subject, which i3 the void, the vision a
utomatically dissolves, liberating itself, and one comprehends its illusory natu
re.
In the same way as one tries to get hold of the thought and finds nothing, when
practising the shine (shi gna3), so trying to find the subject and the object in
the practice of the dream one comprehends their illusory nature.
The vision created by karma and by the traces of karma is the origin of all illu
sions. The way to realization can only be found by,, overcoming one's limits and
one's conditioning. To try overcome the illusion by means of logic alone is not
sufficient. One can, for example, explain by means of logic that a certain obje
ct does not exist, that what we consider reality is but a reflection. Everybody
can understand this reasoning, but to really comprehend it, one needs to have an
experience, which through practice will mature.
Then understanding the re3l nature of the reality is extended also to the state
of dreaming. Whether it is daytime or one is asleep, one is aware of it. Whateve
r appears in the vision has no more power to condition one. One has understood t
hat the dualism of subject and object is not real, that there is nothing concret
e in either of them.
Dream is thus utilized, first of all, in order to understand the vision of the d
aytime. From that follows insight into the nature of the
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subject-object rapport. At that point one not only comprehends that reality is a
n illusory vision, comparable to a dream, but also understands that its origin i
s the subject, and that it is the fruit of one's karmic traces. This understandi
ng remains during the dream-3tate. In this way the vision, whether daytime or dr
eam vision, creates neither conditioning nor attachment.
2.
There are two methods of transforming the dream: a) changing it into "vi
sion" or b) changing it into "void".
a) Looking into a mirror, what does one see.? Oneself., the one who is looking.
If one puts an other object in front of the mirror, that is what is seen. The mi
rror has not changed, only the image the mirror reflects has changed. That image
represents one's vision during the waking-state and during the drearn-state. On
e can change the image in the mirror. If an ant i3 in front of the mirror it ref
lects an ant and likewise, if there i3 a Buddha-image, that is what the mirror r
eflects. So we can change the image, we can transform it from ugly to beautiful,
from negative to positive, from good to bad and vice versa. This possibility ca
n be applied also to one's dreams. If, for example, one dreams of a serpent, not
only is the dream recognized to be a dream, one can also transform that serpent
to what ever one wishes, change it into a form of a divinity, or into a pure vi
sion. In this way one attains command of the dream. This is called "transforming
into vision".
b) A practitioner who understands the essence of the vision finds the void, and
this perception of the void can be transferred into the ?
dream. When, whi
le dreaming, one not only recognizes that it is a
dream, but also penetrates to its illusory substance, one will find oneself in t
he state of synyata, the void, which is the true condition of beings and of phen
omena.

3.
The third method is called "cutting off the dream".
This does not mean elimination of dreaming, but elimination of attachment, of du
alism. When one ha3 been able to utilize the dream
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f
for practice, one becomes skillful in transforming the dreams into enjoyable vis
ions. This may develop an attachment to the sensation of pleasure and this must
now be overcome. It mu3t be eliminated. In order to succeed in it, one should no
t pay too much attention during the day to what dreams one has had, not even if
the visions manifested in dreams have been positive and very pleasing. While dre
aming, one should observe without attachment all images, whatever arises in drea
ms.
One must not enter into dualistic considerations of the subjeet and the object,
and not see what happens as something outside oneself.
The images appearing in the visions are not something concrete. Even when one ex
amin3 and analyzes by means of logical thinking what we consider real, one finds
nothing. This is called nanqtonq (snang stong), the vision and the void. Procee
ding in this way, gradually the complex, elaborate dreams will simplify, thin ou
t, and finally vanish completely. When this happens, one has attained the state
of total contemplation tinqzinqkhoruuq (ting 'dzing 'khor yug) which has no inte
rruptions and no distinction between day and night.
The next four methods for utilizing the dream are less important and serve mainl
y to further one's progress in the results obtained by the previou3 practices.
4.
Disordering the dream, milamtruqpa (rmi lam dkrug pa).
This is an exercise one can practice while dreaming, a3 soon as one has become a
ble to transform the dream. Whenever something arises, reverse it into its oppos
ite, for example, transform east into west, the beautiful into the ugly, what is
small into big, and so on. In the same way, reverse all sensations.
5.
Stabilizing the dream.
When intentionally reversing what appears in the dream, different nyam (nyams) m
ay arise, which need to be stabilized. For example, one may dream of being in a
forest. Transforming the images and the
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sensations, one immediately visualizes a desert where one suffers from cold and
thirst
The transformation is intentional, voluntary and completely under one's control,
but among the visions created by oneself, spontaneous nuams may appear. Stabili
zing the nyam signifies that the consciousness is present and that the recognizi
ng of the state of dreaming is uninterrupted.
6.
As soon a3 the control and command of the dream has been mastered, dayti
me visions should be continuously carried into the dream state.
7.
When we look into the mirror, we do not develop attachment to the images
reflected in the mirror, because we know that they are not real. The same appli
es to the dream. The visions arise and the moment they arise they liberate thems
elves a3 there is no attachment involved. This is called shardrol (shar grol), "
liberation while arising", and has to be brought into the waking state. That is
not possible by means of logical reasoning, but only by true awareness, which ca
n be achieved through practice.
8.
Going beyond, ladawa (la bzla ba).
Up to this point the practice itself has set limits: now it is time to free ones
elf from them by going beyond pa3t logic, past concepts, past visualization and
concentration. All that conditions one now disappears. It i3 as if one were in a
great, unlimited space, an empty and serene sky, where thoughts, like white clo
uds, create their forms and vanish away.
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PART 3 The result of the practice
What are the results of the dream practice?
If the level of the practitioner is highly advanced, the state of chosed may man
ifest and dreaming will cease.
This state is different from not remembering dreams, which may be caused by lack

of clarity or by temporary circumstances like too deep sleep or heavy food. Whe
n one ceases to dream, the dreams never arise again and clarity becomes manifest
both in the waking state and in the state of dream.
If the practitioner's level is moderately advanced, one will recognize the dream
state while dreaming.
In the case when the practitioner's advancements are very modest, one's dreams w
ill obtain more clarity.
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NOTES
I Loka: the dimensions of karmic visions caused by the six passions. In the prac
tice these are represented by six syllables visualized in six points of the body
.
2.
Karmic traces: inclinations and tendencies underlying a person's
character, "traces" of karmic actions of the past.
3.
Chakra: a central point in the body, where the soble energies
reunite.
4.
Thoqhel: a method existing only in the Dzog-chen teaching; the
realization of it is manifesting the body of light.
5.
Mahamudra: a method of practice belonging to the way of
transformation in the higher Tantra3. Its principles and application are compara
ble to the method of tregchod.
6.
Yidam: the form of an illuminated "divinity", a Sambhogakaya
manifestation.
7.
Jaluphowachenmo: ialu or body of light is the ultimate
. realization of Dzog-chen practice. The material body is reintegrated into the
substance of the five elements and manifests as light. If a person accomplishes
this realization while still alive, it is called jaluphowachenmo. the "Great Tra
nsfer of The Body of Light".
8.
Shine: the calm state, a meditation which causes the thoughts
tocalm down so that one is no more distracted by their stream.
9.
N.yam: experiences that are results of the practice.
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