Thread: Best Lucid Dream Mantras>

Originally Posted by Liolar

I've been trying out MILD recently, and I was wondering, what mantras does everyone use, or which one do you personally find to be most effective? I've been trying "I am aware!" It used to be "I will remember to recognise that I'm dreaming." but that one never yielded any success, so I'm hoping this one will be different.

I've also been using "I am aware" lately. I like it better than some of the more cumbersome ones, though I wouldn't say I've had much success with it, or with MILD overall. I'm sort of looking for a new one too.

I'm not sure that mantras have to be verbally comprehensible to be effective, since the mantras used in various Asian meditative traditions are sometimes distorted versions of vernacular phrases or else based on more archaic linguistic forms. For instance, one time when I was introduced to Jodo Shinshu walking meditation, the recitation we were supposed to use was "Na-man-da-bu," which is a very abbreviated version of "Namu Amida Butsu" and doesn't make much sense outside of that context.

Another example is the well-known Sanskrit mantra, "om mani padme hum," which is famously vague. Although usually glossed as "the jewel in the lotus," and attributed all kinds of strange symbolic meaning, Donald Lopez convincingly calls BS on this in Chapter Four of Prisoners of Shangri-La, where he points to good textual evidence that "manipadme" (as a compound word) was just the name of a deity, and there is no implication of anything being "in" anything else. I definitely recommend that book to anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism -- it's a real eye opener, and Lopez combines the rare virtues of being an erudite scholar who can nevertheless write in a clear and entertaining way for a general audience.

I've read that lucid activity is connected with distinctive rhythmic brainwave patterns, so if a mantra is to help at all, it might work best not for the actual meaning of the words, but for its inherent rhythm... perhaps a mantra with the right rhythm, chanted (either aloud or inwardly) in the correct way, can help establish those brainwave patterns conducive to lucidity. This is pure speculation, but perhaps worth some experimentation with different sounds and rhythms.

The problem with mantras we choose for ourselves is that it's hard to be confident in them... at least for my part, being an indecisive person, I'm always wondering if something else might work better than whatever I'm using at the moment. Maybe that's why in many guru cults, the guru chooses the mantra for his (or her, idealistically) students. But I don't like the idea of being assigned some arbitrary mantra by some arbitrary person any more than I like the idea of being in a guru cult. The idea that appeals to me most is retrieving a mantra from the dreaming itself... this could be a great LD task! I've also noticed that language in dreams (mine at least) often has a kind of rhythmic, incantatory quality, so a phrase retrieved from a dream might make for a very good mantra, even if it doesn't make much outward sense.

Originally Posted by Verre

I've also been using "I am aware" lately. I like it better than some of the more cumbersome ones, though I wouldn't say I've had much success with it, or with MILD overall. I'm sort of looking for a new one too.

I'm not sure that mantras have to be verbally comprehensible to be effective, since the mantras used in various Asian meditative traditions are sometimes distorted versions of vernacular phrases or else based on more archaic linguistic forms. For instance, one time when I was introduced to Jodo Shinshu walking meditation, the recitation we were supposed to use was "Na-man-da-bu," which is a very abbreviated version of "Namu Amida Butsu" and doesn't make much sense outside of that context.

Another example is the well-known Sanskrit mantra, "om mani padme hum," which is famously vague. Although usually glossed as "the jewel in the lotus," and attributed all kinds of strange symbolic meaning, Donald Lopez convincingly calls BS on this in Chapter Four of Prisoners of Shangri-La, where he points to good textual evidence that "manipadme" (as a compound word) was just the name of a deity, and there is no implication of anything being "in" anything else. I definitely recommend that book to anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism -- it's a real eye opener, and Lopez combines the rare virtues of being an erudite scholar who can nevertheless write in a clear and entertaining way for a general audience.

I've read that lucid activity is connected with distinctive rhythmic brainwave patterns, so if a mantra is to help at all, it might work best not for the actual meaning of the words, but for its inherent rhythm... perhaps a mantra with the right rhythm, chanted (either aloud or inwardly) in the correct way, can help establish those brainwave patterns conducive to lucidity. This is pure speculation, but perhaps worth some experimentation with different sounds and rhythms.

The problem with mantras we choose for ourselves is that it's hard to be confident in them... at least for my part, being an indecisive person, I'm always wondering if something else might work better than whatever I'm using at the moment. Maybe that's why in many guru cults, the guru chooses the mantra for his (or her, idealistically) students. But I don't like the idea of being assigned some arbitrary mantra by some arbitrary person any more than I like the idea of being in a guru cult. The idea that appeals to me most is retrieving a mantra from the dreaming itself... this could be a great LD task! I've also noticed that language in dreams (mine at least) often has a kind of rhythmic, incantatory quality, so a phrase retrieved from a dream might make for a very good mantra, even if it doesn't make much outward sense.

Interesting theory! I suppose it makes sense that if you just linguistically Associated your mantra with awareness, then the words themselves mightn't matter so much. I can't help but think that it makes sense for your mantra to be in a language that you understand, though, as you can still comprehend your language in dreams, and surely if you said something of significance pertaining to lucidity in your dreams and that got through to you on a fundamental level, you could become lucid. I'll have a think about it, though!

Intereting idea!

Originally Posted by Liolar

...surely if you said something of significance pertaining to lucidity in your dreams and that got through to you on a fundamental level, you could become lucid.

This very thing happened to me a few months ago, actually! I had recently learned the Japanese term mono no aware, which is sometimes translated "awareness of things." (Aware here is pronounced with three syllables and has connotations of poignancy, so it's not quite the same as our term "awareness," but this is the easiest way to remember it.) Anyway, during the dream I found myself explaining the meaning of the term to some people, and as I did so my own memory of what it meant made me more self-conscious, sensitizing my awareness to the point where I soon noticed some discontinuities in the environment and became lucid.

The most intriguing detail is that it didn't happen with an English phrase I already knew, but rather with a phrase that I had learned only very recently in a language that I do not even speak. Perhaps our minds are more impressed by arcane terminology, or maybe the extra effort required to remember it improves our focus. I mean, look at the Hogwarts kids, running around yelling pidgin Latin at everything! And shouting "Vipera evanesca!" just sounds so much more potent than "Disappear, snake!" even while transparently meaning pretty much the same thing.