On Sleep

by Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima

Sleeping but once can yield a hundred fault-filled dreams.
O Majur, in your perfect wisdom you have awakened entirely
From the very heaviest of slumbers, long-acquainted ignorance,
And now your eyes are forever open widelet everything be auspicious!

The unsurpassed Secret Mantra has its own uncommon methods for transforming
sleep into virtuous activity, and even in the vehicle of transcendent perfections sleep
can be made consistent with the path. Yet there are those who lack the skill to
employ such methods and who still lose much of their time to sleep. Since this is a
serious fault, proscribed by the Buddha, I will here offer some brief advice in two
parts: 1) reflecting on the faults of sleep, and 2) having reflected, applying this in
practice.

1. The Faults of Sleep

Glorious ntideva (Bodhicaryvatra VII, 14) says:

Take advantage of this boat, the human body,

To free yourself from the great river of suffering.
Since this boat will be hard to find again,
Now is not the time for sleep, you fool!

The free and well-favoured human form we currently have at our disposal is difficult
to obtain. We can appreciate this by thinking about its causes or reflecting using
metaphors or numerical statistics. And when we consider that this unique situation
in which we find ourselves will not last, but will soon come to an end, we must turn
to the Dharma with all the urgency of someone whose hair has caught fire and who
is desperately trying to douse the flames.

With half our lives spent during the day and half at night, if we waste not only the
nighttime but even much of the daytime too in idle repose, we will never attain any
real diligence. Yet if we are able to practise virtue, then, as is taught in detail in the
stras, cultivating bodhicitta even for the brief time required to milk a cow can yield
vast meritas vast as the particles of the earth are numerous. The Stra that Inspires
Noble Intentions (Adhyayasacodana) tells us:

Sleep is the source of many muddled views,

The squanderer of Dharma's noble virtues
Knowing that it robs them of their diligence,
How could the wise ever take delight in it?

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Once we have taken the bodhisattva vow, in particular, then, having pledged to lead
innumerable beings to unsurpassable bliss, to spend time in sleep or idleness could
only ever be a cause of shame before the victorious buddhas and their heirs. As The
Ornament of Stras says:

When shouldering the destiny of all who live,

How could sublime beings ever dally or delay?

When the Abhidharma explains the types and functions of the various mental states
it says that sleep functions to disrupt activity. This is readily apparent: even short-
term aims and minor projects are spoilt when we become overly fond of sleep.

To put it simply, then, the Buddha and his later representatives taught that all
mundane and transcendental accomplishments come about through diligence, and
there is no greater opponent of diligence than sleep. If we constantly fall under the
influence of sleep, then, it will surely bring about all kinds of mental faults, and
these, in turn, will bring even greater problems.

What is more, one who has grown so used to sleep as to be under its control might
well be physically present at a Dharma gathering, but what will be the point of
spending an entire session drowsy and befuddled? Carrying on in this way, you will
not retain even so much as a single verse! It would be like attending a great feast
only to get up and leave without even having so much as tasted anything at all. Even
opening great sack-loads of texts and staring at them intently will not bring
conviction as long as sleepiness clouds the mindit will all be as futile as attempting
to seduce a eunuch! And when seeking to focus the mind in order to develop the
wisdom born of reflection and gain certainty about the real meaning, the onset of
sleepiness will prevent even so much as a single profound insight. But that is not at
all; as it is one of the five faults in samdhi, sleepiness also prevents the arising of
the wisdom born of meditation. Over time sleep degrades consciousness and blunts
the intellect, naturally weakening the wisdom that discerns things and events. It
inhibits memory and increases forgetfulness. On the subject of these many faults,
The Stra that Inspires Noble Intentions says:

Whoever takes delight in drowsiness and sleep

Will find their intelligence thereby made weak.
And with the diminishing of mind's capacity,
Purest wisdom will remain forever out of reach.

And:

Whoever takes delight in drowsiness and sleep

Will find mind enfeebled and memory impaired.
Verses heard or recited will not be retained,
And teaching too will prove a constant strain.

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Both The Stra that Inspires Noble Intentions and the dedication chapter of
Introduction to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life explain that those who are excessively
weighed down by sleep prove easy prey for harsh, non-human forces, who would
steal their vitality. There have been many cases of intrepid warriors who, overcome
with sleep, fell easily at the hands of much weaker opponentsand this is something
we can witness directly for ourselves. In addition, the way in which excessive sleep
can prove harmful to longevity is explained in such texts as The Staff of Wisdom. It
was with all this in mind that the Omniscient Drim zer (Longchenpa) wrote the
following in his Tale of the Rabbit:

As you lie about in sleep your plans all come to naught;

And, inattentive as you are, your enemies assemble,
While demons too seize the chance to strike
Thus, without limit are the perils and pitfalls of slumber.
And to succeed, therefore, cultivate a diligence beyond compare.

It is not only mental qualities that are affected by sleep; the body's functioning too is
also impaired. As sleep causes a reduction in the fire element it becomes harder to
digest food, and sleepiness also brings a loss of appetite. Somnolence can also cause
phlegm-related illness, skin disease, chronic fatigue, and other ailments. And it is
also said to contribute to many other problems, such as flabbiness of flesh and
discolouration of the skin. For a more detailed description of these faults you should
consult The Compendium of Training or the stras.

The fact that sleep is so irresistible to us in this life is, as it says in the Prajapti
treatises, an effect similar to the cause. When we were born as snakes and other
creatures in the past we grew highly accustomed to sleep and its cause, dimness of
mind. Now, if we condition ourselves to sleep once again, it will not only bring
problems in this life, but will also lead inexorably to effects similar to the cause in
future lives. And this is why we must do all that we can to uproot this unhealthy
tendency and eliminate it once and for all.

2. Applying the Remedies

You can counteract excessive sleepiness by reflecting on sources of inspiration, such
as the advantages of diligence, or by contemplating signs of light. Alternatively,
whenever sleepiness occurs, reflect on its faults. It says in Introduction to the
Bodhisattva's Way of Life (VII, 72):

How hurriedly I would stand

Should a snake fall into my lap.
Likewise, whenever sleep or laziness occur,
I shall avert them with due urgency and haste.

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We must be alert as we put an end to sleepiness, and we must make strong
aspirations that we shall not succumb to it again in future.

All these points can be applied in order to avert sleep before it occurs and just as you
are beginning to feel sleepy. In the midst of heavy sleepiness however, you can
dispel it by getting up and walking about, or by gazing at the stars, or by splashing
cold water on your face. There are also other remedies in Stages of the rvakas
(rvakabhmi). And the means of contemplating death which appear in chapter
seven of Introduction to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life are also very powerful.

In response to a request from the virtuous ascetic Darlo, Jigme Tenpe Nyima wrote
down in an instant whatever came to mind. May there be virtue!

Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2015. With gratitude to Alak Zenkar Rinpoche for his clarifications.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

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