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Your experiences during meditation

Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge

Member
Really weird meditation session. I think I cried. Either that or my eyes watered from not blinking, but I've done meditation without blinking plenty of times and this never happened. During one point, I felt strong emotion and warmth build up in the middle of my gut and I was happy for a second. I have no idea what just happened. It also vanished, like the flick of an eye just like the teachings say: this too shall pass. I have no idea what I experienced, and I'm not trying to figure out what it was, but I definitely experienced something.
 
V

von bek

Well-Known Member
The thing to remember while meditating is that even sublime states of consciousness are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. The Buddha warns us that many types of Wrong Views have meditative experiences as their source. Sounds like you already know to be wary of not attaching to the feelings you are experiencing. That will serve you well.
 
O

Osal

Active Member
After work a few years ago I was lounging wih the TV and having a couple bong hits. I got a call from my mother saying my father was actively dying. I had been expecting the call, bit it still broke me up, big time.

So I'm sitting there, crying my eyes out and somehow, I manage to recall a teaching on meditation I'd received - there is no state that can't be "taken to the cushion". But, I think to myself, you shouldn't try to meditate when you're high. Then I remember that there's no state ........

So I head to the shrine room, bereft and high.

It was singularly profound. As I settled into Shamatha, I saw deep sorrow, rolling up into my awareness like waves on a beach. They'd roll up and then back town, like the impermance VB speaks of. Unspeakable, really.

I don't advocate using something like pot while meditating. I haven't tried practicing high since. I'm with VB that these states are ephemeral, impermanent, and it's unwise to try and "chase the rabbit". The rabbit hole doesn't go that deep.
 
Vishvavajra

Vishvavajra

Active Member
Were you actually trying not to blink? That seems odd. I know if I left my eyes open and focused on anything in front of me, the things in my field of vision would eventually seem to shift colors in a psychedelic fashion. I don't do that anymore, as we're told to completely relax the eyes, probably for that reason.

But I hear that unexpected emotions can arise during meditation, for whatever reason. I've felt a general sense of contentment, but I wouldn't call it a definite emotion. Some people do seem to weep sometimes (and maybe for reasons other than leg pain).
 
Banjankri

Banjankri

Active Member
People often advice others not to attach to those experiences. That's weird because that's why people meditate in the first place. I myself know many, that are stuck in this paradox, struggling for meaning in their spiritual work.
If you can grasp, or stimulate any unusual meditative experience, do it openly, there is no need to struggle with oneself. Do it until you fully know it, only then will you be able to proceed.
This is how I work with those experiences, and I can honestly say that attachment stops being a problem when you get used to them. Only when you are fed up with those experiences, you are free to continue on the path. If you push then away, you will always dream about them secretly.
 
Rick O'Shez

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
Banjankri said:
People often advice others not to attach to those experiences.
Click to expand...

Yes, it can get to sound a bit cliched. I do think it's important to have good experiences in meditation because those are nourishing to the practice and generally a sign of progress.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Spiny Norman said:
Yes, it can get to sound a bit cliched. I do think it's important to have good experiences in meditation because those are nourishing to the practice and generally a sign of progress.
Click to expand...
I think so. I like to say it's what comes out of the woodwork by which it's usually unnoticed for which attention is sharply and suddenly drawn upon, experiencing it for the "first" time.

You should have seen my face when I initially smelled bread baking, and heard an orchestra playing during a session. *Grin*
 
Frolicking_Fox

Frolicking_Fox

Artemis, Athena, and Buddha. Anarcho-Communist.
When I have meditated before, I have experienced weird "flashbacks". They were very detailed and at places that I have never been to before. I know I wasn't asleep, but I don't know what happened to me. One of them looked like I was in a Rainforest, but I have never been. Please help me figure out what happened! Also, I would meditate and the same thing comes to my mind,which really freaks me out. I am just walking, and next thing you know, a spear stabs my gut.
 
Frolicking_Fox

Frolicking_Fox

Artemis, Athena, and Buddha. Anarcho-Communist.
Banjankri said:
How long in duration are those flashbacks? I have similar experiences, but they are very short, just glimpses.
Click to expand...

That is the same for me. They are usually between 10-30 seconds each. There have been more than the ones I described, but it freaks me out that I see myself (not really me, but it seems like I am the person) get stabbed with a spear. When I see those, I usually stop meditation. I am afraid to continue, since I have no idea what this means.
 
O

Osal

Active Member
Frolicking_Fox said:
That is the same for me. They are usually between 10-30 seconds each. There have been more than the ones I described, but it freaks me out that I see myself (not really me, but it seems like I am the person) get stabbed with a spear. When I see those, I usually stop meditation. I am afraid to continue, since I have no idea what this means.
Click to expand...

I'd talk to a counselor asap, and then a qualified meditation instructor.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Frolicking_Fox said:
That is the same for me. They are usually between 10-30 seconds each. There have been more than the ones I described, but it freaks me out that I see myself (not really me, but it seems like I am the person) get stabbed with a spear. When I see those, I usually stop meditation. I am afraid to continue, since I have no idea what this means.
Click to expand...
Well as long as you don't actually have a spear sticking out of you, you'll be fine. "0]

It's actually beneficial not in the manner of progress, but insight by which you glimpse with clarity the nature of mind and what it does in respect to these kinds of experiences.
 
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