Last Wednesday, November 11, I had a vivid dream of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Actually I had three separate dreams that same night, which is quite unusual. Wednesday is a very special day for us Tibetans; every Wednesday is His Holiness’s Tibetan Lhakar which means ‘White Wednesday’ or his ‘soul day’; the day when he was born. This is why I have held classes like Thargyen and different teachings every Wednesday for the past ten years. Additionally, this is the reason why I now hold different deity practices every Wednesday on Facebook Live as well.
Every night, I go to sleep at approximately 9:00PM and wake up at 5:00AM every morning for meditation. This is my daily schedule. On this particular night, I had my first dream of His Holiness between 9PM to 11PM as I woke up at 11PM that night. In the dream, I was in my birthplace of Nangchen, Eastern Tibet, and I was at a Monastery with thousands upon thousands of people waiting for His Holiness. The people from my village were the same but it was a little different in the dream. Then suddenly His Holiness appeared next to me and held my hand. We walked to the top of mountains where there was a ceremonial tent; His Holiness sat in a high Dharma throne underneath the tent, and I was seated in a seat next to him. A sea of devotees including many monks and Lamas prostrated to him while I sat right next to him and we prayed together. I couldn’t remember what text he used for the practice, but this was the first dream.
The second dream was around 3:00AM when I woke up. His Holiness was wearing yellow robes while I was in maroon-colored Kagyu Tunga robes. This time I was at a different Monastery and there was a tulku next to him. His Holiness then requested the tulku (a high reincarnated Lama who is trained from a very young age) to move further away from him so that I could take the place right beside him. Then again he took and held my hand; I felt very happy to be in the midst of a grand puja with His Holiness right next to me.
The final dream was around 5:00AM and His Holiness arrived riding horseback somewhere in Nangchen Eastern Tibet. Horse riding can be very difficult in Tibet because the horses are a bit wild and the ground is very rough. I felt really nervous, but His Holiness was riding very skillfully and confidently and said to me “Come on you are young!” Someone then assisted me to mount the horse; many Tibetans rode alongside us as well. This was the third dream I had this night.
This was the first time I had three separate dreams of His Holiness in the same night at intervals of around every three hours. Each of these dreams was so clear; these dreams woke me up in the morning, and as I sat in my bed, I clasped and just felt my hands thinking to myself, “Are these dreams real? I don’t think this was a dream.” It was very hard to differentiate. But anyhow I was really happy to have such special dreams of His Holiness time and again. All these dreams took place in Tibet, and I hope and pray that this sign of what is to come in the future and to be with His Holiness in Tibet just like the dreams.
Written by Khenpo Karten Rinpoche.
