Milindapañha
A classical Buddhist text that names six causes of dreams.
The Milindapañha, the Questions of King Milinda, is a classical Buddhist text in the form of a conversation between a king and the monk Nagasena. The work is highly valued in the Theravada tradition.
For dream interpretation the passage on dreams is best known. It names six causes: a disturbance of wind, bile or phlegm in the body, the influence of a deity, habit and earlier experience, and a portent. Only that last kind counts as truly meaningful, and even that is rare.
Related terms
- Dream yoga A Tibetan Buddhist practice of recognising the dream as a dream.
- Bardo In Tibetan Buddhism, the intermediate state after death.
- Mara In Buddhism, the personification of craving, fear and death.
- Maranasati Reflection on death, a Buddhist practice of mindfulness.
- Dukkha Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, the first of the four noble truths.
- Anicca Impermanence: everything that arises passes away.
- Sangha The Buddhist community of practitioners.
- Metta Loving-kindness: the practice of wishing yourself and others well.