<p>Maybe, maybe not. </p>

<p>Negative dreams indicate evil or negative thoughts inside of you.</p>

<p>Interpreting dreams is mentioned as a Wrong means of livelihood for monks (DN 2 and elsewhere).</p>

<p>If you want to have no negative dreams practice cultivating, developing, and pursuing loving-kindness towards all beings (metta).</p>

<p>It is mentioned as one of the 11 advantages of developing loving-kindness (metta):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"Monks, eleven advantages are to be expected from the release
  (deliverance) of heart by familiarizing oneself with thoughts of
  loving-kindness (metta), by the cultivation of loving-kindness, by
  constantly increasing these thoughts, by regarding loving-kindness as
  a vehicle (of expression), and also as something to be treasured, by
  living in conformity with these thoughts, by putting these ideas into
  practice, and by establishing them. What are the eleven?</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>He sleeps in comfort. </li>
  <li>He awakes in comfort. </li>
  <li><strong>He sees no evil dreams.</strong> </li>
  <li>He is dear to human beings. </li>
  <li>He is dear to non-human
  beings. </li>
  <li>Devas protect him. </li>
  <li>Fire, poison, and weapons cannot
  touch him. </li>
  <li>His mind can concentrate quickly. </li>
  <li>His countenance is
  serene. </li>
  <li>He dies without being confused in mind. </li>
  <li>If he fails to
  attain arahantship here and now, he will be
  reborn in the brahma-realm. </li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>(AN 11.15)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Therefore try to concentrate and pervade your entire body and mind with loving-kindness on a daily basis to gain these 11 advantages.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-14T05:11:41.850Z
2017-11-14T05:11:41.850Z
MischievousSage
<p>Keep in mind that dreams are your conscious and subconscious talking, they are essentially you speaking to yourself and can reveal how you feel about things on the subconscious level. </p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.purifymind.com/BardoDreamState.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bardo of the dream state</a> is said to be "double-deluded" meaning our day to day lives are an illusion, but the dream state is doubly so. </p>

<p>However, there is a Tibetan practice called dream yoga that turns the doublely deluded dream state into an opportunity to practice </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>To benefit from doing dream yoga a practitioner should realise the dream-like nature of
  appearances. They should also have a proper and strong motivation and the determination
  to use the dream state in their practice. Normally, if you experience drowning in a dream,
  fear arises. In dream yoga practice, you can change that condition by first recognising you
  are dreaming and then by performing extraordinary activities, like miracles. Being able to
  do this is a sign of success in the practice of dream yoga, but success depends very
  much on your previous accumulation of positive actions. In other words, success depends
  on your mundane activities which in turn get reflected in the dream state.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some more resources on Dream Yoga can be found <a href="http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/dream-yoga.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.dreamyoga.com/tibetan-dream-yoga-instructions/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-14T15:26:05.340Z
2017-12-14T15:26:05.340Z
hellyale
<p>For your title question:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>When you get a nightmare could the message in it be right?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The short answer is no. </p>

<p>I'm not very clear about your elaboration in explaining the title. </p>

<p>What dream is, is that the fragments of concepts and experiences left in the memory re-associated themselves without immediate sensual organs' input, during sleep. Dharma Master <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Xuanzang</a> (玄奘法師 602–664CE) has very profound explanation on how this happened with his neat Karika on the Eight Consciousness of Yogacara teaching.</p>

<p>In short, dream or nightmare is your mind's contriving and unreal. Yet, due to dream happened without the sensual input's limitation and censorship, therefore, it's not confined in spatial-temporal. In this sense, it could have fore-telling function, or reveal the true meaning of past experiences. It's very rare though, required quite a purified mind. </p>

<p>On the other hand, other dimension of beings could penetrate into a mind in dream which dwelt in the same dimension, therefore, what your "demons" could be this type of thing. However, it's only your mind allowed it's manifestation. But in dream your mind, normal people, is helpless in controlling it. Thus, you will be frightened, they seemed able to harm you, etc. This could happen in meditative stage, for the same reason; for you are accessing your mind, disconnecting from your body. The inside is the outside, the outside the inside. But it's even more rare, very very few people could really do meditation this day, except gleaning a little bit of relief and comfort by sitting without thinking, or doing nothing, compared to the hectic daily life. The teaching of meditation is lost. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-14T04:19:11.813Z
2017-11-14T04:24:25.223Z
2017-11-14T04:24:25.223Z
Mishu 米殊
<p>Some people have the ability to have for-spelling dreams. Imagine that someones'face changes into a devil and making a nightmare of it, could this be a dream revealing to the dreamer some information about other peoples state. 
Or can only demons'revealing dreams which are calm contain true messages? </p>

<p>So this question concerns people who are usually gifted with visions etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-13T19:38:50.407Z
Do you want an answer from any specific school of Buddhism?
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-13T19:43:33.903Z
No, any school would be ok.
Marijn 
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-13T20:04:31.107Z
There's a Theravada answer to the general topic here: [What do buddha taught about dreams?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/21586/254)
ChrisW
<personal-practice><meditation>
When you get a nightmare could the message in it be right?
# When you get a nightmare could the message in it be right?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-13)

Some people have the ability to have for-spelling dreams. Imagine that someones'face changes into a devil and making a nightmare of it, could this be a dream revealing to the dreamer some information about other peoples state.
Or can only demons'revealing dreams which are calm contain true messages?

