text:
What are we supposed to do while meditating?
Yes I have meditated and I have searched the Internet this question before landing here, what I describe below is a mixture of what I have read of what one should do during meditation and what actually happens when I actually meditate.
Most of the articles I have found say that try to keep focus but here I want to ask is what do I focus upon  ? My problems, my desires or just how do we keep focus without a subject to feed upon ? And while meditating I have found my thoughts wander away and keep reminding myself by repeating mentally "no I am meditating, no I am meditating". Is that the right method ? but the biggest question is when we say focus(in any other field apart from meditation) we understand it in general context as to improve our performance or invest ourselves more in that field but what does it mean in meditation,  is it repeating a thought continuously in our head or something else ?
While some other articles say watch the thoughts as they occur , I mean okay I could watch the thoughts that occur during a meditation session but then doesn't that seem a little contradictory ? You are producing the thoughts and then you are seeing that occur so then actually we could guide our thoughts then, why does it then say stay and observe ?
I know above I have asked my questions in a hodgepodge manner so let me sum it up succinctly:

What are we supposed to think during meditation or we do not need to think at all ?
Generally do we set timers for meditation sessions or do we get an intuitive feel that I can't focus or meditate any more for today ?

There are very good answers to this question... so I'll just make a suggestion to consider these few things. How do you feel about the constant need to feed upon a subject? Contemplate on this for a while. Does it create a subtle kind suffering? How would it be to free yourself from this compulsion? What would that state be like?

Most of the articles I have found say that try to keep focus but here I want to ask is what do I focus upon ?
My problems, my desires or just how do we keep focus without a subject to feed upon ?
And while meditating I have found my thoughts wander away and keep reminding myself by repeating mentally "no I am meditating, no I am meditating". Is that the right method ?

If you use any imagination, verbalisation, visualisation of any sort this is not the betitation what the Buddha taught us to do as you have to come out of any verbal fabrication. (Cūla Vedalla Sutta)

but the biggest question is when we say focus(in any other field apart from meditation) we understand it in general context as to improve our performance or invest ourselves more in that field but what does it mean in meditation, is it repeating a thought continuously in our head or something else ?

Mental repetition can create concentration but this is not the right type of concentration which will lead you to liberation though you can turn this type of contraction into the right type by developing awareness on the arising and passing of sensations pertaining to the absorption. This is a long winded road than the straight road where you develop the right concentration followed by wisdom.

While some other articles say watch the thoughts as they occur , I mean okay I could watch the thoughts that occur during a meditation session but then doesn't that seem a little contradictory ?

Any mental state (Citta) or content (Cetisaka) give arise to some feeling either pleasant, neutral or unpleasant. (Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma) Even thoughts are sensed or felt thought the mind sense door which re perceive and react resulting in these sensations. Hence what you can easily recognise is the sensations pertaining to the thoughts.

You are producing the thoughts and then you are seeing that occur so then actually we could guide our thoughts then, why does it then say stay and observe ?

You should anchor your mind on a chosen object so that your do not think hence creating metal fabrication. (Cūla Vedalla Sutta) But if your main drifts to thoughts or the past or fantasy 1st look at the thoughts in your body with full equanimity looking at their arising and passing. If you have any unpleasant feeling pay attention for a small duration until such sensation become neutral or pleasant, then continue with your chosen object. Ultimately you have to be equanimous to whatever sensation you experience realising its arising and passing nature. (Pahāna Sutta)

I know above I have asked my questions in a hodgepodge manner so let me sum it up succinctly:
What are we supposed to think during meditation or we do not need to think at all ?
Generally do we set timers for meditation sessions or do we get an intuitive feel that I can't focus or meditate any more for today ?

If you feel you cannot focus on meditation any more then whatever practice you are doing seems to be causing stress. This implies you are not practicing properly and natural progress of meditation you should experience more happiness, joy, zest, tranquility. ((Ekā,dasaka) Cetanā’karaṇīya Sutta, (Dasaka) Cetanā’karaṇīya Sutta). Maybes you should double check your practice.

There are many kinds of meditation, and as many ways of explaining them as there are people. After years of study and practice, here is a meditation I recommend. I call this "the coming to one's senses meditation" :)
Sit any way you want, as long as it's not too uncomfortable nor too comfortable as to put you to sleep. You can change your posture any way you want. Don't worry about it at all.
Bring your attention in front of you. Not literally "in front", but rather "to the room". It is the same kind of attention you need when you were busy for too long and neglected your room, and now you are finally coming back to the present and taking a good look at your room - and noticing the overall disorder. It's a similar feeling to awakening. "Hiii, present moment! Long time no see! I was waaaay too busy lately." Finally the Sinbad is back from yet another travel. This is why it's called "coming to one's senses".
Look at your body. Look at your hands. Feel them. If you are like most people, it's been long time since you gave attention to your basic being. Feel your entire body, as presence, as energy. It feels so good to finally stop running like a hamster in the wheel and come back to one's body and one's room. At the same time, you may have a feeling of anxiety. It feels like you are wasting time doing nothing. You've been running on for too long, and it became a habit. Feel that anxiety in your body. Drop it. It's okay to waste time. In fact, this is a precious way to use time, you are reconnecting with your basic being.
Don't worry about the clock. If you do do worry, put a timer for 15-20 minutes, and test it first - it will help you relax knowing you won't "waste" too much time ;) So in this case the purpose of the timer is the opposite of normal. You use the timer for its silence, not for its alarm. If you do trust yourself and don't worry about time - then you don't need a timer.
Come back to your senses. You've been driven for too long by all those goals and problems, now is time to gather your thoughts. It's a same feeling like you are on vacation, or actually it's like you added several days after vacation, to stay home and gather your thoughts. That's it! So you sit and you're like "pheew!" Finally. It's that state of mind when you can finally think "Alright, what should I do next?". You are reconnecting with your inner core and sending a silent SQL query to your guts: "give me the top 5 things I wanted to get to but never had time".
Now, this moment is when there is departure between meditation and regular thinking-and-gathering-your-thoughts type of sitting. Normally, you get absorbed into the first of those 5 things, or maybe the second one - and go on creating new plans, and that's it, vacation is over. Instead, with meditation, you stay in that query mode, and let your guts keep on finding more and more things that you have been previously deferring. Remember those old stories about a student tasked with reciting prayers in a church all night long, while all kinds of horror creatures come up but the student should keep his cool? They are the echo of this meditation.
The trick is to stay fully present in the room, just like you were in the beginning. Maybe 65% of your CPU is staying in the room and feeling the presence of the body & the freshness of the current moment, 20% is running the deep query, and 15% is the control circuit ("you") aka mindfulness. The role of the control circuit is to gently restore the balance when it skews too much towards thinking. Meaning, when the query comes up with a result, your role is to take it, bring it fully into your present moment, and take one good look at it while keeping at arms length. Then gently dismiss it, while leaning fully on the visual awareness of your presence in the room and the feeling of aliveness of your body. Don't rush to do anything at this moment. Wait until your mind fully comes back to the room and the initial "gathering your thoughts / what should I do next" state is restored. This is the critical moment! Don't rush into the next cycle. Let yourself waste time! When you get present and stable enough, your body will automatically send the next query to your subconscious. Don't think about it at all, just come back to the initial state. That's it! -- Repeat like this until you feel super-awake. I call this process "thought laundry" or "mind washing machine". This is the vipassana element.
You don't have to obsess with the laundry cycle either. Sometimes you may feel like not waiting for query results at all, and focusing on your overall inner comfort instead. This is also a valid mode of "coming to one's senses meditation". Perhaps you feel like your body was crumbled and now you want to open it up. Perhaps you feel like your aura was burning with anxiety and now you would like to apply the metaphorical aloe of contentment. Sometimes you may feel like you want to uphold a kingly posture or stretch the face muscles or open the chest etc. As long as you don't go too far into the sport exercises, and your main activity remains sitting in the room, gathering your thoughts, and coming back to your senses -- all kinds of psychosomatic comfort motions are very valid. May be you'll realize you've been drowsy all this time and you want to make an effort to awaken your mind. All these are good. I call this "conditioning the mind". This is the samatha element.
The most important point is: it's not about doing anything. It is about coming back to your senses. Both conditioning the mind as well as coming up of the deferred thoughts are just aspects of coming back to your senses.
So as you see, in this version, it's not really thinking, nor is it no-thinking. It's not mindfulness of any one thing, but it's not no-mindfulness either. It's coming back to one's senses. If you do it right it should be quite enjoyable! Although every time you still need to overcome the tendency to continue worrying about the things that worried you that day or the previous day. Also, on some days you may have trouble doing this at all, if thoughts or emotions are too strong. In that case, don't need to force yourself. When you force it, your heart will start hating it - and then you won't do it at all. But if you're doing it right, it feels like finally finding time for your most precious friend. Over time you should be able to extend the sitting from 15-20 mins to maybe 40 mins. Maybe in the future you will want to sit for 2 hours, like the monks do. Maybe one time you will be encouraged to sit for entire weekend, with only snack and bathroom breaks - who knows.
But even if you only do it 15 minutes a day, you should feel much more stable and awaken throughout the day. It works like sleeping, just 10 times more efficient.

If you are practicing to liberate yourself from your own habits that cause suffering then you could practice seeing your experience as it is in the present moment, moment by moment.
You would intentionally focus your awareness on whatever aspect of your experience you are drawn to or whatever aspect of your experience that is the most appropriate to focus your awareness towards. Slowly you will begin to gain insights into how your mind and body works. This has the effect of unraveling the bad habits and reactions. When there are no more bad habits then you no longer suffer even when you are in pain because you no longer are reactive to the pain as it is just a feeling.
I recommend that you find a insight meditation method and stick to it. Also, if you can, find a qualified teacher because it is extremely difficult to be a successful meditator without a good teacher. I hope this helps

What are we supposed to think during meditation or we do not need to
  think at all ?

