Rome -- While pregnant, I dreamed that my intestines were carried up to the stars and stretched over all lands and seas. My husband dreamed that the Sun rose from my womb. Our son is Augustus Caesar.
Japan -- Prior to the birth of my son, I dreamed that the Sun and Moon descended from the sky and floated into my mouth. My son Nicheren (1222-1282) grew up to be a Buddhist saint who preached salvation to the common people and founded the Nicheren sect.
Korea -- A few days before I birthed my son, a huge luminous star falling from the sky appeared in my dream. I could not look at it because the light was so blinding. At the same time, I heard an old man say, "Accept this shiny stone as a gift. Swallow it and you will birth a great son. I swallowed the stone with one gulp. My son was Chang Yongshil, a gifted scientist and astronomer during King Sejong's reign (1418-1450).
Korea -- I dreamed of a light pouring down from the sky onto a mountain top. A young man stood on the mountain supporting a tottering tree. The dream's message became clear when my son Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598) reached manhood. He invented the iron-clad turtle-boat and, as a navy admiral, he helped save the Korean dynasty from a Japanese invasion.
Korea -- One full moon night, I dreamed that I was walking through a forest when a huge, bright star in the sky rushed towards me and plunged into my breast. On the same night, a large, brilliant star appeared in my pregnant wife's dream. Three surrounding stars drew near this big star and bowed down to it. Next, the large star emitted a splendid light and rushed down to her. She embraced it to her breast.

Following that pregnancy, our son was born with seven birth marks describing the Seven Stars of the Big dipper on his back. He grew up to be General Kim Yu-shin, a military hero who helped the Korean people by unifying the peninsula in 660 AD.
Ireland -- In a dream, an angel presented me with a beautiful, immense cloak, covered with beautiful flowers. The angel spread the cloak out on his arms, and let the soft breeze fill it out and bear it gently away. It expanded until "its measurement was larger than mountains or forests."

The angel explained, "This cloak signifies that you will bear a son. Ireland and Scotland will be filled with his teaching." By right of birth, my son was fit to be an Irish king. Our family line had ruled Ireland for six hundred years. However, my son Columba (521 to 597 AD) dedicated his life to God. As a great monastic, he healed lepers, the blind and the lame.
Native American Kwakiutl -- I dreamed that my husband and I were sitting in our home one morning. We heard a woman singing at the mouth of the river: "The treasure of the salmon is coming to you, the great treasure. Beautifully he is coming, the treasure of the salmon."

The woman stopped singing and approached me carrying a newborn child. She told me the child's name and placed the baby in my lap. The child disappeared into my body. From that time on, I was pregnant. Our son was born nine months later.
Korea -- I undertook a prayer vigil for a son at the Hwa-gae Temple on a mountain near Taegu. I desired a son after seven years of marriage. At dawn, on the last day of the three day vigil, I dreamed that a large blue snake, the symbol of royalty, wrapped around my body. I gave birth to Roh Tae-woo who was elected President on December 16, 1987.
Korea -- One night during my wife's pregnancy, I dreamed of a large frightened tiger. The tiger pleaded for help, "Please hide me." I felt sympathy for the tiger and concealed him in the storeroom. Several minutes later, a hunter hurried out of the woods searching for the tiger. I told him I had not seen any tigers. The hunter dashed away. When I looked for the tiger in the storeroom, it was empty. I searched everywhere for the tiger and found him in our bedroom. When I awoke, I shared the dream with my wife who commented, "We will have a son as brave as a tiger." Our dream foreshadowed our son's future: An Chung-gun (1879-1910) was a young Korean revolutionary who assassinated the key political player in the Japanese takeover of Korea.
China -- A god with a calligraphy brush appeared in my pregnancy dream. He painted a baby's hip black. My son was born with a large, black birth mark on his hip. He grew up to be Ch'eng-kung, ruler of the state of Ch'in.
Korea -- Before my son's birth, I dreamed that I picked a red chestnut out from a blue chestnut burr. My son's mission is related to my dream. Kim Ku organized anti-Japanese terrorist operations and set up a provisional Korean government from Shanghai. I occasionally reminded him how the colors of my pregnancy dream foreshadowed his future since Korea's flag bears a red and blue circular symbol.
Korea -- A man dreamed of a scarlet cloud above his home during his wife's pregnancy. She birthed a daughter who grew up to be Queen Min-Bi (1851-1895) of the Yi dynasty. Japanese agents assassinated the queen because she was an obstacle to their country's expanding influence over the affairs of Korea. (Scarlet is a noble, but a tempermental color.)
USA -- Isadora Duncan: I had several pregnancy dreams. In the first dream, Ellen Terry appeared in a shimmering gown, such as she wore in "Imogene," leading by the hand a little blonde girl who resembled her. Ellen announced, "Isadora, love. Love. . . . Love. . . ."

