[INDOLOGY] Lucid dreaming in Sanskrit?

[Matthew Kapstein]

Dear Martin,

In my article "The Illusion of Spiritual Progress" (found here:
https://www.academia.edu/9972609/Selected_Articles_on_Tibetan_Religion_11th-13th_c  ), I considered
 a puzzling work called the MAyAdhvakrama, and now only available in Tibetan,
in which the practice of lucid dreaming is quite clearly mentioned. At the time I wrote the article (early 90s),
as will be seen in the notes, I was already dubious about the text's authenticity and I have since
become certain that it is a 12th c. Tibetan apocryphon (though I've not yet published my arguments
demonstrating this to be so). 

Many Tibetan sources cite the traditions of the Pancakrama of NAgArjuna and the Advayavijayatantra as the
authorities for the practice. I have not investigated whether or not this is supported by bona fide Indian sources,
however. (The mUla of the Pancakrama does not, I think, clearly reference lucid dreaming, but I haven't examined
all the related literature by any means.) The CAryamelApakapradIpa, expertly studied by my colleague
Christian Wedemeyer, has one passage (248-252 in the trans.) that perhaps hints at lucid dreaming,
but it would be difficult to make a strong case for it.

hope this helps,
Matthew

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago

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