Is Thinking and Meditation are same or deference ?

Generally do we set timers for meditation sessions or do we get an
  intuitive feel that I can't focus or meditate any more for today?

Same as using or not using timers for sleep.
Buddhist meditation generally divide as chittha bawana(samatha) and pagna bawana(vipassana). Anapanasathi bavana can be practise as both ways.
"Awareness-release" (ceto-vimutti) is a state of mind released from passion. This can either be the temporary release found in concentration (as here) or the arahant's full release from passion. See AN 2.30.
A modern explanation is given as  "The coming to one's senses meditation" :)

"Is Thinking and Meditation are same or deference?" -- Could you try to avoid asking questions in a reply to a question? If the OP is asking a question, maybe it's because they don't know how or what to answer. Try to phrase your answer as informative statements instead of as questions.

@ChrisW Detailed answer is given by Andrei, so this is just brainstorm. added some details.

Are Thinking and Meditation the same? Or, are they different?

@ChrisW  Meditation start from thinking and develops awareness(sathi) and wisdom(sampajanya) ends with "Niroda" by realizing "vimukthi"(Vision).

@Shrawaka I think ChrisW was pointing out an error in your grammar and word choice, not asking the actual question.

@GreenAsJade Thanks for showing errors. English is not my native language. I cannot find error what you showing and how to improves grammar. So if you like please edit them.


text:
Is Buddhism life negating?
Thinking of Buddhism a lot lately and I really love the concepts in it, however I just can't seem to find Buddhism to have a potential to become an universal philosophy as it seems very life negating.
Let me explain my self. In Buddhism we are constantly reminded how all problems are an illusion and should be ignored. But are they really? Buddhism seems like a perfect ideology for rich white people or other population isolated from real problematics hitting this world. Buddhism not only says: "You have so nothing to care about, you really should just enjoy yourself" it also gives you a relief that other people are unfortunate since it reminds you all problems are only illusion of ego.
That all problems are only illusion of ego is not true however, since there are serious problems like hunger, wars etc. troubling this earth. Buddhist ideology doesn't have any clear directions on how to resolve these problems but only works as an outside observer.
What I am asking is, isn't Buddhism life negating? Is Buddhistic ideology more inclined to ignores / detach from problems rather than to try to present exact solutions?
Thank you for your answers and critics of my views.

This type of interpretations caused to vanish Buddhism from it's birth land India.

The problem of the world are addressed by each one changing himself first. If everyone did it then it would peace.

But would it really? That would only be the case of 100% of people do the change. On the other hand if you have 99% people that are peaceful but passive and 1% of maniacs, you can imagine results.

Buddhism(as well as other contemplative religions & methods) is life affirming. Most people are asleep to what reality actually is. They are too busy worrying about and planning for a future that never exists and judging things based on a past that never exists. They are hardly ever in the present moment were reality actually is. This is why we are so stressed all the time.
Being asleep to reality like this is the very definition of "life negating" and it causes us such unnecessary suffering.
In Buddhism we are constantly reminded
how all problems are an illusion and should be ignored.
Who told you that? Nothing should be ignored, that is what we already do.  Problems are not illusions and at the same time problems are illusions. It depends on the level of reality we are working with. The practices of Buddhism are meant to make the individual happy and capable of coping better with lifes problems.
The Buddhist way is to be selfish in a good way. If someone has a problem the appropriate thing to do is to help that someone and this good action(karma) helps the practicing Buddhist. You see, the reason Buddhists help people is to help themselves even after the ego is transcended.

As far as I understand, Buddhism doesn't constantly remind one that "all problems are an illusion". Suffering can be thought of as an emergent quality of "problems", and one of the most basic teachings, that "there is suffering" is to be found in the first Noble Truth. The Buddha taught that what whenever suffering arises (your cognizance of problems arises), it is dependent on a chain of causes and effects, which invariably links back to ignorance or misunderstanding of the 4 Noble Truths. As far as illusions go, one could say that permanence, lasting happiness from conditioned phenomena, or controllability are all illusory in a sense, but I'm not aware of any Dhamma that teaches that suffering (and thereby problems which cause it to arise) are actually just an illusion.
Also, as far as I understand Buddhism also doesn't constantly remind one that problems "should be ignored". Much the opposite, the Buddha taught that there is a practice which can be applied, leading to the cessation of the suffering that you perceive from these problems. Once you acknowledge the origination of the suffering, the next thing to do is not to ignore it, but to practice in letting go of its origins. This is known as the Eightfold Path and it is to be directly applied and cessation of suffering to be experienced. There is no "ignoring" going on here, I have never heard of any Buddhist teaching that advocates ignoring or suppressing awareness of anything.
Buddhism almost certainly does not say "you have nothing to care about, you should really just enjoy yourself". From my understanding, the Buddha actually taught that it is in your best interest to practice seeing things for what they are and to liberate oneself from the suffering-filled cycle of death and rebirth that characterizes all worldly existence by giving up forms of clinging and aversion.
Although your questions seem sincere, practically every sentence you've written can be considered a misinterpretation of even the most basic Buddhist philosophy. The conclusions about Buddhism being life-negating, or un-applicable to true suffering on an individual level, appear to be founded on misinterpretation of basics.
But I will give you that Buddhism doesn't seem to have a direct framework for tackling world hunger, war, etc on a group level. It seems to suggest that if the people acting as a cause for war, or selfishness in world hunger, dealt with their inner suffering and learned compassion, these problems might be solved. Again, I don't know if this is specifically referenced in any canonical teachings, but it seems to be a logical conclusion to me.

Thinking of Buddhism a lot lately and I really love the concepts in it, however I just can't seem to find Buddhism to have a potential to become an universal philosophy as it seems very life negating.

Much or this is due to the mis translation of the word Dukka into English as suffering by early translators (Pali Text Society). Later translators like Thanisaro Bikkhu corrected this by using unsatisfactoriness ans a better translation.

Let me explain my self. In Buddhism we are constantly reminded how all problems are an illusion and should be ignored. But are they really? Buddhism seems like a perfect ideology for rich white people or other population isolated from real problematics hitting this world. Buddhism not only says: "You have so nothing to care about, you really should just enjoy yourself" it also gives you a relief that other people are unfortunate since it reminds you all problems are only illusion of ego.

Say two athletes meet form a match. Both may have confidence they are will win but only one does. The one who loses is not joyes as the winner. So over confidence in oneself and also attachment to the outcome sets one back emotionally. Also say the match is not going well at some point then if you do not maintain your psychological balance by further losing your confidence and when winning you become complacent then things may not be the best for the final outcome. So overconfidence, underconfidence or miss comparisons of yourself against other always in whatever matrix may leads to sorrow. Hence better avoided. You are at a better position be happy when you let go of ego and the notion of self.

That all problems are only illusion of ego is not true however, since there are serious problems like hunger, wars etc. troubling this earth. Buddhist ideology doesn't have any clear directions on how to resolve these problems but only works as an outside observer.

All problems do not stem from ego though wars and conflicts do. Existence is the main cause of having to experience these issues. Buddhism or any other school or thought or religion cannot solve what is a fact of life. But Buddhism give a way out of this messy exitance.

What I am asking is, isn't Buddhism life negating? Is Buddhistic ideology more inclined to ignores / detach from problems rather than to try to present exact solutions?

Say you are incapable of solving a problem. Ignoring it will also not solve it. You are hurt by it. Maintaining a sound balance of the mind will immunise some of metal pain when thing go wrong. Buddhism is to keep your head straight when things don't go as you want them. You should do your best to overcome them. If they do not work as you intend, then you have to minimise or eliminate your unhappiness by trying to maintain a sound mind.

Your problems are not illusions. The illusion is the source and the fuel of all issues.
What is the illusion?
The illusion is the thought that we all have called "Me", As long as a being believe that a person exist he or she will have issues. As to Buddhism there is no soul or a person. There is only a body and a constantly generating process that we call "Mind". These two together makes the person. "The Person" in Buddhism is limited to only the namely meaning and it is ok to say I,He,She,etc but with the understanding that there is actually no person.
Are Buddhists Negative?

Before we judge Buddhism let's take a look at the commonly seen and
accepted version of success and positivism.

I am capable,
I have these dreams and i will reach them,
Here is what and where i am, i will become better,
These are my goals and these are my plans to reach them,
There is competition and i will come above it all.
Buddhist point of view
If there is will almost anything is possible, There is no point in failure, Success must be achieved.
Buddhism is very simple, You need to know what you need and then you should go for it.

You would agree that the common perception of success is strictly bound to the person. If i out it much simply to the body of that person, Let me explain...
She is cute,She has a nice apartment & few sports cars,She is super good at her workplace,Soon she will get a promotion,She is engaged to a self made millionaire.
Here is a successful woman in her prime. Show me one place in her exiting life where mind has been given any importance.
Buddhism deals with a different subject matter compared to the society. For the common perception anything that can be a skill or an asset is good, More the better. But Buddhism gives no importance to that kind of ideology.