From that moment I knew my daughter was coming out the shadowy world of Nothingness before Birth. Such a child would come, to bring me joy and sorrow. Joy and Sorrow! Birth and Death! Rhythm of the Dance of Life! The divine message sang in all my being. I was comforted by my lovely dream of Ellen, and this dream was repeated again twice.

I was equally sensitive in my second pregnancy. One day I was sitting alone in the Cathedral of St. Marco in Venice gazing at the blue and gold of the dome. I suddenly saw a little boy's face, but it was also the face of an angel with great blue eyes and an aureole of golden hair. The sex and appearance of my two children corresponded to my dream and vision.
Buddhism -- I dreamed of a white elephant carrying a jeweled chair on its back. One of the jewels was a bright bead which shined in all directions as it passed through my door. Soon afterward, my wife birthed a son who became the Buddhist monk and poet Varsva.
Korea -- Shin Saimdang: I dreamed that I was lost in a dark cave and couldn't find my way out. I hugged my pregnant belly and prayed, "Please help me!" Soon I felt relaxed and my body was glistening. I escaped from the cave and found myself standing near a wide sea. Suddenly an awesome dragon, an auspicious symbol, appeared and rose toward the sky. Then quite unexpectedly, the dragon turned back and swooped down into my breast. One month later, I birthed a son, Yi I (Yulgok), a distinguished Neo-Confucian philosopher and social reformer. Koreans remember Yi (1536-1584) as "a man of pure heart and clean hands." At the time of Yi's death, our family saw a black dragon jump to the heavens through the ceiling.
Korea -- I had an unusual dream during my wife's pregnancy. An old man appeared before me wearing the wings of a crane and having the feathers of a copper pheasant on his head. He carried a light stick and his shoes were made of clouds. The man said, "Your baby will be born by an order of the king." At the time of our son's birth, the shadow of a cloud appeared on the door even though the sky was clear and a sweet fragrance filled the room. Our son, Eun Jung-hwa, served as an official in King Hyojong's court (1649-1659).
Tibet -- Chagdud Tulku: I escaped Tibet following its conquest by Chinese Communists. In 1979 I settled in the U.S. to become one of the first Tibetan masters to take Westerners into his confidence and train them according to ancient Tibetan Buddhist teachings.

While I lived in Tibet, I had a dream of an Indian sadhu who presented me with a small Tibetan-style book. The wandering yogi spoke in Tibetan saying, "You should keep this." The first half of the book appeared in Sanskrit language; the second half was in Tibetan script.

Next, on the night my wife and I conceived our son, I had a lucid dream of a young Sikh man coming into our tent. Later, during pregnancy, the Indian sadhu who appeared in my earlier dream, appeared in my dreams and the dreams of my wife on the same night. In my dream, the yogi held a sacred water bowl and sprinkled purified water throughout our home. In my wife's dream, he offered her a mirror and an arrow, sliding the arrow underneath her blouse toward her chest.

