相較於夢瑜伽,唐望的做夢藝術比較多夢中實修指導。
在我初開始學習唐望的做夢藝術時,確確實實遵照書中一切指示。有時剛意識到自己在作夢或剛出體,視覺有時會消失,這時就要一直晃手,把視覺影像再晃出來。這是很有用的方法,值得學習:
夢中看手技巧詳細指導
在我學會命令自己注視雙手之後,要在夢中維持住雙手的影像就相當容易。我所見的雖然不一定是雙手,似乎總是能維持相當長的時間,直到我最後失去控制,陷入平常那種無可預測的普通夢中。我無法有意地控制在夢中什麼時候去命令自己注視雙手,或看夢中其他事物,它就是會發生,到了某個時候,我會記得我必須看雙手,然後看看周遭,但是也有幾晚我完全不記得自己有沒有這麼做過。
It had been relatively easy for me to learn to sustain the image of my hands after I had learned to command myself to look at them. My visions, although not always of my own hands, would last a seemingly long time, until I would finally lose control and would become immersed in ordinary unpredictable dreams. I had no volition whatsoever over when I would give myself the command to look at my hands, or to look at other items of the dreams. It would just happen. At a given moment I would remember that I had to look at my hands and then at the surroundings. There were nights, however, when I could not recall having done it at all.
他似乎很滿意,想要知道在我的夢境裡通常會找到什麼樣的事物。我想不起什麼特別的,就詳細描述之前某晚所作的惡夢。
我告訴他,我記下了我所有夢的細節。自從當我開始練習注視雙手之後,我的夢就變得很强烈,我的記憶力也增加到巨細無遺的地步。他說尋求細節是浪費時間,因為生動的細節一點也不重要。
He seemed to be satisfied and wanted to know what were the usual items I had been finding in my visions. I could not think of anything in particular and started elaborating on a nightmarish dream I had had the night before.
I told him that I had been recording all the details of my dreams. Since I had begun to practice looking at my hands my dreams had become very compelling and my sense of recall had increased to the point that I could remember minute details. He said that to follow them was a waste of time, because details and vividness were in no way important.
「當你開始『設定做夢』,普通夢會變得非常生動,」他說,「那種生動和清晰是可怕的障礙,而你是我這輩子見過最糟糕的人。你有最要不得的狂熱,把能記的每件事都寫下來。」
平心而論,我相信我的做法沒什麼不對,詳細記下我夢中的細節,使我知道我睡著時有關夢境的清晰程度。
「把它丟掉!」他命令道,「這對你一點幫助也沒有。你所做的只會使你遠離『做夢』的目標,也就是控制和力量。」
"Ordinary dreams get very vivid as soon as you begin to set up dreaming" he said. "That vividness and clarity is a formidable barrier and you are worse off than anyone I have ever met in my life. You have the worst mania. You write down everything you can."
In all fairness, I believed what I was doing was appropriate. Keeping a meticulous record of my dreams was giving me a degree of clarity about the nature of the visions I had while sleeping.
"Drop it!" he said imperatively. "It's not helping anything. All you're doing is distracting yourself from the purpose of dreaming, which is control and power."
「我要提醒你所有你必須練習的技巧,」他說,「首先你要把焦點集中在手上,把手當成出發點,然後把視線轉移到其他事物,用短暫的幾瞥去看。盡你可能多注視一些東西。記住,如果你只是短短的一瞥,影象是不會改變的。之後再回來看手。
「每次你注視雙手,就使『做夢』所需的力量更新,所以在開始時不要看太多東西,四樣就夠了。以後,你可以把範圍擴大,直到包括一切你想注視的事物,但是只要影象一開始改變,你感到快失去控制時,就要回來看你的雙手。(《巫士唐望的世界》pp. 201-202)
"I'm going to remind you of all the techniques you must practice, " he said. "First you must focus your gaze on your hands as the starting point. Then shift your gaze to other items and look at them in brief glances. Focus your gaze on as many things as you can. Remember that if you only glance briefly the images do not shift. Then go back to your hands.
"Every time you look at your hands you renew the power needed for dreaming, so in the beginning don't look at too many things. Four items will suffice every time. Later on, you may enlarge the scope until you can cover all you want, but as soon as the images begin to shift and you feel you are losing control go back to your hands.