Bottom line
Buddhism is not a Fortune cookie, It is there to reach nirvana and it is with the advice to live your life correctly and successfully until you reach there.It is not the go to bundle of life advice people think it is. It will teach you to be a better person and to see the life in a different light but if your intention is to be a millionaire and life the life of a kingpin you came to the wrong place. Buddhism is the path to stopping the pain & suffering, it is not your career guru or marriage counselor.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Buddha's omniscience
Is a Buddha omniscient? If so, is there some agreement on what omniscience more specifically means?
(All traditions are of interest. But particularly Mahayana)

See Bhikkhu Analayo's The Buddha and Omniscience

In MN 71, the Buddha clarifies the meaning of his omniscience to the wandering ascetic Vacchagotta:

Vaccha: ‘Venerable sir, I have heard this said: The recluse Gotama is all knowing and all seeing and acknowledges remainderless knowledge and vision in this manner, ‘while walking, standing, lying or awake, constantly and continually knowledge and vision is established, to me’.Venerable sir, those who say, these words, ‘The recluse Gotama is all knowing and all seeing and acknowledges remainderless knowledge and vision:while walking, standing, lying or awake, constantly and continually.’ Are they saying the words of good Gotama and are they not blaming the Blessed One falsely?
The Buddha: Vaccha, those who say, the recluse Gotama is all knowing and all seeing and acknowledges remainderless knowledge and vision, while walking, standing, lying or awake, constantly and continually. They, do not say my words, they blame me falsely.
Vaccha: Venerable sir, saying how would it be said, correctly not blaming the Blessed One falsely?
The Buddha: ‘The recluse Gotama knows the three knowledges. Saying it thus they would be saying the right thing, and not blaming me falsely. Vaccha, whenever I desire, I recollect the manifold previous births, such as one birth, two births, with all modes and all details, thus I recall the manifold previous births. Vaccha, when I desire, with the purified heavenly eye beyond human, see beings disappearing and appearing, in unexalted and exalted states, beautiful and ugly, in good and bad states,-- I see beings, according their actions. Vaccha, destroying desires, my mind released and released through wisdom, here and now by myself realising I abide. Vaccha, if it is said, the recluse Gotama knows the three knowledges, saying it thus, you would be saying the right thing and not blaming me falsely’.

Ven. Bodhi further elaborates by citing the Commentary in his note in "The Middle Length Discourses":

MA explains that even though part of the statement is valid, the Buddha rejects the entire statement because of the portion that is invalid. The part of the statement that is valid is the assertion that the Buddha is omniscient and all-seeing; the part that is excessive is the assertion that knowledge and vision are continuously present to him. According to the Theravāda exegetical tradition the Buddha is omniscient in the sense that all knowable things are potentially accessible to him. He cannot, however, know everything simultaneously and must advert to whatever he wishes to know. At MN 90.8 the Buddha says that it is possible to know and see all, though not simultaneously, and at AN 4:24/ii.24 he claims to know all that can be seen, heard, sensed, and cognized. This is understood by the Theravāda commentators as an assertion of omniscience in the qualified sense. See too in this connection Miln 102–7.

Omniscience or Sabbannuta Nana is one of six knowledges exclusive to a Sammasambuddha:

A Supreme Buddha possesses 6 kinds of knowledge not shared by
  others. These Incomparable Qualities are:

Asaya-anusaya Nana: Knowledge of the inclinations and
  latent/inherent tendencies of all beings.
Indriya-paropariyatti Nana: Knowledge of the mental faculties
  and their state of maturity in all beings.
Sabbannuta Nana: Knowledge of Omniscience and
  Omnipotence.
Anavarana Nana: Knowledge of penetrative clarity without
  obstruction i.e. unrestricted access to any objective field.
Yamaka Patihariya Nana: Knowledge of the Twin Miracle.
Maha Karuna Samapatti Nana: Knowledge of the attainment of
  Great Compassion by which He looks at the world

It means the ability to understand anything he sets his mind on, both in worldly sense and in ultimate reality. It works in association with another Nana called the Anavarana Nana, which is also one of the six. It means the knowledge of penetrative clarity without obstruction or unrestricted access to any objective field.

Omniscience is understood differently depending on one's school, capacity, and progress.

a primitive ("hinayana") understanding, is that omniscience literally means simultaneously knowing all facts about everything.
an orthodox Theravada explanation (as far as I understand it), is that omniscience is Buddha's unlimited/unobscured capacity to completely and properly understand/analyze anything and correctly reason about anything the Buddha adverts to or wishes to know. In modern terms this can be explained as a genius ad-hoc wit. In this view Buddha is somewhat like a super Sherlock Holmes who can deduce facts about people or events by noting and connecting even the smallest evidence. Particularly, this could be seen in Buddha's seeming ability to read people's minds or to know more about their lives than they publicized - and therefore to give customized guidance tailored to their perspective.
one Mahayana explanation, is that omniscience is direct insight into the true nature of things (referred to, but not exhaustively explained by, the term "emptiness"). To give a modern metaphor, Buddha knows how the videogame of life works, and even though he might not have literally visited all the infinite computationally generated universes, he has fully understood the principles by which the game works - and so in this sense there is nothing principally new in this videogame that he does not know. He knows the extent of what's possible, what's impossible, he clearly sees the winning strategy as well as the various false strategies that people pursue. Because of omniscience, playing the game is no longer fun for the Buddha but out of compassion Buddha stays in the game to help others.
a more advanced Mahayana perspective, is that omniscience is nothing other than prajna-paramita - which kind of subsumes both of the above. For more details see Conze's Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom.

Some quotes and research on Buddha's omniscience are available here and here.

What's the difference between the orthodox Theravada and the Mahayana explanation? The way you describe them, they seem identical. Isn't the ability to analyse and reason about anything the same as understanding of how the world works?

the difference is understanding the key principles (emptiness, flow of dharmas, accumulation of tendencies, the arising of discriminating mind) vs mere ad-hoc reasoning.

Generally [not particualrly] Theravadin speak of an all-knowingness that has little to  do with the omniscient mind as presented by  Mahayana teahcings.
A short 'definition' of omniscience, given by Geshe Gyaltsen:

The 'ultimate consciousness' that is the direct realization of
  emptiness and the 32 qualities - the ten powers, four fearlessness and
  eighteen unshared qualities - are parts of the omniscience, that is,
  they are omniscience. The 32 qualities are 32 branches of omniscience.

It means in particular, as found in Gyaltsab Je's commentary of the sublime continuum, Geshe Gyaltsen's teachings on this and on Tsongkhapa's Special Insight chapter of the Middle-Length Lam Rim:

the omniscient mind of a buddha is free from all defilements - free from the two obscurations - and thus its suchness is called 'suchness
  without defilements'  (nature truth body)
the omniscient mind of a buddha is the only one mind that realizes the two truths (or 'the mode and varieties') directly simultaneously.
  Whenever cnventionalities appear to a sentient being, they appear
  together with the appearance of true existence because sentient beings
  have not abandoned knowledge obscurations (even a bodhisattva on the
  tenth bhumi). A buddha is the only being free from this [type of]
  dualistic appearance
the omniscient mind of a buddha is free from conceptualization (and thus unmistaken)
the omniscient mind of a buddha knows all existent of the three times
the omniscient mind of a buddha realizes its object newly, that is by its own power
the omniscience knows all the different aspects of each of the disciples.

Omniscience is the 'wisdom truth body', one the two bodies of the dharmakaya. While the 'naturally abiding linage' (suchness with defilements) is that which is suitable to become the 'nature truth body', the 'developmental linage' is that which is suitable to become the 'wisdom truth body', the omniscient mind of a buddha.
Before actualizing fully qualified special insight, calm abiding and special insights are two different mind. At the fourth preparation on the access level, there is a union of calm abiding and special insight, whereby they become one and the same mind. In a similar fashion, the omniscient mind of a buddha is a non-conceptual great compassion, a non-conceptual bodhicitta, the exalted wisdom, etc. as one and the same mind.

Omniscience is discussed at length in:

Texts on Buddha nature, such as Maitreya’s Sublime Continuum: The Essence of a One Gone Thus, with Commentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen, and so forth.
Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Lam Rim or Great Lam Rim, chapter on Special Insight.
Maitreya's Ornament of Clear Realization: A Commentary on the Prajnaparamita.

The Buddha knew everything about what was essential to know. The Pali suttas say:

Those who mistake the unessential to be essential and the essential to be unessential, dwelling in wrong thoughts, never arrive
at the essential.

Those who know the essential to be essential and the unessential to be unessential, dwelling in right thoughts, do arrive at the
essential.

Dhammapada

Here, ruler of gods, a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to. When a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth adhering to, he directly knows everything; having directly known everything, he fully understands everything; having directly known everything, he fully understood everything...
MN 37

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Kosambi in a siṃsapa grove. Then the Blessed One took up a few siṃsapa leaves in his hand and addressed the bhikkhus thus: “What do you think, bhikkhus, which is more numerous: these few siṃsapa leaves that I have taken up in my hand or those in the siṃsapa grove overhead?”
“Venerable sir, the siṃsapa leaves that the Blessed One has taken up in his hand are few, but those in the siṃsapa grove overhead are numerous.”
“So too, bhikkhus, the things I have directly known but have not taught you are numerous, while the things I have taught you are few. And why, bhikkhus, have I not taught those many things? Because they are unbeneficial, irrelevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and do not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. Therefore I have not taught them.
“And what, bhikkhus, have I taught? I have taught: ‘This is suffering’; I have taught: ‘This is the origin of suffering’; I have taught: ‘This is the cessation of suffering’; I have taught: ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ And why, bhikkhus, have I taught this? Because this is beneficial, relevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and leads to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. Therefore I have taught this.
SN 56.31

The Buddha stated that it is not possible to be all-knowing all at once.
That means it is possible for the Buddha to know and understand all things if he tried to learn it, but not simultaneously. This means he has the capacity (the intelligence) to know all things, but it doesn't mean that he indeed knew all things.
From MN 90:

Then the king said to the Buddha, “I have heard, sir, that the ascetic
Gotama says this: ‘There is no ascetic or brahmin who will claim to be
all-knowing and all-seeing, to know and see everything without
exception: that is not possible.’ Do those who say this repeat what
the Buddha has said, and not misrepresent him with an untruth? Is
their explanation in line with the teaching? Are there any legitimate
grounds for rebuke and criticism?”
“Great king, those who say this do not repeat what I have said. They
misrepresent me with what is false and untrue.” ....
Then the king said to the Buddha, “Sir, might the Buddha have spoken
in reference to one thing, but that person believed it was something
else? How then do you recall making this statement?”
“Great king, I recall making this statement: ‘There is no ascetic or
brahmin who knows all and sees all simultaneously: that is not
possible.’”
“What the Buddha says appears reasonable.

