user3551: Is there any meaning given to dreams of the Buddha? For example is it considered an omen a sign or meaningless ...?
EDIT: Sorry i have to change the edit back to the Buddha instead of Bodhisattva.My question is about someone dreaming of The Buddha.As in Buddha,the fully enlightened being.Not a Bodhisattva.Not a dream about Sidhattha.But a dream of the Buddha.
My question is,Is there any meaning given to dreams of the Buddha in Buddhism.For example if you dreamt of The Buddha would it be considered an omen,a sign or meaningless. 
Thank you

user7611: Interpreting dreams is against a monk's virtue:

"Whereas some brahmans and contemplatives, living off food given in
  faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:
reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry];  reading omens and
  signs;  interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; 
  interpreting dreams;  reading marks on the body [e.g., phrenology]; 
  reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice;  offering fire oblations,
  oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains,
  ghee, and oil;  offering oblations from the mouth;  offering
  blood-sacrifices;  making predictions based on the fingertips; 
  geomancy;  laying demons in a cemetery;  placing spells on spirits; 
  reciting house-protection charms;  snake charming, poison-lore,
  scorpion-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore, crow-lore;  fortune-telling based
  on visions;  giving protective charms;  interpreting the calls of
  birds and animals — 
he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these."
  (Kevatta Sutta, DN 11)

I don't know what the dream means, it could mean nothing or something but whatever it means would be irrelevant to achieving arahantship.

user157: In Tibetan Buddhism there is the concept of dream yoga which is a tantric practice within the Bardos of dream and sleep. To quote from wikipedia

Finally, in the sixth stage, the images of deities (Buddhas,
  Bodhisattvas, or Dakinis) should be visualized in the lucid dream
  state. [..] They are said to be linked to or resonate with the clear
  light of the Void. They can therefore serve as symbolic doorways to
  this mystical state of being (the Void or clear light).

So within this tradition dreams of the Buddha (and Bodhisattvas and other beings) would be an actual practice and would be seen as significant.
However in the Zen tradition there is the koan

If you see the Buddha on the road kill him

I am not a Zen practitioner or have any form of insight into this koan. However  Shunryu Suzuki said in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Thinking about the Buddha as an entity or deity is delusion, not
  awakening. One must destroy the preconception of the Buddha as
  separate and external before one can become internally as their own
  Buddha

So I would take from this that dreaming or indeed identifying with the actual entity of the Buddha isn't on the path. Or maybe it is if you are being a Buddha in you dreams. One to think about maybe.

user471: Here is an analysis of the Buddhist approach to dreams. Just quoting the conclusion.

C) Conclusion
Following a Buddhist example, how are we supposed to deal with dreams?
  Do we dismiss them as empty and false, do we diagnose our health from
  dream symptoms, do we systematically analyze their symbols as an index
  of our religious practice? Dreams used as a teaching device pointing
  the way to enlightenment takes a negative approach to a positive goal.
  The emptying out of both dreams and reality frees the mind from
  duality and attachments to conditioned states. Perhaps the Buddhist
  approach to dreams is identical with the path to understanding the
  purpose of waking life: transforming ignorance by the brilliant sword
  of Prajna wisdom. We must wake up from our “dream within a dream,”
  before we can know that we are actually sleeping through our lives.
  After awakening there is no need to dream any longer.

An interesting contemporary example of a dream about the Buddha, comes from the Theravada Buddhist meditation teacher Dipa Ma:

After her husband died in 1957, and her only surviving child, daughter
  Dipa, was seven years old, Nani "Dipa Ma", was drowning in sorrow and
  at the lowest point in her life. One day a doctor said to her: :"You
  know, you're actually going to die of a broken heart unless you do
  something about the state of your mind."
Because she was living in Burma, a Buddhist country, he suggested that
  she learn how to meditate. It was then she had a dream in which the
  Buddha appeared to her as a luminous presence and softly chanted a
  verse from the Dhammapada:
Clinging to what is dear brings sorrow, clinging to what is dear brings fear. To one who is entirely free from endearment, there is no
  sorrow or fear.
Dipa Ma understood the Buddha's advice as a call to master Vipassana
  meditation.


user111: The dreams Bodhisatta had about his future Buddhahoood are given in the Supina Sutta.

"When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, five great dreams appeared to him. Which
  five?
"When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, this great earth was his great bed. The
  Himalayas, king of mountains, was his pillow. His left hand rested in
  the eastern sea, his right hand in the western sea, and both feet in
  the southern sea. When the Tathagata — worthy & rightly self-awakened
  — was still just an unawakened bodhisatta, this was the first great
  dream that appeared to him....

You might also be interested in knowing the meanings of the dreams, queen Maya(mother of the Bodhisatta) saw.

