Dreaming Lens: What was your relation to the dead person? Was he/she known to you or a stranger? Did you experience grief? Were other feelings evoked by the knowledge of who was in the coffin? Was the coffin empty? Were you in the coffin? Was the coffin prepared for someone who was not yet dead?
Personal Focus: A coffin is made to hold a person after death. As a dream symbol, it should be interpreted by examining the individual inside the coffin as a Character Aspect of the dreamer. This applies whether you know who is inside the coffin or not. Any death is symbolic of change. When examined as a Character Aspect, the death represents sacrificing a portion of the personality that is no longer a useful part of the whole. An effective shift requires clearing out old ways of being in order to make way for new, more evolved functioning. Death is always followed by rebirth, but when a coffin is present, it signifies being at the beginning of the transformation process.
If you know the person in the coffin, consider their personality. It will tell you what traits of your own are dying away. For example, if the coffin contains a friend or relative who is demanding and overbearing, that quality may be dying in you, or you may need to let go of it as a way of being in the world. If you don’t know the inhabitant you may need to investigate what element of your life needs to change. If the coffin is empty and ready for use, you may not know what is getting ready to be sacrificed in you, but the dream may be a wake-up call to find out. Death in dreams means change of a powerful magnitude. If any of the trappings of death appear as symbols, such as funerals, urns, etc., you can be assured that big change is afoot.