But what kind of knowledge does the Buddha definitely possess? According to MN 71 quoted by santa100, he definitely possessed the three knowledges, and at the same time he denied complete omniscience.
As for knowledge apart from the three knowledges, the Buddha possessed the capacity to know and understand them, but he does not know them all at once.
However, much later tradition exaggerated the claims of the Buddha's omniscience, for e.g. Mil 6.2.8 and Mil 3.6.2. The Milindapanha was authored 400 to 700 years after the Buddha's passing away.
In Mil 6.2.8, Ven. Nagesena was asked why did the Buddha introduce the monastic rules little by little rather than altogether at once, since he was omniscient. He answered that although the Buddha knew all the monastic rules from the beginning, he did not want to scare people with too many rules, so he introduced new rules only when they were needed.
In Mil 3.6.2, Ven. Nagesena was asked the same question, but here he answered that a physician dispenses medicine only after the disease shows symptoms, even if he knew how to treat all diseases.
Mil 6.2.8 and Mil 3.6.2 make the same kind of excuses that was ridiculed in MN 76 (quoted below). So, I feel that it is not good to unnecessarily exaggerate claims about the Buddha, as it will put off intelligent people from learning the Buddha's teachings.

“Sandaka, take a certain teacher who claims to be all-knowing and
all-seeing, to know and see everything without exception, thus:
‘Knowledge and vision are constantly and continually present to me,
while walking, standing, sleeping, and waking.’ He enters an empty
house; he gets no alms-food; a dog bites him; he encounters a wild
elephant, a wild horse, and a wild cow; he asks the name and clan of a
woman or man; he asks the name and path to a village or town. When
asked, ‘Why is this?’ he answers: ‘I had to enter an empty house,
that’s why I entered it. I had to get no alms-food, that’s why I got
none. I had to get bitten by a dog, that’s why I was bitten. I had to
encounter a wild elephant, a wild horse, and a wild cow, that’s why I
encountered them. I had to ask the name and clan of a woman or man,
that’s why I asked. I had to ask the name and path to a village or
town, that’s why I asked.’
A sensible person reflects on this matter in this way: ‘This teacher
makes such a claim, but he answers in such a way. This spiritual life
is unreliable.’ Realizing this, they leave disappointed.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Different realms,Different beings,Different times - How do they understand what we are saying?
I have seen how some Sutras / Suttas start with an open invitation to many beings to come and hear the words of the Lord.
Now this makes sense as it was a teaching given by Lord Buddha to his followers.But now the times have changed "Pali" as a language is dead. It gave birth to many new languages and died in the process.
So today we say the same suttas and some keep it original and some use their own translation.

So how does the translation happen?

Is there any mentioning on how beings in different realms understand a single language, I mean even we don't use "Pali" now so how does it happen?

And there is another side to this too.

There are some really bad realms, like "Pretha" beings. They have only
suffering with the exception of few having some comforts like clothes and food.These beings have no way of learning, So how does it happen,
how do they understand the teaching when they come to hear it?

If you can,provide any Sutta / Sutra referance

But now the times have changed "Pali" as a language is dead.

Depends on how you define what "dead" means or, the language is dead to whom. To many Pali scholars like Ven. Bodhi, Ven. Thanissaro, Ven. Analayo, etc. Pali is very much alive and they constantly use it as the source reference to their sutta translation works. Thanks to the effort of many venerable scholars, the suttas have been translated to many different languages in the world. As we speak, there're monks and lay people around the world who are reciting the Tipitaka in Pali, English, French, German, etc. right now.

Is there any mentioning on how beings in different realms understand a single language, I mean even we don't use "Pali" now so how does it happen?

Depends on which realm it is. To the devas in the heavenly worlds, due to the great merits they've generated, many would possess supernatural powers to be able to communicate with humans (Ex: the conversation of the householder Citta with many devas in SN 41.10). If it's the lower realms, then it obviously much tougher due to the tremendous suffering and ignorance throughout these realms. The Buddha in MN 129 used a very famous simile to make the point:

The Buddha: Suppose a man threw into the sea a yoke with one hole in it, and the east wind carried it to the west, and the west wind carried it to the east, and the north wind carried it to the south, and the south wind carried it to the north. Suppose there were a blind turtle that came up once at the end of each century. What do you think, bhikkhus? Would that blind turtle put his neck into that yoke with one hole in it?”
The Bhikkhus:“He might, venerable sir, sometime or other at the end of a long period.”
The Buddha:“Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there is no practising of the Dhamma there, no practising of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There mutual devouring prevails, and the slaughter of the weak.

Yes a good answer indeed, nice example too.

Je Tsongkhapa. Middle-Length Lam Rim:

You should think about the very marvelous way in which any number of
  sentient beings in the world realms ask different questions all at
  once, yet he still apprehends them with the wisdom that possesses a
  single instant of mind and answers all the questions with a single
  utterance understood in their respective languages. In Chapter of the
  Truthful One it says:
"If thus all beings, in one single moment, Ask a
  question in many definitive words, His mind comprehends them in a
  single moment And answers them all with one melodious statement. Thus
  know that the melodious Brahma voice Of him who gives instructions
  rings forth in this world. He thoroughly set in motion the wheel of
  Dharma, Eradicating the suffering of gods and men."

The Chapter of the Truthful One (Skt. Satyaka-parivarta, Tib. bDen pa po'i le'u), is the  fourth chapter of the 'Arya-bodhisattva-gocaropaya-visaya-vikurvana-nirdesa-nama-mahayana-sûtra', 'The Noble Teaching through Manifestations on the Subject of Skillful Means in the Bodhisattva's Field of Activity'. This is a Mahayana Sutra consisting of a dialogue between the king and the wise Caṇḍapradyota Nirgrantha Satyaka, comprehending 12 chapters.


text:
Death vs Birth - Birth & Death of what?
Death - What dies with death?
Birth - What is born with birth?
Can you provide any Sutta / Sutra references.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn23/sn23.002.than.html

Perhaps a preamble to these question could be 'who/what is here in the present?'

@KaveengaWijayasekara Yes, it's a good version of an approach to this question. Would you mind adding an answer in that format?

Pretty solid book, Who Dies by Stephen Levine.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009CC6R7C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Death - What dies with death?
Every moment all the 5 aggregates arise and passes away. This can be viewed as momentarily death. Physical deaths (marana) is when the the 5 argerates pass away in one body and arise in another body leaving the residue of corporeal body (rupa) behind.
Clearing the Path by Ven. Ñānavīra further discusses this citations to Suttas. Some of the main citation are Mahā,nidāna Sutta and Nidāna Saṃyutta from the Tripitaka.
Also see: The Buddhist View of Death - An Interview with Bhante Gunaratana by Samaneri Sudhamma and Margot Born
Birth - What is born with birth?

Certainly, the start of life, at conception, is seen as involving the flux-of-consciousness, from a past life, entering the womb and, along with the requisite physical conditions, leading to the development of a new being in the womb:

'Were consciousness, Ananda, not to fall into the mother's womb, would mind-and-body (nama-rupa) be constituted there?' 'It would not, Lord'. 'Were consciousness, having fallen into the mother's womb, to turn aside from it, would mind-and-body come to birth in this present state?'. 'It would not, Lord.' (D. II. 62-3)

Source: The mind-body relationship in Pali Buddhism: A philosophical investigation, Peter Harvey
The quoted Sutta is: Mahā,nidāna Sutta

Can you provide any Sutta / Sutra references.

See above links. Also bibliography of Clearing the Path.
Also the following essay might be of interest: Death: An early Buddhist perspective by Piya Tan

This could be a (much) better answer if you would quote one or two relevant paragraphs from Clearing the Path.

Re. The Buddhist View of Death where they talk about "moment-to-moment death" ... is that a modern idea of "death" (i.e. of "what death is" or of "what it is that dies at death"), or is it mentioned in a sutta?

@ChrisW , As far as my understanding as a theravada Buddhist goes there is no such sutta that goes along with the "moment-to-moment death" concept that has become a very popular word. Though Lord Buddha did talked about the process of the mind and how it interact with the receptors of a body. I think this idea "moment-to-moment death" might be  a misinterpretation of that. Because death is death not the death of thoughts or body cells as i see it.

This is a loose translation of Utpada Vaya into english as your aggregates arise and pass away with physical death being just a special case of this where the aggregates pass away in one body and arise in another as the re births process.

@Theravada See also the answers to What does deathless mean?

