The initial aim of Tibetan Dream Yoga is to awaken while dreaming. The next aim is to master the state by exercising complete control over it by:
• Flying and shape shifting into other creatures
• Meeting with other sentient beings
• Visiting different places, planes and lokas (worlds)
Once one has learned to control themselves and what occurs within the dream state, monks use this state to deepen their spiritual practice as an aid to the attainment of enlightenment. These include:
• Communicating with yidam (an enlightened being)
• Practicing sadhana (a spiritual discipline)
A good example of a sadhana that one would complete in a lucid dream state is the Medicine Buddha Sadhana. There are many versions of this and other Tibetan Buddhist sadhanas. A version by Thubten Gyatso is available at: http://www.fpmt-osel.org/meditate/medicine.htm
• Receiving initiations, empowerments and transmissions
The ultimate goal in Tibetan dream yoga is to “apprehend the dream” (attain conscious awareness) then dissolve the dream state. When you are deprived of physical stimulus (from the sleeping body) and conceptual stimulus (from the dreaming mind), you can observe the purest form of conscious awareness.