So this question concerns people who are usually gifted with visions etc.

**Tags:** personal-practice, meditation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do you want an answer from any specific school of Buddhism?  
> **username_0**: No, any school would be ok.  
> **username_1**: There's a Theravada answer to the general topic here: [What do buddha taught about dreams?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/21586/254)  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-14. Score: 1

Maybe, maybe not.

Negative dreams indicate evil or negative thoughts inside of you.

Interpreting dreams is mentioned as a Wrong means of livelihood for monks (DN 2 and elsewhere).

If you want to have no negative dreams practice cultivating, developing, and pursuing loving-kindness towards all beings (metta).

It is mentioned as one of the 11 advantages of developing loving-kindness (metta):

> "Monks, eleven advantages are to be expected from the release
> (deliverance) of heart by familiarizing oneself with thoughts of
> loving-kindness (metta), by the cultivation of loving-kindness, by
> constantly increasing these thoughts, by regarding loving-kindness as
> a vehicle (of expression), and also as something to be treasured, by
> living in conformity with these thoughts, by putting these ideas into
> practice, and by establishing them. What are the eleven?
>
> 1. He sleeps in comfort.
> 2. He awakes in comfort.
> 3. **He sees no evil dreams.**
> 4. He is dear to human beings.
> 5. He is dear to non-human
>    beings.
> 6. Devas protect him.
> 7. Fire, poison, and weapons cannot
>    touch him.
> 8. His mind can concentrate quickly.
> 9. His countenance is
>    serene.
> 10. He dies without being confused in mind.
> 11. If he fails to
>     attain arahantship here and now, he will be
>     reborn in the brahma-realm.
>
> (AN 11.15)

Therefore try to concentrate and pervade your entire body and mind with loving-kindness on a daily basis to gain these 11 advantages.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-12-14. Score: 0

Keep in mind that dreams are your conscious and subconscious talking, they are essentially you speaking to yourself and can reveal how you feel about things on the subconscious level.

The [Bardo of the dream state](http://www.purifymind.com/BardoDreamState.htm) is said to be "double-deluded" meaning our day to day lives are an illusion, but the dream state is doubly so.

However, there is a Tibetan practice called dream yoga that turns the doublely deluded dream state into an opportunity to practice

> To benefit from doing dream yoga a practitioner should realise the dream-like nature of
> appearances. They should also have a proper and strong motivation and the determination
> to use the dream state in their practice. Normally, if you experience drowning in a dream,
> fear arises. In dream yoga practice, you can change that condition by first recognising you
> are dreaming and then by performing extraordinary activities, like miracles. Being able to
> do this is a sign of success in the practice of dream yoga, but success depends very
> much on your previous accumulation of positive actions. In other words, success depends
> on your mundane activities which in turn get reflected in the dream state.

Some more resources on Dream Yoga can be found [here](http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/dream-yoga.html), and [here](http://www.dreamyoga.com/tibetan-dream-yoga-instructions/)


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-11-14. Score: 0

For your title question:

> When you get a nightmare could the message in it be right?

The short answer is no.

I'm not very clear about your elaboration in explaining the title.

What dream is, is that the fragments of concepts and experiences left in the memory re-associated themselves without immediate sensual organs' input, during sleep. Dharma Master [Xuanzang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang) (玄奘法師 602–664CE) has very profound explanation on how this happened with his neat Karika on the Eight Consciousness of Yogacara teaching.

In short, dream or nightmare is your mind's contriving and unreal. Yet, due to dream happened without the sensual input's limitation and censorship, therefore, it's not confined in spatial-temporal. In this sense, it could have fore-telling function, or reveal the true meaning of past experiences. It's very rare though, required quite a purified mind.

On the other hand, other dimension of beings could penetrate into a mind in dream which dwelt in the same dimension, therefore, what your "demons" could be this type of thing. However, it's only your mind allowed it's manifestation. But in dream your mind, normal people, is helpless in controlling it. Thus, you will be frightened, they seemed able to harm you, etc. This could happen in meditative stage, for the same reason; for you are accessing your mind, disconnecting from your body. The inside is the outside, the outside the inside. But it's even more rare, very very few people could really do meditation this day, except gleaning a little bit of relief and comfort by sitting without thinking, or doing nothing, compared to the hectic daily life. The teaching of meditation is lost.


---

