Guardian of the Entrance

The dream today concerns a painting by the famous Russian mystic, Nicholas Roerich. The name of the painting is Guardian of the Entrance. I see this painting in my dream. I am holding the painting out at arms length and I am admiring it. My girl friend Haki is standing next to me and she is admiring it too. She says to me in Spanish that it must be worth millions. I say, "Yes, baby" . I then wake up. It is a quick short dream.

I had been reading Roerich's book, Altai-Himalaya, A Travel Diary the night before. I left off in my reading near the page at which this painting is seen. The book is a written travelogue of Roerich's expedition through India, Tibet and China during the 1920's. The book is a fantastic read! I have been fascinated by Roerich for a long time now and this is the first of his books I have read. Roerich has been compared to Leonardo  da Vinci. Roerich was a multi-talented intellectual, author, explorer, accomplished painter and so much more.  His art work fires my imagination. I am obsessed with it and love it a lot!

My immediate impression at first glance with this particular painting is that it reminds me of my girlfriend, Haki, her astrological sign is Ares and she is a fire sign. The elements of fire and light in her, and the painting, are obvious. My girl is certainly bright, energetic and passionate. There appears to be a cave and a golden glow is pouring forth from within. All sorts of suggestive symbols arise out of this. For example a womb and a hidden treasure. The possibilities are endless.

Let's take a moment here and analyse the painting and examine who this being in the painting represents. I believe this is Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom and is one of the most important iconic figures in Mahayana Buddhist art and literature. His name means "He Who Is Noble And Gentle". He is associated with poetry, oratory and writing. He is often depicted as a young man wielding the Vajra Sword of Discriminating Wisdom or Insight in his right hand and the Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra in or near his left hand. He is considered princely and fearless. His youthful godly nature is suppose to suggest that wisdom arises from him in a natural confident and effortless manner.

Manjushri's wisdom and insight, like his sword, can cut through to the true nature of emptiness. It slices through ignorance and the entanglements of conceptual views. The term emptiness used here means 'empty of intrinsic existence'. In other words things do not possess the intrinsic reality we unknowingly think that they do. So the question then becomes in what manner does phenomena exist? The answer, according to the famous Buddhist scholar, Nargarjuna, is that the existential status of phenomena can only be best understood by looking at it through the prism of dependent origination.

So given these very basic understandings of the philosophical elements in Roerich's painting how do we apply it to our understanding of the dream and getting something useful out of it? My gut instinct tells me to once again examine the unconscious meanings. This is yet another opportunity to delve into territory that my conscious brain rarely, if ever, gets to examine.

The cave, in simple terms, represents the unconscious. It is a deep mystery with hidden treasure. Manjushri represents the conscious intellect. The sword of wisdom can free a life and it can take a life. It is double edged and has a dual nature.

One has to climb a mountain and then descend into the cave to find the treasure within, that is, if he can get past the guardian of the entrance (the intellect) with the sword of discernment. Roerick  put all the esoteric symbols right in plain sight in this painting. It is all there to see and divine if one has the eyes and mind to perceive and receive it.

I could go even one step further and perhaps apply tantric meanings into the dream. The painting can be seen as a metaphor of my relationship with Haki. She is the mountain and the cave with a treasure within! Manjushri and his sword embodies the divine masculine aspects of myself. I could be protecting or attacking. I can be wise or given over to fiery passion. Both aspects are potentially present.

Once again I marvel at where I end up and what I discover when I begin to analyze my dreams. It is utterly amazing at what one can find when you enter the process with an open mind! The things I find are so often more rich and more meaningful than I expected. Wow! This is sure the case with this dream analysis!