I think "death" is often described/translation as "dissolution of the aggregates".
So I suppose it's the skandhas which "die" or come to an end, are impermanent.
This reference includes,

And, bhikkhus, what is death? The falling away from existence, the passing away from existence, the dissolution, the disappearance, the end of life, the passing away due to completion of the life-span, the breaking up of the Aggregates, the discarding of the body, the destruction of the life-faculty of various beings in various categories, — this, bhikkhus, is called death.

What dies or is born? What looks like death or birth is just the mind and body changing just like the mind and body are changing right now.
No-self dies , is born or changes.
There is no-self if one is having a near death experience or an out of body experience.

Conditioned (samsaric) phenomena are subject to birth and death.
It is their very nature to arise and pass away. Samsaric phenomena are compounded and conditioned. They have causes and effects and function as causes for other effects and vice versa.
Conditioned phenomena are in a constant flux. There is no stability or permanence. There is no solidity to be found anywhere. Break up and decay is bound to happen.
Actually, there is only the present moment. It arises and passes away.
One can verify that for oneself, by practicing insight meditation and thereby experience how mental and physical phenomena arise and pass away incessantly.
There is birth and death every moment. A sound, a smell, a feeling, a sight, a taste, a mental formation (e.g. the notion/concept of a body or a Self) arises and passes away constantly.

Birth - What is born with birth?

What arises must eventually pass away, due to the fact that it arose in the first place. Something that comes into existence must also fall away.

"Now, bhikkhus, do ageing and death have birth as condition or not, or how do you take it in this case?
Ageing and death have birth as condition, venerable sir."
-- MN 38: Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta, Bodhi Trans.

Death - What dies with death?

These are the the Buddhas words:

"The passing of beings out of the various orders of beings, their passing away, dissolution, disappearance, dying, completion of time, dissolution of the aggregates, laying down of the body - this is called death".
-- MN 9: Sammaditthi Sutta, Bodhi Trans.


text:
Sleep - What about it?
What are the proper relax / Sleep practices for a practitioner of meditation methods?
As to Buddhist point of view what is sleep and how to cope with it?

Why did you add (what was your reason for adding) the sutras/suttas tags to this question?

Because i wanted to find any Sutta reference that might deal with close subject matter @ChrisW

Are you looking for answer from all Traditions?

yes,As you advised me before :-)

Read Mettanisamsa Sutta. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an11/an11.016.piya.html

What are the proper relax / Sleep practices for a practitioner of meditation methods?

If you do Metta meditation before sleeping you are better off, as one benefit of Metta is you sleep well. ((Aṭṭha) Mettânisansa Sutta, (Ekā,dasa) Mettânisansa Sutta)

As to Buddhist point of view what is sleep and how to cope with it?

This is when your Bhavanga is active and the revolutions of the Dependent Origination cycles has momentarily stopped. (The Doctrine of Paticcasamuppada - The Law Of Independent Origination - By U Than Daing, page 32). An essay "The Unconscious" by Piya Tan discusses action action that done when sleeping.
--
Thoughts of others on the subject of sleep:
On deep sleep and bhavanga:

The idea of an underlying skilful base to the mind is developed further in the
  Abhidhamma, which analyses the constituents of consciousness in detail. For a
  human rebirth to have occurred, the bhavakga, or consciousness to which the
  mind returns at rest, is skilful, whether with the two roots of non-greed and nonhatred,
  or more usually, with three roots, of wisdom, non-greed and non-hatred.
  This consciousness will be present whenever the mind enters bhavakga, either
  momentarily at the end of each thought-process, or during deep sleep. For all born
  as humans, the state of bhavakga is a reflection of the skilful state of mind that
  must have been present at the moment of death as a governing factor for the
  relinking consciousness. It is passive, however, and this predisposition needs
  active cultivation during waking life. Only when skilful consciousness is present
  during daily life, or during meditation, does the mind become actively bright and
  radiant. According to the theory this happens, for instance, at the moment of
  giving, of being alert and interested or when practising jhana: the active part of
  the thought-process ( javana) is then free from defilements. Those practising
  meditation are ‘bringing into being’ a consciousness which is thought to be a kind
  of birthright, but which needs cultivation. In Buddhist countries the human realm
  is considered particularly important for spiritual work. Birth in heaven realms is
  pleasant but lacks the suffering to encourage spiritual work; the realms of
  animals, ghosts and hell beings are considered far too painful for the path, and it
  is difficult, though not impossible, for such beings to find a skilful rebirth. It is
  said that the Buddha always has a human birth as his last existence after many
  lifetimes spent preparing to teach others. One sutta compares rebirth in a hell
  realm as entering into a pit of coals, that of a heaven realm to a stay in a luxurious
  mansion. The human realm, however, is like a man sitting in the shade of a
  tree in a hot climate, also the classic conditions for the practice of meditation
  (see M I 76–7).

Source: Buddhist Meditation: An anthology from the Pali canon, by Sarah Shaw
On reduced need of sleep for meditations

Similarly, when you go to bed at night, close your eyes and feel sensation anywhere within the body. If you fall asleep with this awareness, naturally as soon as you wake up in the morning, you will be aware of sensation. Perhaps you may not sleep soundly, or you may even remain fully awake throughout the night. This is wonderful, provided you stay lying in bed and maintain awareness and equanimity. The body will receive the rest it needs, and there is no greater rest for the mind than to remain aware and equanimous. However, if you start worrying that you are developing insomnia, then you will generate tensions, and will feel exhausted the next day. Nor should you forcefully try to stay awake, remaining in a seated posture all night; that would be going to an extreme. If sleep comes, very good; sleep. If sleep does not come, allow the body to rest by remaining in a recumbent position, and allow the mind to rest by remaining aware and equanimous.

...

Firstly, you will need less time for sleep.

The Discourse Summaries
Mental impurities inducing sleepiness:

Another enemy is laziness, drowsiness. All night you slept soundly, and yet when you sit to meditate, you feel very sleepy. This sleepiness is caused by your mental impurities, which would be driven out by the practice of Vipassana, and which therefore try to stop you from meditating. You must fight to prevent this enemy from overpowering you. Breathe slightly hard, or else get up, sprinkle cold water on your eyes, or walk a little, and then sit again.

The Discourse Summaries
On involuntary action during sleep:

Unconscious actions are, however, still regarded as morally motivated, but should be
  understood to differ from involuntary actions or reactions. Sue Hamilton, for example, discusses the
  possibility of involuntary reactions and how it is accounted for:

I have suggested that if one is not conscious of a sound then one has not heard it. We
    can, however, sometimes react ―involuntarily‖ to a sound without being conscious of it: in sleep,
    for example, a loud sound can cause one to make a movement even if there is absolutely no consciousness
    of the sound at all. We also experience peripheral awareness which we do not seem to
    be conscious of. We regularly avoid obstacles in our path while our attention is wholly elsewhere,
    for example. Though such experiences of peripheral awareness might indicate the minimal level
    to which consciousness of, or awareness, operates, this question is not explicitly dealt with in the
    Sutta Piaka. Nor is the experience of involuntary reactions explained. This is a significant omission
    because involuntary reactions such as wet dreams became the subject of controversy in the
    early Buddhist sangha: if they are unconscious, do they constitute a volition with moral implications?

Source: The Unconscious
Though not in a Buddhist perspective this course also might be of some interest: Sleep: Neurobiology, Medicine, and Society

I have tried doing so while training 10 days course, Till the time I am lying facing the ceiling, I never sleep, as soon as I change body towards my left, I am sleeping. So should one practice sleeping in a straight posture while lying down?

Monks, eleven advantages are to be expected from the release (deliverance) of heart by familiarizing oneself with thoughts of loving-kindness (metta), by the cultivation of loving-kindness, by constantly increasing these thoughts, by regarding loving-kindness as a vehicle (of expression), and also as something to be treasured, by living in conformity with these thoughts, by putting these ideas into practice, and by establishing them. What are the eleven?

"He sleeps in comfort. 2. He awakes in comfort. 3. He sees no evil dreams. 4. He is dear to human beings. 5. He is dear to non-human beings. 6. Devas (gods) protect him. 7. Fire, poison, and sword cannot touch him. 8. His mind can concentrate quickly. 9. His countenance is serene. 10. He dies without being confused in mind. 11. If he fails to attain arahantship (the highest sanctity) here and now, he will be reborn in the brahma-world.

(Mettanisamsa Sutta)

As Suminda wrote in his answer, eleven benefits of freedom of mind through metta are listed by the Buddha, among them:

"One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams."
  --AN 11.16

More generally, the Buddha has said he sleeps at ease even in unpleasant circumstances because he abandoned craving, aversion and delusion (AN 3.34).
He also said about monks in training:

"These three things lead to the falling away of a monk in training. Which three? There is the case where a monk in training enjoys activity, delights in activity, is intent on his enjoyment of activity. He enjoys chatter, delights in chatter, is intent on his enjoyment of chatter. He enjoys sleep, delights in sleep, is intent on his enjoyment of sleep. These are the three things that lead to the falling away of a monk in training.
"These three things lead to the non-falling away of a monk in training. Which three? There is the case where a monk in training doesn't enjoy activity, doesn't delight in activity, isn't intent on his enjoyment of activity. He doesn't enjoy chatter, doesn't delight in chatter, isn't intent on his enjoyment of chatter. He doesn't enjoy sleep, doesn't delight in sleep, isn't intent on his enjoyment of sleep. These are the three things that lead to the non-falling away of a monk in training."
-- Iti 3.30

In AN 7.58 the Buddha instructs Ven. Maha Moggallana on how to overcome his drowsiness:

"Well then, Moggallana, whatever perception you have in mind when drowsiness descends on you, don't attend to that perception, don't pursue it. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then recall to your awareness the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it, re-examine it & ponder it over in your mind. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then repeat aloud in detail the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then pull both your earlobes and rub your limbs with your hands. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then get up from your seat and, after washing your eyes out with water, look around in all directions and upward to the major stars & constellations. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then attend to the perception of light, resolve on the perception of daytime, [dwelling] by night as by day, and by day as by night. By means of an awareness thus open & unhampered, develop a brightened mind. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then — percipient of what lies in front & behind — set a distance to meditate walking back & forth, your senses inwardly immersed, your mind not straying outwards. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.
"But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then — reclining on your right side — take up the lion's posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with your mind set on getting up. As soon as you wake up, get up quickly, with the thought, 'I won't stay indulging in the pleasure of lying down, the pleasure of reclining, the pleasure of drowsiness.' That is how you should train yourself.