3551: <p>Is there any meaning given to dreams of the Buddha? For example is it considered an omen a sign or meaningless ...?</p>

<p>EDIT: Sorry i have to change the edit back to the Buddha instead of Bodhisattva.My question is about someone dreaming of The Buddha.As in <strong>Buddha,the fully enlightened</strong> being.Not a Bodhisattva.Not a dream about Sidhattha.But a dream of the Buddha.</p>

<p>My question is,Is there any meaning given to dreams of the Buddha in Buddhism.For example if you dreamt of The Buddha would it be considered an omen,a sign or meaningless. </p>

<p>Thank you</p>
 7611: <p>Interpreting dreams is against a monk's virtue:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"Whereas some brahmans and contemplatives, living off food given in
  faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:</p>
  
  <p>reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry];  reading omens and
  signs;  interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; 
  <strong>interpreting dreams</strong>;  reading marks on the body [e.g., phrenology]; 
  reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice;  offering fire oblations,
  oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains,
  ghee, and oil;  offering oblations from the mouth;  offering
  blood-sacrifices;  making predictions based on the fingertips; 
  geomancy;  laying demons in a cemetery;  placing spells on spirits; 
  reciting house-protection charms;  snake charming, poison-lore,
  scorpion-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore, crow-lore;  fortune-telling based
  on visions;  giving protective charms;  interpreting the calls of
  birds and animals — </p>
  
  <p>he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these."
  (Kevatta Sutta, DN 11)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I don't know what the dream means, it could mean nothing or something but whatever it means would be irrelevant to achieving arahantship.</p>
 157: <p>In Tibetan Buddhism there is the concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_yoga" rel="nofollow">dream yoga</a> which is a tantric practice within the Bardos of dream and sleep. To <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_yoga#Exegesis" rel="nofollow">quote from wikipedia</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Finally, in the sixth stage, the images of deities (Buddhas,
  Bodhisattvas, or Dakinis) should be visualized in the lucid dream
  state. [..] They are said to be linked to or resonate with the clear
  light of the Void. They can therefore serve as symbolic doorways to
  this mystical state of being (the Void or clear light).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So within this tradition dreams of the Buddha (and Bodhisattvas and other beings) would be an actual practice and would be seen as significant.</p>

<p>However in the Zen tradition there is the koan</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>If you see the Buddha on the road kill him</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I am not a Zen practitioner or have any form of insight into this koan. However  Shunryu Suzuki said in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/402843.Zen_Mind_Beginner_s_Mind" rel="nofollow">Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Thinking about the Buddha as an entity or deity is delusion, not
  awakening. One must destroy the preconception of the Buddha as
  separate and external before one can become internally as their own
  Buddha</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So I would take from this that dreaming or indeed identifying with the actual entity of the Buddha isn't on the path. Or maybe it is if you are being a Buddha in you dreams. One to think about maybe.</p>
 471: <p>Here is an analysis of the <a href="http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma7/dreams.html" rel="nofollow">Buddhist approach to dreams</a>. Just quoting the conclusion.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>C) Conclusion</p>
  
  <p>Following a Buddhist example, how are we supposed to deal with dreams?
  Do we dismiss them as empty and false, do we diagnose our health from
  dream symptoms, do we systematically analyze their symbols as an index
  of our religious practice? Dreams used as a teaching device pointing
  the way to enlightenment takes a negative approach to a positive goal.
  The emptying out of both dreams and reality frees the mind from
  duality and attachments to conditioned states. Perhaps the Buddhist
  approach to dreams is identical with the path to understanding the
  purpose of waking life: transforming ignorance by the brilliant sword
  of Prajna wisdom. We must wake up from our “dream within a dream,”
  before we can know that we are actually sleeping through our lives.
  After awakening there is no need to dream any longer.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>An interesting contemporary example of a dream about the Buddha, comes from the Theravada Buddhist meditation teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipa_Ma" rel="nofollow">Dipa Ma</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>After her husband died in 1957, and her only surviving child, daughter
  Dipa, was seven years old, Nani "Dipa Ma", was drowning in sorrow and
  at the lowest point in her life. One day a doctor said to her: :"You
  know, you're actually going to die of a broken heart unless you do
  something about the state of your mind."</p>
  
  <p>Because she was living in Burma, a Buddhist country, he suggested that
  she learn how to meditate. It was then she had a dream in which the
  Buddha appeared to her as a luminous presence and softly chanted a
  verse from the Dhammapada:</p>
  
  <p><em>Clinging to what is dear brings sorrow, clinging to what is dear brings fear. To one who is entirely free from endearment, there is no
  sorrow or fear.</em></p>
  
  <p>Dipa Ma understood the Buddha's advice as a call to master Vipassana
  meditation.</p>
</blockquote>
 111: <p>The dreams Bodhisatta had about his future Buddhahoood are given in the <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.196.than.html" rel="noreferrer">Supina Sutta</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"When the Tathagata — worthy &amp; rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, five great dreams appeared to him. Which
  five?</p>
  
  <p>"When the Tathagata — worthy &amp; rightly self-awakened — was still just
  an unawakened bodhisatta, this great earth was his great bed. The
  Himalayas, king of mountains, was his pillow. His left hand rested in
  the eastern sea, his right hand in the western sea, and both feet in
  the southern sea. When the Tathagata — worthy &amp; rightly self-awakened
  — was still just an unawakened bodhisatta, this was the first great
  dream that appeared to him....</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You might also be interested in knowing the meanings of the <a href="http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/1lbud.htm" rel="noreferrer">dreams, queen Maya(mother of the Bodhisatta) saw</a>.</p>
