Between Sleep and Liberation in Indian Traditions: Lucid Dreaming, Out-of-Body Experiences, and the Architectures of Liminal Consciousness

This article examines the theoretical and practical frameworks surrounding liminal states of consciousness—specifically lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences (OBEs)—within Indian religious and philosophical traditions. Through a comparative analysis of Vedāntic, Yogic, Buddhist, and Jain systems, the article argues that these states are not merely anomalous psychological events but deliberately cultivated “architectures of liminality” designed to investigate the nature of self, consciousness, and reality. Methodologically, this article offers a comparative analysis of models and categories of liminal consciousness across Indian traditions, critically engaging relevant neurophenomenological frameworks and incorporating a small set of representative first-person exemplars. The results reveal a spectrum of interpretations: from the mind-only projection model of Buddhist dream yoga to the subtle-material interaction model of Jain karmic ontology, and from the embodied cognition framework of modern neuroscience to the disembodied consciousness theories of classical Indian systems. The study concludes that a comprehensive understanding of liminal consciousness must integrate first-person phenomenological reports with the soteriological, ritual, and metaphysical contexts that structure their interpretation, thereby challenging reductionist approaches in contemporary consciousness studies.