The Dreams of Monks: Studies on Chinese Buddhists’ Dream Content
Dreaming (New York, N.Y.) September 1, 2018 Daohua Zhang, Qiong Li, Heyong Shen et al.
Monks' dreams contain more themes of prediction and revelation, more divine beings and teachers, and more peaceful and reverent emotions compared with nonreligious respondents, whose dreams feature more death, relatives, animals, dead people, and anxiety. The study compared 65 monks and 62 nonreligious respondents through interviews and content analysis. Monks also reported reacting to dreams with chanting and praying more often. The authors interpret these differences in light of Buddhist characteristics and living environment.