Does craving in the Dream create Dream Vasanas?

Answer:

In the Dream, the Witness Consciousness is merely witnessing the Dream character in a Dream World.

• • If it is a nightmare, the dream character is afraid. The witness consciousness only knows the fear arising, peaking, and dissolving.
  • If it is a fantasy, the dream character is consumed. The witness consciousness only knows the pleasantness arising, peaking, and dissolving.

There cannot be a craving for the dream object to continue, or an aversion towards the dream object. This absence of craving or aversion in the dream serves as a window of opportunity for the Witness Consciousness to realize that it is neither the Waker nor the Dreamer nor the Deep Sleeper, but it is the fourth, Turiya. 

How are cravings and aversions created in the Waking state? 

Cravings and aversions are only created when the witness consciousness reacts to the arisings that spontaneously emerge in the Waking script. This is happening because the witness consciousness is alert like a super-bright bulb in the Waking state. But this does not replicate in the Dream where the Witness Consciousness is like a dimmed light bulb. Cravings and aversions are completely absent in Deep Sleep because the dimmed bulb is now completely switched off.

Then who says that the dream was liked or disliked? 

Only after You-the-Witness return to the Waking, do you say ‘I liked the dream’ or ‘I disliked the dream’. Labels were not being applied while witnessing a dream. The pleasantness or unpleasantness was only experienced there. The liking of the pleasantness and the disliking of the unpleasantness actually happen in the Waking, in retrospect. 

In summary, per the Advaita Vedanta explanation, in the Waking there is both Vichara and Vasana, while in the dream there is only Vichara, and no Vasana.

With respect to Buddha’s dependent origination, this can be explained in even more detail. 

In the dream, only the links leading from Avijja or Ignorance to Phassa or Contact are possible. Ignorance ends on Step 6 – Phassa.

Let’s understand Phassa better:

• • There is contact with a pleasantness wave coming from the flow or Vichara; this itself is the content of the fantasy.
  • There is contact with an unpleasantness wave coming from the flow or Vichara; this itself is the content of the fantasy.

The content of the dream cannot be considered as a reaction:

• • The pleasantness of the fantasy world is not a reaction; it is the projection of pleasantness. What is projected is perceived.
  • The unpleasantness of the nightmarish world is not a reaction; it is the projection of unpleasantness. What is projected is perceived.

Dreams stop at Phassa. This can be better understood allegorically. 

The agency that pretends to be the reactor to a situation is loudest in the Waking, quieter in the Dream, and silenced in Deep Sleep. That agency is the Witness. In the Waking, it pretends to have a solid identity. In the Dream state, its solid identity is fragmented, hence non-reactivity ensues. That identity disappears totally in Deep Sleep, just like dimmer lights, moving from super-bright to ambient light to the absence of light. 

What about Deep Sleep?

Similarly, Deep Sleep stops at Vinyana or Consciousness in Buddha’s Dependent Origination teachings. Allegorically, the absence of light is symbolic of Sankharas turbulently moving sub-surface. The Awakened Witness senses the Deep Sleep as a Tamasic thought born of aversion to Rajas of Waking and Dream. The Mind Consciousness cannot arise here as the recognition of the Tamasic thought is beyond the Mind.

Happy Wake-Dream-Sleep study!