Dreams and Their Significance

　　梦

　　”Life is nothing but a dream.”

　　生命无他，只是一场梦。

　　One of man”s greatest unsolved problems is the mystery of dreams. From the very earliest of times man has tried to analyze dreams and has tried to explain them in prophetic and psychological terms, but while there has been some measure of success recently, we are probably no nearer the answers to the baffling question: ”What is a dream

　　”

　　人类无法解决的问题，就是梦的神秘性。从原始到现在，人类不断的尝试透过各种不同的途径，来阐释梦的起因，仍然无法找到答案──什么是梦？

　　The great English Romantic poet William Wordsworth had a startling concept: that this life we live is merely a dream and that we will ”awake” to the ”real” reality when we die, when our ”dream” ends.

　　英国诗人W.吴得儿次认为：「我们生活在梦中，当我们清醒时，生命结束了，梦也结束了。」

　　”Our birth is but a sleep and forgetting:

　　The Soul, that rises with us, our life”s star,

　　Hath had elsewhere its setting,

　　And cometh from afar.”

　　「我们的『生』，只不过在睡眠中，忘记了一切。灵魂是我们的星宿，依我们而生。它来自远方，会在其他地方殒落。」

　　A similar concept is expressed in a charming old Buddhist tale which tells of a deva who was playing with some other devas. Being tired, he lay down to take a short nap and passed away. He was reborn as a girl on earth. There she got married, had a few children and lived to be very old. After her death again she was born as a deva amongst the same companions who had just finished playing their game. (This story also illustrates the world is very different from time in another plane of existence).

　　在一个传统佛教故事里，这么记载：有一位天人，在与同伴游戏的当儿，感到疲倦便找个地方打盹，他就这样去世了。他转世到人间，成为一个女性。结婚生子，活到很老才去世。去世后，他又转生天界，一切就好像在做梦，他醒觉时，同伴的游戏刚刚结束。这故事也向我们显示了人间与天界不同的时间概念。

　　What has Buddhism to say about dreams

　　 Just as in every other culture, Buddhism has had its fair share of people who claimed to be skilled in interpreting dreams. Such people earn a lot of money exploiting the ignorance of men and women who believe that every dream has a spiritual or prophetic significance.

　　佛教如何看待「梦」呢？佛教和其他的传统概念一样，不认为自己拥有解梦的能力。很多解梦者，为那些愚昧、无知的人解梦，从而赚取大笔的金钱。

　　According to Buddhist psychology dreams are ideational processes which occur as activities of the mind. In considering the occurrence of dreams it is relevant to remember that the process of sleeping can be regarded as falling into five stages.

　　根据佛教的看法，梦是一种心理现象，也是一种思维的程序，一种在睡眠中思维不受意识操纵的活动。我们的睡眠经过五个程序：

　　drowsiness,

　　light slumber,

　　deep slumber,

　　light slumber and

　　awakening.

　　一、产生睡意。

　　二、浅睡眠。

　　三、深睡眠。

　　四、浅睡眠。

　　五、觉醒。

　　The significance and the cause of dreams were the subject of discussion in the famous book ”Milinda Panha” or ”The Questions of King Milinda”, in which Ven. Nagasena has stated that there are six causes of dreams, three of them being organic, wind, bile and phlegm. The fourth is due to the intervention of supernatural forces, fifth, revival of past experience and sixth, the influence of future events. It is categorically stated that dreams occur only in light slumber which is said to be like the sleep of the monkey. Of the six causes given Ven. Nagasena has stated positively that the last, namely prophetic dreams are the only important ones and the others are relatively insignificant.

　　在《弥林达问经》(Milinda Pànha，古译：弥兰王问经)里，那噶瑟纳(又称龙军)尊者(Nagasena)为梦做了六种解释。其中三种是因为器官受到呼吸、胆汁分泌失调(暴躁)和痰堵塞了气管的影响。第四种是受到超自然力的影响。第五种是过去经验的影响。第六种是为了将来而造成的烦恼所影响。那噶瑟纳尊者有次序的解释了梦的产生，在心猿意马的情况下入睡，怎么不会做梦呢？其他都是次要的。

　　Dreams are mind-created phenomena and they are activities of the mind. All human beings dream, although some people cannot remember. Buddhism teaches that some dreams have psychological significance. The six causes mentioned earlier can also be classified in the following manner:

　　梦是一种心识在无意识活动中而产生的现象。每个人都会做梦，可是往往无法记起自己的梦境。佛教认为梦是一种心理现象。让我们详细的分析前面所提到的六种解释。

　　Every single thought that is created is stored in our subconscious mind and some of them strongly influence the mind according to our anxieties. When we sleep, so…

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