His last advice above is a general instruction on how to sleep and how the Buddha himself is described sleeping. He also describes elsewhere (AN 4.37) how a monk is "devoted to wakefulness":

"And how is a monk devoted to wakefulness? There is the case where a monk during the day, sitting & pacing back & forth, cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. During the first watch of the night, sitting & pacing back & forth, he cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. During the second watch of the night, reclining on his right side, he takes up the lion's posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with his mind set on getting up [either as soon as he awakens or at a particular time]. During the last watch of the night, sitting & pacing back & forth, he cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. This is how a monk is devoted to wakefulness.

Those seem decidedly anti sleep: from AN 7.58 especially it seems as if sleep is a last resort; and AN 4.37 recommends sleeping neither during the day nor during watches of the night? Do monks (or people who practice properly) therefore become (relative to other people) relatively sleep-deprived? Is that an austere practice? I can no longer find the reference but I think I remember reading the Dalai Lama being fairly enthusiastic about sleep being beneficial, describing it as restorative and essential for "sanity" and health (and going to sleep between 20:30 and 21:00, and getting up at 4:00).

I don't know of any specific discourses to lay people on this subject. Also, I think Ven. Moggallana's case is because he was nodding too much. My personal take on this is that sleep is kind of an obstacle for monks, hence doing it as little as possible -- but ideally not to the point of sleep deprivation, which would just make one more tired and drowsy, thus, counter-productive to the practice. More like a general attitude towards it to avoid delighting in it: "Get up! Sit up! What's your need for sleep, and what sleep is there for the afflicted, pierced by the arrow, oppressed?" -- Sn 2.10

@ChrisW I think AN 4.37 is saying that one should sleep in the lion's posture during the second watch of the night

There's a little about sleep in the Q&A towards the end of A Still Forest Pool by Ajahn Chah,

Q: What about sleep? How much should I sleep?
A: Don't ask me, I can't tell you. What's important, though, is that you watch and know yourself. If you try to go with too little sleep, the body will feel uncomfortable, and mindfulness will be difficult to sustain. Too much sleep, on the other hand, leads to a dull or restless mind. Find the natural balance for yourself. Carefully watch the mind and body, and keep track of sleep needs until you find the optimum. To wake up and then roll over for a snooze is defilement. Establish mindfulness as soon as your eyes open.
As for sleepiness, there are many ways to overcome it. If you are sitting in the dark, move to a lighted place. Open your eyes. Get up and wash or slap your face, or take a bath. If you are sleepy, change postures. Walk a lot. Walk backwards. The fear of running into things will keep you awake. If this fails, stand still, clear the mind, and imagine it's broad daylight. Or sit on the edge of a high cliff or deep well. You won't dare sleep! If nothing works, then just go to sleep. Lie down carefully, and try to be aware until the moment you fall asleep. Then as soon as you awaken, get right up.

I read earlier that monasteries have a 6-hour-per-night sleep time scheduled (which is slightly less than the current lay tradition of "8 hours").

Why do Buddhist monks sleep so little?
Received wisdom in the West is that eight hours is optimal. But monks in Korea choose to get about six hours a night, day in, day out. Why?

Some people answering that question say it's possible because monks go to deep sleep quickly (so they use those 6 hours thoroughly), and the meditation they do during the day is comparatively restful.

Actually it 4h if done perfect, the second watch of the night [10 p.m. to 2 a.m.] "And how is the disciple of the noble ones devoted to wakefulness?", Upasaka Chris. The 13sth Dudong practice abstains for sleeping (lying) totally.

As to Buddhist point of view what is sleep and how to cope with it?
According to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep,

All of our experience, including dream, arises from ignorance.

Then, he goes further:

This sequence of experiences shows us something about karmic traces.
  When the man was young, he reacted to the fighting in his home with fear,
  anger, and hurt. He felt aversion toward the fighting, a normal response, and
  this aversion left a trace in his mind. Decades later he passes a house and hears fighting; this is the secondary condition that stimulates the old karmic trace, which manifests in a dream that night.
In the dream, the man reacts to the dream-partner's provocation with feelings of anger and hurt. This response is governed by the karmic traces that were collected in his mental consciousness as a child and that have probably been reinforced many times since. When the dream-partner who is wholly a projection of the man's mind provokes him, his reaction is aversion, just as when he was a child. The aversion that he feels in the dream is the new action that creates a new seed. When he wakes he is stuck in the negative emotions that are the fruit of prior karmas; he feels estranged and withdrawn from his partner. To complicate matters further, the partner reacts from her karmically determined habitual tendencies, perhaps becoming short-tempered, withdrawn, apologetic, or subservient, and the man again reacts negatively, sowing yet another karmic seed.

All has to do with karmic traces:

All samsaric experience is shaped by karmic traces. Moods, thoughts, emotions, mental images, perceptions, instinctive reactions, "common sense," and even our sense of identity are all governed by the workings of karma. For example, you may wake up feeling depressed. [...] There may be a
  hundred reasons for this depression to occur on this particular morning, and it may manifest in a myriad of ways. It may also manifest during the night as a dream.
In dream, the karmic traces manifest in consciousness unfettered by the
  rational mind with which we so often rationalize away a feeling or a fleeting
  mental image. We can think of the process like this: during the day the
  consciousness illuminates the senses and we experience the world, weaving
  sensory and psychic experiences into the meaningful whole of our life. At night the consciousness withdraws from the senses and resides in the base. If we have developed a strong practice of presence with much experience of the empty, luminous nature of mind, then we will be aware of and in this pure, lucid awareness. But for most of us the consciousness illuminates the obscurations, the karmic traces, and these manifest as a dream.

Finally:

In dream yoga, this understanding of karma is used to train the mind to react differently to experience, resulting in new karmic traces from which are generated dreams more conducive to spiritual practice. It is not about force, about the consciousness acting imperially to oppress the unconscious. Dream yoga relies instead upon increased awareness and insight to allow us to make positive choices in life. Understanding the dynamic structure of experience and the consequences of actions leads to the recognition that every experience of any kind is an opportunity for spiritual practice.
Dream practice also gives us a method of burning the seeds of future karma
  during the dream. If we abide in awareness during a dream, we can allow the
  karmic traces to self-liberate as they arise and they will not continue on to
  manifest in our life as negative states. As in waking life, this will only happen if we can remain in the non-dual awareness of rigpa, the clear light of the mind. If this is not possible for us, we can still develop tendencies to choose spiritually positive behavior even in our dreams until we can go beyond preferences and dualism altogether.
Ultimately, when we purify the obscurations until none remain, there is no
  film, no hidden karmic influences that color and shape the light of our
  consciousness. Because karmic traces are the roots of dreams, when they arc
  entirely exhausted only the pure light of awareness remains: no movie, no story, no dreamer and no dream, only the luminous fundamental nature that is
  absolute reality. This is why enlightenment is the end of dreams and is known
  as "awakening."

According to the sutta below, it is one's state of mind which determines one's quality of sleep and not the comfort of the bed and bedroom.
By eliminating or reducing greed/ lust, hatred/ aversion and delusion, one could improve his or her quality of sleep, and enjoy good sleep as the Buddha does.
From AN 3.35:

“Yes, prince, I slept well. I am one of those who sleep well in the world.

“Well then, prince, I’ll ask you about this in return, and you can
answer as you like. What do you think? Take the case of a householder
or his son, who lives in a bungalow, plastered inside and out,
draft-free, with latches fastened and windows shuttered. His couch is
spread with woolen covers—shag-piled, pure white, or embroidered with
flowers—and spread with a fine deer hide. It has a canopy above and
red pillows at both ends. An oil lamp is burning there, while his four
wives attend to him in all manner of agreeable ways. What do you
think, prince, would he sleep well, or not? Or how do you see this?”
“He would sleep well, sir. Of those who sleep well in the world, he
would be one.”
“What do you think, prince? Is it not possible that a fever born of
greed—physical or mental—might arise in that householder or
householder’s son, burning him so he sleeps badly?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The greed that burns that householder or householder’s son, making
them sleep badly, has been cut off at the root by the Realized One,
made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the
future. That’s why I sleep well.
What do you think, prince? Is it not possible that a fever born of
hate … or a fever born of delusion—physical or mental—might arise in
that householder or householder’s son, burning him so he sleeps
badly?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The delusion that burns that householder or householder’s son, making
them sleep badly, has been cut off at the root by the Realized One,
made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the
future. That’s why I sleep well.


text:
Do predatory animals gain bad karma?
To my understanding, the killing of any animal will produce bad karma to whoever or whatever it committed the murder. For humans, I can understand that we have the power to go vegan and let animals be by themselves, it is our nature. But for predatory animals, their instinct is that they must kill for food. If they don't, they simply can't go vegan, they are going to die.
So do predatory animals get bad karma for killing, a natural instinct for survival?