Just before our son's birth, a warrior dressed in full regalia appeared in my dream. He carried a sword, shield, and bow and arrow. He reminded me of Gesar, the 11th century Tibetan king who used his worldly power to create spiritual benefit for people. The warrior announced, "This is your son." By this, I understood that the warrior king had conferred a child on me.

Following our son Jigmed's birth, I had the most auspicious dream. I desired to know who my son was and travelled to see Padmasambhava, the 8th century saint who propagated Buddhist teachings in Tibet. In my dream, I travelled to the spiritual world of Zangdog Palri, the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain. This is the pureland of Padmasambhava.

I did not have the audacity to enter Padmasambhava's presence, so I joined a gathering of Buddhists who had attained realization of the nature of mind and reality as they circumambulated Padmasambhava's celestial palace. Suddenly I spotted my mother, Dawa Drolma, who had passed away years earlier. She had been revered for her spiritual attainments as a lama. She had a very white complexion with a bluish tinge. She laughed when she saw me and before I could speak she said, 'Your son is Yudra Nyinpo.' Yudra Nyinpo was one of the twenty-five close disciples of Padmasambhava who was renowned as a siddha, a translator and a master of the Great Perfection. My wife and I rejoiced in the birth of this son.

Birth of Moses

Many ancient stories contain the myth of the hero of light whose birth is prophesied to bring ruin upon a powerful, wicked monarch. Alarmed at his threatened fate, the tyrant attempts to destroy the child before he grows up to fulfill his mission. But the child has a secure destiny and divine care watches over him. This was the case for Moses, Jesus, Krishna, Perseus, Paris, Oedipus and Cyrus the Great.

The child is sometimes born within the tyrant's home. Or in the case of Moses, he was raised as a child of the Egyptian Pharoah's daughter without Pharoah's knowledge. For the wicked Pharaoh had been forewarned of his impending birth in a symbolic dream long before Jochebed, the mother of Moses, became pregnant. In his dream, Pharaoh witnessed a ewe giving birth to a lamb. He also saw a merchant's balance hanging between Heaven and Earth. An old man placed a baby lamb on one of the scales. On the opposite scale, he put all the silver and gold of Egypt, but the lamb outweighed them all. Even when the Egyptians' military weapons were piled upon the silver and gold, the lamb tipped the scales. Pharaoh's dream interpreters advised: "Beware. This dream signifies the birth of a great Hebrew prophet."

On the night of Moses' conception, the Pharaoh had another warning dream. He witnessed the stars of Egypt falling from the heavens and an Israelite gathering them in his arms and cast them into the sea.

Amram knew the child that Pharoah feared was in his wife's womb and became uneasy when Pharoah set about to destroy all newborn babies. Before his wife delivers their baby, he prayed for God to have compassion. God reassured him, "I shall provide you what is for your good. Your child shall remain hidden from the Egyptians who seek to destroy him. When he grows up, he shall deliver the Hebrew people from the Egyptians. His memory shall be celebrated while the world lasts."

Miriam, the sister of Moses, also experienced a dream during her mother's pregnancy. A man dressed in fine linen said: "The child who will be born to your parents shall be cast into the waters, and through him the waters shall become dry. He will perform miracles, save the Israelites, and be their leader."

Jochebed intuited that the child in her womb was destined for greatness. She suffered no pain during pregnancy nor delivery. At the moment of birth, a radiance equal to the splendor of the Sun and Moon filled their home.

The parents put Moses in basket and set him adrift in the river nearby where the Pharoah's daughter found him and raised him as her own.

Dreams Announce Spiritual Masters

Asian women have been sensitive to the pregnancy dream throughout the centuries. Records have been kept of the dreams heralding spiritual masters.

Bhutan (15th century) -- I witnessed the Sun and Moon shining simultaneously in my dreams. I also saw many girls and youths playing around me.In another dream, a turquoise-colored girl carrying a vase entered the crown of my head. My husband dreamed of a holy mandala filling the sky, which was replete with volumes of scriptures.

