Dreams?
 

What are Buddhist views on dreams? Do they have meaning?

Can I suggest an interesting book by H.H.D.L Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness. it is quite accessible and informative, You may also be interested in Dream Yoga within the Nyingma tradition.

Thank You

I will check these out, thanks much.

I think for many people dreams can be manifestations of mental states or a jumble of things which have happened recently. If a dream was a little strange, ones mind starts spinning around trying to find meanings instead of being aware of what's happening in the here and now.

I would recommend reading "Clarity of Awareness" by Ajahn Chah and in particular the end of p29 to the end of p31 in which he discusses maintaining mental awareness while the body is asleep and he also mentions dreams.


http://www.ajahnchah.org/pdf/clarity_of_insight.pdf

I agree with Aloka here. Dreams are mostly manifestations of your mind based on your thoughts, perceptions and memories. Even physical discomforts during sleep can cause dreams.

However, dreams carry a lot of symbolism. For example, if you are having breathing difficulties during sleep, you won't dream of suffocating but the struggle might manifest in symbolic ways like trying to solve complex Math problems or card games.

This is probably why dreams turn out really strange at times and people try to find meaning to them. But usually the causes are within your own body and mind so it is best to pay attention to them rather than the symbolism.