It looks like similar/same questions have been asked before Do lions create bad kamma for their next life when they kill? and Do the same rules of Karma apply to animals? Is there any deficit to those answers there?

Yes. Since the question is reasoning from the point of a belief in the realms, I'll answer it as one.
In the realm of animals, it is difficult to earn good karma since it is assumed that animals life brutish lives of killing and savagery.  In Tibetan Buddhism, contemplating how lucky we are to be human where it is possible to practice Buddhism is a fundamental practice. In a typical contemplation, the unfortunate lot of the animals is a common theme.
As a side note from someone who sees the realms as myth and not necessarily the most valuable ones, I would speculate that if we were, say rather smart cats, and the Buddha were a cat, then we still could choose to eat fewer animals, be more humane in their raising and slaughter, or slowly switch from animals to plants. My own cat eats an omnivore diet, a product of how pet food is sold in the US. He eat enough corn gluten that when I'm eating corn, he wants to eat it. Cats are poorly adapted to a vegan diet, but do fine on an omnivore diet.
In biology, omnivores, carnivores and herbivores often evolve into a different category, although they ordinarily only make one jump at a time, from carnivore to omnivore, then to herbivore.


text:
Saying Grace before meals
When I was in rehab (15 years ago) I was at a Camp Hill community. It wasn't really that helpful for my drug problem. Maybe I wasn't ready at the time and because I don't believe in God, I had a lot of resistance to the antroposofic cosmology. Also, Camp Hill is very hierarchic and not really a drug treatment program; it's for mentally disabled people. I find Buddhist meditation practices on non-self, suffering and impermanence much more helpful.
What I did like about Camp Hill was that we always had a little prayer before meals. When I am about to eat, I very often wish I could have some kind of Saying Grace that could express gratitude (I don't know if 'Saying Grace' is the right term, in Norwegian it's called "table prayer").
Does anybody know any Buddhist prayers like that? It's not so important what tradition it comes from.

When I was in rehab (15 years ago) I was at a Camp Hill community. It wasn't really that helpful for my drug problem. Maybe I wasn't ready at the time and because I don't believe in God, I had a lot of resistance to the antroposofic cosmology. Also, Camp Hill is very hierarchic and not really a drug treatment program; it's for mentally disabled people. I find Buddhist meditation practices on non-self, suffering and impermanence much more helpful.

There is a perfect example from S.N. Goenka's life itself where he got a migraine which was incurable and later developed some addiction to thee painkillers he was taking. But with an introduction to Vipassana meditation he overcame the migraine (which was psychosomatic) as well as the addiction to painkillers. This is like you case where you found Vipassana meditation helpful. To continuously reap the benefits, the best is that you continue your practice, and regularly be on check to see if you are practicing the correct way.

What I did like about Camp Hill was that we always had a little prayer before meals. When I am about to eat, I very often wish I could have some kind of Saying Grace that could express gratitude (I don't know if 'Saying Grace' is the right term, in Norwegian it's called "table prayer").

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. What you call the practice is immaterial. Also this seems to have a +ve psychological effect on you, hence it will be worthwhile to continue.

Does anybody know any Buddhist prayers like that? It's not so important what tradition it comes from.

At least in Theravada Buddhism we do not have giving grace as a practice, but gratitude is very important concept. Finding time to do this before a meal is very positive, as you will always pratice this at a specific time and regularly. When you do not have fixed time and schedule the tendency is to procrastinate and also it will be irregular. This being a +ve practice and also having a +ve impact on you it is best to keep it up.
Keep up the good thing you are doing and also try cultivating good thing that you are not!

In the monastery I live, we are taught to bless the food by way of offering it, before each meal (or even before simply drinking a glass of water, tea, coffee or so).
The short Tibetan version goes:
Tönpa la mä sangye rinpoche
Kyobpa la mä dam chö rinpoche
Dren pa la mä gendün rinpoche
Kyab nä kön chok sum la chö par bül
Its English translation goes:
To the precious Buddha, the unsurpassable teacher,
To the precious Dharma, the unsurpassable protection,
To the precious Sangha, the unsurpassable guides—
To you, the three rare and supreme sources of refuge, I offer.
It is what we recite (just once, no need for thee recitations) when we have no time (or no heart to take the time). Usually, we recite this short version in the context of 'blessing, offering the food during puja' or when we eat outside of the monastery. An even shorter version for lazy people like me consists in saying "Om Ah Hum" three times.

We also have a longer (clearly Mahayana) version. It is the one we recite every day before the communal lunch:
Om Ah Hum (3x)
Compassionate Lord,
All-knowing Guide,
Field of merit and ocean of qualities,
Tathagata, to you I pay homage.
Through purity free of attachment,
Through virtue free of the lower realms,
Uniquely ultimate supreme,
Peaceful Dharma, to you I pay homage.
Showing the path which frees those seeking freedom,
Well established in the trainings,
Pure among fields possessing qualities:
To the Sangha, I also pay homage.
To the principal Buddha homage.
The Dharma, which protects homage.
To the Sangha assembly homage.
Homage to the three always.
The qualities of Buddha are inconceivable.
The qualities of the Dharma are inconceivable.
The Arya Sangha are inconceivable.
Through generating faith in the inconceivable,
The karmic ripening result will also be inconceivable:
May we be born in the pure realm.
To the precious Buddha, peerless guide,
To the precious Dharma, peerless refuge,
To the precious Sangha, peerless liberators:
We offer to the three jewels of refuge.
This food with a hundred of flavours,
Which  is mouth-watering and well made,
To the Conqueror and his children we offer with faith.
By this, may all migrators become wealthy,
And enjoy the food of concentration.
Seeing this food as medicine,
We eat it without attachment or hatred,
Not to have an enviable body, not out of pride,
Not to look strong, only to sustain the body.
Through the connection of making charity
To the sentient beings living in my body,
May they become human beings and I will reveal to them the
Dharma and lead them to enlightenment.
For this purpose I am going to enjoy this food.

Buddhists in Asian countries have a practice of offering the best portion of the meal before noon to the Buddha before they start eating.
You can also show your gratitude to your parents/wife/friends who prepared it.
More importantly, you can practice Satipattana while eating

Kayanupassana: mixing, moving(hand), opening(mouth), putting(food in mouth), chewing etc.
Vedananupassana: pleasant/unpleasant(taste)
Cittanupassana: thinking(if the mind strays)
Dhammanupassana: liking/disliking(the taste)

At the Zen monastery I have visited a couple times, those present say a Meal Gatha prior to eating:

First, seventy-two labors brought us this food,
  We should know how it comes to us.
  Second, as we receive this offering,
  We should consider
  Whether our virtue and practice deserve it.
  Third, as we desire the natural order of mind,
  To be free from clinging,
  We must be free from greed.
  Fourth, to support our life, we receive this food.
  Fifth, to realize the way, we accept this food.
First, this food is for the Three Treasures.
  Second, it is for our teachers, parents, nation,
  And all sentient beings.
  Third, it is for all beings in the six worlds.
  Thus, we eat this food with everyone.
  We eat to stop all evil, to practice good,
  To save all sentient beings,
  And to accomplish our Buddha Way.

Another site says that the first part of the gatha above is from Dogen, and suggests it is widely used in Zen.
This gatha, suggested by Thich Nhat Hanh, is one possible alternative:

This food is the gift of the whole universe, the earth, the sky, and much hard work. May we be worthy to receive it. May we transform unskillful states of mind, especially the habit of eating without moderation. May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. We accept this food to realize the path of understanding and love.

Sōtō zen rituals for meals: see this doument and also this page for more details. Here are the verses:
Verse upon Hearing the Meal Signal

Buddha was born in Kapilavastu,
  enlightened in Magadha,
  taught in Varanasi,
  entered nirvana in Kushinagara.

Verse for Setting Out Bowls

Now we set out Buddha's bowls;
  may we, with all living beings,
  realize the emptiness of the three wheels:
  giver, receiver, and gift.

Ten Buddha Names

In the midst of the Three Treasures
  which verify our understanding,
  entrusting ourselves to the sangha,
  we recall:
  Vairochana Buddha,
  pure Dharmakaya;
  Lochana Buddha,
  complete Sambhogakaya;
  Shakyamuni Buddha,
  myriad Nirmanakaya;
  Maitreya Buddha, of future birth;
  All buddhas
  throughout space and time;
  Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahayana sutra.
  Manjushri Bodhisattva,
  great wisdom;
  Samantabhadra Bodhisattva,
  great activity;
  Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
  great compassion;
  All honored ones,
  bodhisattvas, mahasattvas;
  Wisdom beyond wisdom,
  maha-prajnaparamita.

Food Offering Verses [At breakfast]

This morning meal of ten benefits
  nourishes us in our practice.
  Its rewards are boundless,
  filling us with ease and joy.

[At lunch]

The three virtues and six tastes of this meal
  are offered to buddha and sangha.
  May all sentient beings in the universe
  be equally nourished.

Verse of Five Contemplations

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.
  We reflect on our virtue and practice, and whether we are worthy of this offering.
  We regard greed as the obstacle to freedom of mind.
  We regard this meal as medicine to sustain our life.
  For the sake of enlightenment we now receive this food.

Verse of Food for Spirits

Oh spirits, we now give you an offering;
  this food is for all of you in the ten directions.

Bowl Raising Verse

First, this is for the Three Treasures;
  next, for the four benefactors;
  finally, for the beings in the six realms.
  May all be equally nourished.
The first portion is to end all evil;
  the second is to cultivate every good;
  the third is to free all beings.
  May everyone realize the Buddha Way.

