Exploring Inner Peace through Meditation and Dreams : หน้า 81/164

inner body has a mind in its own existence. The mind - the Dhamma - is like looking at ourselves in a dream within a dream within a dream. Each dream body has its own mind. In meditation, we must look inside not outside. Our inner body will be nested, like layers. If we look outside of ourselves, we will not be able to make any sense of it. Meditating on the center of the center means that we are meditating on the focal point of all of the bodies. Even though we may magnify these, we are still in control of it, if we look at the outside. The whole purpose is to cultivate inner peace, not outer peace.” A young Peruvian woman asks if there is a difference between meditations and dreams, or if what we dream is real. Luang Por says: “The dreams we have can be for different reasons. (1) There is an imbalance in our metabolism (perhaps because of something we ate or drank) and they are usually senseless dreams. (2) If we are worrying about something, then we might dream about it and we usually don’t remember these dreams, (3) A guardian angel whispers in our ear. This could be a good sign or a warning. These dreams usually happen around 4 to 5AM in the morning and are super clear. But we should not obsess with them. (4) Kamma. These are actions that we are about to do and they could be good or bad. “There are many examples of Kammic dreams, including those of the Buddha, and those of Luang Por Dhammajayo. When Luang Por Dhammajayo’s mother had her dream, she dreamt she was given a gift of an old Buddha statue that was not in good condition. She decided to clean it, but before she could, the Buddha became bright and clear. Because of this dream, his mother woke up and knew she was going to have a great son. But don’t believe anything too easily. If we ourselves make a decision to be great, then we don’t need to believe in bad dreams. A young man asks: “Is there a way to remove defilements?” Luang Por draws a circle on a piece of paper. “This,” he says, “is a diagram of the world and the world is surrounded by darkness. When the sun comes up [and he draws a sun on the left side of the paper] even the first rays will give light and dispel darkness. When the sun is up, there is no darkness, but then the sun sets, the world of darkness begins to come back. If we are smart we will try to find brightness all day. How do we do this? If we kept the sun on one side of the earth in brightness then the other half would be unhappy, right? It is better to put the earth inside of the sun!”