Chapter 1 Dream Narratives in Indian Buddhism (Part 3)

By Quyen Ngo

The Buddhist innovation

The Buddhist doctrine can be seen as an innovation in religious thought and practice from within the traditional Brahmanical culture. Innovation entails viewing things from a different perspective, and as such, often requires justification. In Buddhist dream material, certain traditional Brahmanical views are contested, some traditional images and symbols are re-interpreted to reveal the new Buddhist understanding, and hence to justify the innovation.

In QueenMāyā’s dream (dream no. 9 in Appendix ), the brahmins’ interpretation of Queen Māyā’s dream to mean her son will either become a conquering emperor if he stays at home or if he leaves home he will become a Buddha. However, this is contested by a higher form of knowledge, more refined wisdom, that comes from the Great Brahmā, who states categorically that he will become a Buddha. Also, when Queen Māyā says to herself that she will bear a universal king, the devas correct her, saying ‘He will become a Buddha, not a universal king.’[1] Here, the contested image is the white elephant which traditionally signify an emperor, however, according to the Buddhist innovation it signifies a Buddha. Justification for this is by appeal to a higher source of knowledge – that of the devas and the Great Brahmā.

In the Mahā-Supina Jātaka, the brahmins deceitfulness was exposed by the Buddha when they deliberately misinterpreted the King of Kosala’s sixteen dreams. The brahmins told the king that his dreams signify one of three calamities - harm to his kingdom, life or riches and they advised him to make a big sacrifice in order to avert it. The Buddha said to the king, “What the brahmins told you, was said only to get themselves a livelihood”[2] . In any case, only the Buddha was capable of interpreting the king’s dreams accurately.

In dream no. 11 (Gopā’s dream) the Bodhisattva’s wife’s name is Gopā. Before the Bodhisattva’s departure from the palace, Gopā has some (traditionally) destructive dreams. She tells them to the Bodhisattva, who reverses the traditional interpretation to say that Gopā’s dreams are in fact positive, and that they are good omens. Gopā dreams her hair was cut off, which the Bodhisattva interprets to mean removing passion and false views; and seeing the sun, moon, stars and planets fall means conquering passion. In dream no. 10 (King Śuddhodana’s dream), the seemingly inauspicious signs such as, ‘unrestrained weeping…[my] body trembled and disturbed by torments and inward fevers’ are interpreted by the Bodhisattva as meaning ‘unending bliss will be theirs who hearken to the Conqueror [Buddha]’[3] Again, the Bodhisattva’s dream of walking on a mountain of dung, as Young comments, in Brahmanical Hindu might necessitate purification (1999: 32), however, this is positively interpreted to mean that the Buddha would use the requisites without clinging and attachment to them.

Wendy O’ Flaherty raises an interesting point regarding different interpretations on dreams, that it depends on whether one is looking at it from Saṃsāric [world embracing] standpoint or from a Nirvāṇic [world renouncing] standpoint. For example, Gopā’s dreams traditionally signify loss – loss of husband and her status as a woman – thus an evil dream, from a Saṃsāric point of view. But from a Nirvāṇic standpoint, these are good omens (1984: 155). This might also explain why the ochre robe, a traditional evil omen[4] , should be chosen as a monk’s robe. It is evil from a Saṃsāric standpoint, but not from a Nirvāṇic  standpoint. Thus, ‘there is no such thing as a good dream from an absolute point of view; dreams, like everything else, are relative to the observer and to the interpreter’ (O’ Flaherty, 1984: 155).

The validity and social impact of dreams

In dream narratives of Early Buddhism, we find many examples of dreams[5] that are seriously acted upon, seemingly without hesitation. When queen Khemā sees in a dream a golden deer preached the Law [Dharma-Truth] to her, she does not dismiss it as a mere figment of imagination; instead, she reflects, ‘if there were no such creature as this, I should not have seen him in my dream. Surely there must be such a one...’[6] Similarly, in dream no. 5 (Bhūridatta-Jātaka), following a dream, the Bodhisattva’s mother initiates a widespread manhunt. In dream no. 7 (Vidhurapaṇḍita-Jātaka), the king’s dream of the Bodhisattva’s return prompted him to bring about mass celebration for the whole city. According to Young, dream is an acceptable form of cognition in many cultures, and that ‘information gathered in dreams could be, and often was, applied to the waking world’ (1999: 13). If dream is an acceptable form of cognition, then it might seem reasonable to act on ideas that have arisen from dreams. The significance of this is dreams can translate into actions in the waking life, thus have ‘real’ social consequences.

Time of dream

The mention of time of dream in many of these narratives[7] reflects two aspects of the pan-Indian belief on dreams: the proximity of actual events dream relate to, and the accuracy of the dream. Dawn dreams are thought to relate to more immediate events, and prophetic dreams are thought to occur around dawn. Alex Wayman cites the Atharva-Veda as saying ‘dreams in the first watch of the night bring their fruit in the year, those of the second watch in six months, while those of the third watch are already half-realized’.[8] He also cites the Kālaprakāśikā, written much later, as saying ‘The effect of dreams during the first quarter of the night will be realized in a year; that of dreams of the 2d [sic] quarter, in six months; the influence of the dreams in the 3rd quarter will be evident in a month; dreams before dawn will be realized in twelve days; dreams before sunrise announce their effects in a day.’[9] In dream no. 5 (Bhūridatta-Jātaka), the Bodhisattva’s mother sees a destructive dream whilst her son is being seized by a brahmin. King Vedeha’s dream of the arrival of an unsurpassed sage occurs at the same time as the Bodhisattva’s conception (Mahā-ummagga-Jātaka - dream no. 6). These dreams occur in ‘real time’ as it were.

Dawn dreams are also thought to be more accurate. An important Tibetan Medical text, the Four Treatises (rGyud bZhi) which employs symbolism consistent with earlier Indian medical texts, say the most important dreams are those occur in the early morning. According to Longdol Lama, dusk dreams reflect previous experiences, midnight dreams are caused by spirits, and dawn dreams are prophetic. The Milam Tagpa, part of the Tibetan Canon, explains ‘In the first part of the night habitual propensities (bag chags) are agitated; in the second part of the night ghosts are active; so examine the dream that comes in the third part of the night’.