Following my blissful, light pregnancy, I delivered a son, who became the Tibetan Buddhist lama Pemalingpa. Among other accomplishments, Pemalingpa recalls his previous embodiments all the way back to the spontaneous origin of the universe out the uncreated palace of the primordial buddha, Samantabhadra.
Tibet -- In a dream, I saw monks with assorted ritual objects performing a sacred ceremony. They invoked a statue of the deity Avalokiteshvara as large as a mountain. The statue diminished in size, approached me, and entered my body through the crown of my head.

Monks arrived again with offerings in a second dream. I asked, "What are the offerings for?" The monks replied, "We have come to pay our respects and gain an audience." Simultaneously a boy dressed in white pointed to my womb. With a key in hand, he entered my womb and opened a box containing a golden statue of Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion. A girl dressed in red cleaned the stained statue with a peacock feather.

I birthed a son who transformed Tibet's destiny and replaced misconceptions with correct and perfect views. Already at nineteen, my son, Tsong Khapa had become a great scholar. Tibetans called him Je Rinpoche, meaning, teacher without parallel. Tsong Khapa's disciples, the Yellow Hats sect, became central Asia's largest Buddhist school and set in motion the lineage of the Dalai Lamas who are embodiments of Avalokiteshvara, the deity of compassion.
Korea -- A Bodhisattva appeared in my pregnancy dream riding a white elephant, an auspicious symbol in Asia. They descended from the sky and settled upon a sacred rock adorned with flowers and gems next to me. The Bodhisattva entered into a deep meditation and after some time, he reached deeply into his chest and brought out a container of sacred milk. He offered it to me.

Later that morning, I delivered my son in a painless delivery. At the same time, an aura appeared from nowhere and hovered above our home. Our son became the Zen Master, Venerable Haeam (1886 -1985).
China -- During pregnancy, I dreamed of birds flying around me in pairs and many flowers in full blossom. A mysterious fragrance permeated our home, the scent of a holy being. Our son, Hui-neung (638-713), grew up to be a simple woodcutter. Until one day, destiny took its course when he heard someone recite a few lines of the Buddhist scripture, the Diamond Sutra. Hui-neung suddenly became enlightened. Hui-neung became the sixth Patriarch of the Southern Sect of Chinese Zen Buddhism.
India -- Naropa, a bodhisattva of the tenth level, realized that the time had come to depart from the spiritual world and enter the human body that would bring full enlightenment. In the clarity of his meditation, he witnessed the virtuous Buddhist king Santivarman longing for a son. Naropa was conceived some time later. During his mother's pregnancy, she dreamed of "voidness and bliss inseparable and of light filling the entire country." As a newborn, his body bore the marks of a Buddha. The royal child prodigy became a brilliant scholar by the age of eleven and attained full enlightenment. He became known as a second Buddha.
Tibet -- I witnessed many sacred symbols in my pregnancy dreams, indicating the birth of an incarnate guru. I also could hear the sound of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hung coming from my womb. Our family again heard the six-syllable mantra of Avalokitesvara, the embodiment of enlightened compassion, on the lips of the baby as soon as it was born. We smelled a beautiful fragrance which issued from the newborn's body. Our son was a child prodigy and his early life was full of miracles. He grew up to be the 4th Karmapa Rolpe Dorje (1340-1383), head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Buddhism. Like other Karmapas in his lineage, he served as guru of the Chinese emperor.

Sounds of the Celestial Conch

The Dalai Lamas are not the only spiritual lineage in Tibet. The Gyalwa Karmapa lineage is several hundred years old than the Dalai Lama tradition. These Buddhist lamas are linked together in one unbroken series of incarnations and can foresee their rebirth years in advance. Before one Karmapa dies, he writes a traditional letter explaining how to find his reincarnation, called a tulku.