Verse of the Rinse Water

The water with which we wash our bowls
  tastes like ambrosia.
  We offer it to the many spirits;
  may they be satisfied.
  On ma ku ra sai so wa ka.

Verse of Purity While Abiding in the World

Abiding in this ephemeral world
  like a lotus in muddy water,
  the mind is pure and goes beyond.
  Thus we bow to Buddha.

Fo Guan Shan (also Mahayana; Pure Land / Ch'an) day to day rituals for the beginning and ending of meal: 養 供 咒 (meal offering; before the meal) and 向 回 (dedication of merit; after the meal) 1:
Meal offering:

Now we render this offerings to the Pure Dharma-body Vairochana Buddha;
To the Perfect Reward-body Nishyanda Buddha;
To the myriad transformation-body Shakyamuni Buddha;
In the Land of ultimate bliss, to Amitabha Buddha;
To Maitraya honored future Buddha;
And to all times and places to each and every Buddha;
To Manjusri Great Wisdom Bodhisattva;
To Universal Worthy Great Conduct Boddhisattva;
To Kwan Shr Yin Great Compassion Bodhisattva;
To Earth Treasury King Great Vow Bodhisattva;
And to all Honored Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas;
Maha prajna paramita!

Dedication of merit:

Homage to the Seven Myriads of Fully Awakened Ones! It goes thus:
“Oṃ! To the mover, the destroyer, Cundi! Hail!”
  Behold, the donors will certainly receive their merit,
  Giving for the sake of happiness, one will be awarded with inner peace,
  Now the meal has been completed, we vow that all sentient beings,
  Complete all that is to be done, becoming endowed with the Buddha Dharmas.

1: check this document for these and other verses and this video for how the verses are chanted.

I always make it a point to thank the cook and those involved in preparing the meal.
In gatherings, I do this immediately after others thank imaginary beings, since I kind of feel that my wife should get credit for actually doing the work!
I think it's appropriate and culture-neutral to make "words" more like a toast, and nominate that we reflect on our current situations and recognise achivements of those present.

Yes. I am fortunate to have a partner cooking wondrous meals for me every day and always thank her after meals. I always try to recognize those present also when it comes to helping them in any way I can. I think sometimes (Mahayana) Buddhist practice can be a little too expansive in the "compassion for all sentient beings", forgetting what's actually here and now. Still, I also wanted a more general way to express gratitude - which I got. Thanks

Hi John, welcome to Buddhism.SE (we've sort of met before on optimax and sdforum).

Hi @ChrisW.  My wife's family has a Buddhist cultural background, similar to how people in the US have a Christian heritage.  I've been to the Temple of Heaven :)


text:
Dream journal - what to focus on?
My partner has practiced a lot of lucid dreaming. She is good at it, I'm not. All in all, I'm a conceptual, low level beginner not yet recovered from too many years of academics.
I sleep 7 hours every night, and as I've gotten all the intoxicants out of my system (I'm referring to chemistry here, not Kant and Plato) I remember my dreams! I've read about lucid dreaming a bit, and understand it's vital to keep a dream journal.
Does anyone have tips/own experience on what's best to focus on in such a journal? I've asked my partner, but she gets a bit impatient with me.

AFAIK dream-yoga is only practiced in context of Tibetan Buddhism, otherwise this would be off topic. I think answers from other schools would be merely opinion-based.

I thought so too, but Allan Wallace is talking about it in connection with shamata in general; in his book Attention Revolution. He is from the Tibetan trd, sure, but in this book he seems to recommend practicing dream attention more generally, but unfortunately he's not very specific about (what should be) the focus of dream journals

Lucid Dreaming and The Dream Journal.
A Dream Journal is actually quite simple to use.
First of all you need some material, i.e. Dreams.
After weeks or months, depending on your dream activity and the ability to remember your dreams, you should have sufficient material to begin analyzing your dream-material.
Next step is to look for patterns. All people have different patterns that occur in the majority of their dreams. One pattern could be "action". Some people have dreams that are action-packed and very vivid. Others have dreams that are very realistic, while others have dreams that are no near realistic. Each have their own dream-pattern.
You want to find these patterns through studying your dreams. Get to know these patterns as your own back pocket. In time and with practice, these patterns will become lucid-dream-triggers. When you know them very well and they occur in a dream of yours, you will realize them and become aware/lucid in the dream.
That step might take a while so don't become discouraged at first. Every morning when you wake up, write down as much as you remember from your dreams. Have a pen and a journal at your bed table or close by. When you wake up, dont move. Stay frozen for some minutes and lie with closed eyes. That will make it easier for you to remember more details from your dreams.
The great thing about this is that the more you write down, the more details you can remember from your dreams. Soon you will remember 2 dreams, then 3, then 4-5 or 7 dreams when you wake up in the morning. When you have enough material, then begin analyzing.
Do yourself a favor and have at least some weeks of material. That will make it easier to find patterns the dreams. When you find patterns, write them down separately and get to know them. They will be unique, just like a fingerprint.
Lucid Dreaming and the relation to Buddhist Practice.
How can this then be used in Buddhist practice?
In Theravada Buddhism, one can use the dream-state to deepen ones practice.
If one is practicing the WILD technique (see also Tibetan Methods), i.e. entering the dream-state from waking-state, one can continously observe conditioned phenomena as they arise and pass away. Why is that important?
Because the stages before falling asleep, exactly mirrors the stages of dying. There is the possibility to gain some deep insights here. Also to sneak-preview and prepare for the moment of Death. Meditating while going from waking-state into the dream-state gives the opportunity to continue to practice even while the body sleeps.
Let me end with a quote from Tibetan Buddhism, by Shugchang.

"In order to make the time we spend dreaming more meaningful, we must first recognize that we are dreaming. That is the initial exercise. The next step is called transforming the dream; the third is known as multiplying. The fourth practice is to unify the dream with the clear light. Recognizing, transforming, multiplying and unifying the dream with the luminosity of the true nature; these four outline the essential applications of dream yoga."

Can you tie this with Buddhism a bit more?

Of course. I have updated the answer. What do you think?

I think now it looks a bit better.

Great, let me know if further improvements are needed:)

Great advice to lie still and try to remember. Just this morning I was noticing that my dream patterns tend to be: 1) travelling from place to place, 2) conversing with people. And that is about 90% of what happens that I can recall. The journal is interesting because years later you can re-read and you have either forgotten, forgot but can recall, or you recall and have new insights. Just like any journal, these are all valuable. Dreams show the tendencies and motivations of the Basic Self (Psychology term). Dozing and rewaking after you have woken is an easy way to get more insight.

Any meditation technique will not have the same effect on two individuals. Each individuals is sum total your previous Fabrications and our past habits. Also our temperaments are different.
Say we have been practicing a certain meditation in your past lives also. In this life also it does become very easy to pick up.
Also our temperament can decide on which meditation subject can work. E.g. in traditional Theravada Buddhism there 40 Kammaṭṭhāna which are segregated by temperament as each is designed to counteract a particular type of polarity of the individual's temperament. If you give a wrongly matched subject the effects will not be the same.
Also the our past fabrication set us apart. Two people with the same temperament and very close habits can have two different experiences due to our past karmic buildup. Even for a single individual two different session the experience will be different since the effective karma as well as the sub total of karma from the previous session has changed.
Many meditation centres you are not allowed to discuss experiences with other than the teacher as others will crave and what experiences others are having.
So the following comparisons are futile:

Between individuals
Between pratice sessions

Does anyone have tips/own experience on what's best to focus on in such a journal?

There is a book called Conscious Dreaming that has many really pro tips on successful dream journaling.  Here is a small list of tips, some from that book and some from my own experience.

Return to the position your body was in while you were actively engaged in a dream, and your recall of the dream can be better.
Be on the lookout for reality-oddities in your dreams that trigger your knowledge that "dreaming is happening."  One such technique that ended up serendipitously working well for me personally was dying my hair blue in waking life, seeing my reflection in a mirror in a dream, and noticing non-blue hair, thus triggering the lucid catalyst dynamic whereupon one becomes entity and environment.
In line with the above, dye your hair in waking life to some funky color.
Definitely do breathing exercises and stretches for your whole body before sleeping, or at least at some point in the day.  Think wind channels.
Perhaps the most important point, kept for the bottom of the list: set a strong intention or motivation as you ramp up your going-to-bed process.  It could be like in the above, where @Lanka mentioned the dream yoga stages.

Back to your question more directly: what should you focus on in a dream journal?  Well, if you are doing it correctly, or at least how I believe to be correct, you'd have your journal near your place of rest, you'd be able to access it and the writing device and convey a dream to paper with minimal posture-change, and you'd be able to reflect for a minute on the whole contents of the dream scene-by-scene or aspect-by-aspect and simply dump them onto the page.
One continuous run-on sentence for a dream transcription is perfectly fine. Be sure to note any texts or syllables or words you see, perhaps for later study or investigation, especially if you have a regular practice of faith, devotion, study, meditation and the like. Otherwise, know that it is dreams.  Some are prophetic, some are vascular banter, thus your focus must also be somewhat intuitive to attest to the "truthfulness" of a dream, if I may be so liberal with my verbiage.
With all things, our focus can be on the awareness-that-knows-content and not so much on the content itself.
I would also recommend not reading your past journal entries for a long time.  As a trained scientist, it would be folly to mix sample data with experimental input over the course of a study (e.g. your old dream data, being read over again might influence your future dreams).
The dream journal has many benefits, but mainly it is the ability to recall a dream completely, and at more advanced stages affect the dream "from within" for deeper understanding and training.