The 16th Karmapa (1923 to 1981) concealed a letter with instructions on how to find his reincarnation a few months before he passed on. The letter contained indications of his future birthplace and parents. The 16th Karmapa concealed the letter inside a small golden pouch. He gave it to a chief disciple, the 12th Tai Situpa, saying, "This amulet will protect you and prove very beneficial one day."

A few years after the 16th Karmapa's passing, Loga and her husband Dondrup began to yearn for a second son. They were Tibetan nomads who tended a herd of eighty yaks. They belonged to a group of seventy nomadic families whose encampments were a travelling village of felt tents made from long yak hair.

Loga and Dondrup sought a yogi's help in order to fulfill their desire. The yogi advised, "If you desire a son, do 100,000 refuge prayers, feed beggars, feed the fish in the rivers and go on a pilgrimage to Lhasa." The couple followed his advice as best they could, however Loga birthed yet another daughter, their sixth.

While the couple were contemplating another child, the yogi abbot of Kalek, a Karma Kagyu monastery, said, "I will help fulfill your desire for a son under one condition: You must place your son in my monastery." The couple agreed and the abbot helped them by conferring empowerment upon them.

During the pregnancy that followed, Loga witnessed eight sacred symbols wreathed in rainbow light emanating from her heart in a dream. Three white cranes offered her a bowl of yogurt in another dream. A brilliant golden letter sat atop the bowl. The cranes explained, "The illustrious Padmasambhava sent us. The golden letter signifies that you will have a special son, however you must keep this secret until the appropriate time."

On the night before their son's birth, Dondrup observed rainbows over their tent even though the Sun had already set. Loga birthed her son in June 1985 without pain or difficulty. Two days later, the nomadic community heard the celestial sound of a conch shell for two hours. They thought it might be a monastic orchestra accompanying a high lama, but none could be seen. Some time later, people throughout eastern Tibet witnessed three suns in the heavens with a rainbow arching over the middle one.

About five years later, Tai Situpa recalled the small golden pouch that the 16th Karmapa had given him. He felt inspired to open the pouch even though it was stitched closed. Inside was the letter that led to finding Loga and Dondrup's son. The Gyalwa Karmapa had taken birth again for the 17th time in this millennium, fulfilling the prayers of millions of Buddhists of the Karma Kagyu lineage. The 14th Dalai Lama subsequently gave his official approval.

Reincarnation and Pregnancy Dreams

Tlingit -- The prospective mother typically dreams of a departed relative who wishes to be reborn during pregnancy. She sees "the incoming personality" getting off a ship at a dock or entering her home with a suitcase searching for a bedroom. The incarnating child may even enter the couple's bedroom and lie down between the wife and husband.
Tlingit -- Kahkody (aka Victor Vincent) enjoyed living in the home of his niece. One day he predicted:

I will come back as your next son. I hope I don't stutter then as much as I do now. I know I will have a good home. You won't be going off and getting drunk. You will recognize me by these two scars. He pointed out a scar on his back and one on his nose.

A year later Kahkody passed away. Within nine months, the niece became pregnant.

Near the end of the pregnancy, a family member who had not heard about Kahkody's prediction dreamed that Kahkody was coming to live with his niece and husband. Shortly afterward, the niece birthed a son having two marks on his body identical in shape and location to the scars on uncle Kahkody. However, the boy was named Corliss Jr. after his Anglo-Saxon father who had little interest in Tlingit customs.

The parents tried to instruct the toddler to say his name. On one occasion, thirteen-month-old Corliss announced to his mother with a perfect Tlingit accent: "Don't you know me? I'm Kahkody."

Before the age of three, the boy further verified his rebirth by spontaneously identifying by name family members and friends from his previous life.
Lapp (Siberia) - When a pregnant woman neared the time of delivery, an ancestor typically appears in a dream and informs her what relative is about to be reborn as her infant as well as the appropriate name the child should bear. If a mother had no such dream, the father determines the name via divination or by consulting a shaman.

<< previous topic | Introduction | next topic >>