mits
Junior Member
Posts: 92
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Post by mits on Mar 2, 2011 15:03:36 GMT -5
I am at a loss as to what this particular experience is about, as I may have been imagining it.
During my meditation session (practice) the observer - awareness that is aware of itself seemed to disappear completely and there was only stillness, emptiness. And for a brief moment I felt as if I was the 'infinite' existing in all directions. I felt like I existed everywhere - omnipresent. By this I meant that "I" was god and in a sense "God" was me. Felt like I was not limited to a physical body or mind and that "I" existed everywhere. Does this make sense?
But anyway the question is "Why is the Infinite limited to a finite body?" And am "I" enlightened?
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Post by mamza on Mar 2, 2011 15:18:33 GMT -5
Maybe this is cliche and a bit obnoxious to say, but as long as you're wondering if you're enlightened, you're probably not. It seems to me that whenever there's stillness of being, there are no questions. "I" still have the questions after mind re-enters the picture, and it does that quite frequently. Those questions just poof away when I focus on my breathing though.
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Post by sharon on Mar 2, 2011 15:25:36 GMT -5
"Why is the Infinite limited to a finite body?"
Go to your bookshelf ~ choose the book that glows to be read. Calmly open to the page that has already written the exact answer ... for itself to be read by ...
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Post by karen on Mar 2, 2011 16:02:20 GMT -5
But anyway the question is "Why is the Infinite limited to a finite body?" And am "I" enlightened? Sounds like good questions to ponder yourself. |
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jenpa
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by jenpa on Mar 2, 2011 17:28:25 GMT -5
mits, I had a similar experience not too long ago. I was told that in Zen this is called "a confirmatory experience." In my practice these experiences are to be enjoyed when they occur, but we let them go as we do with any thought, sound or anything that arises in the present, and return to our breath.
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Post by silver on Dec 13, 2014 16:34:16 GMT -5
Sounds interesting. I wonder what was really meant by a "confirmatory experience."
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Post by zendancer on Dec 13, 2014 17:11:40 GMT -5
Sounds interesting. I wonder what was really meant by a "confirmatory experience." "Confirmatory experiences" is a Zen phrase for non-locality-type events, insights, leaps in understanding, internal shifts, CC-type experiences, and a whole range of other phenomena that often occur as a result of meditation that indicate one is breaking free from conditioning and the concensus trance. They're sorta like signposts that confirm one is heading in the right direction, and that things are internally changing. |
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Post by silver on Dec 13, 2014 17:14:09 GMT -5
Very good, thanks ZD.
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Post by silver on Dec 13, 2014 17:17:33 GMT -5
I wonder out loud, if doing mindfulness practice or meditation can cause them to sleep deeper and/or remember their dreams in more detail because that's what happened the last couple of nights. If so, does it mean anything in particular?
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Post by lolly on Dec 14, 2014 2:44:30 GMT -5
I think if the experience came, and then it went, remain intent on the current experience.
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Post by enigma on Dec 14, 2014 12:51:56 GMT -5
I wonder out loud, if doing mindfulness practice or meditation can cause them to sleep deeper and/or remember their dreams in more detail because that's what happened the last couple of nights. If so, does it mean anything in particular? Mindfullness is what some of us have been pointing you toward here for years. What it means is 'being conscious'. |
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Post by silver on Dec 14, 2014 12:56:30 GMT -5
I wonder out loud, if doing mindfulness practice or meditation can cause them to sleep deeper and/or remember their dreams in more detail because that's what happened the last couple of nights. If so, does it mean anything in particular? Mindfullness is what some of us have been pointing you toward here for years. What it means is 'being conscious'. That could be true, but for me, it took making the connection between non-duality and Buddhism before I hit pay dirt. They say everything in its own time. Eta: I'm not so sure, though, if your brand of mindfulness is the same. |
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Post by enigma on Dec 14, 2014 14:30:54 GMT -5
Mindfullness is what some of us have been pointing you toward here for years. What it means is 'being conscious'. That could be true, but for me, it took making the connection between non-duality and Buddhism before I hit pay dirt. They say everything in its own time. Eta: I'm not so sure, though, if your brand of mindfulness is the same. Maybe we could say there are different 'levels' of mindfuness as mind learns to be aware of itself. I would say mindfulness is whatever is required for a given mind at the moment. |
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Post by zendancer on Dec 14, 2014 15:42:44 GMT -5
Silver: "Mindfulness" has two usual meanings. The first is what E. describes--becoming aware of what's going on in the mind and how mind affects perception and understanding. Mindfulness, as a practice, is silently watching whatever is happening, which includes any thoughts that may occur. While practicing mindfulness, which is both a Vipassana and Buddhist meditation, one simply watches without trying to reach any conclusions or make any judgments ABOUT what is happening. If the mind starts to judge, for example, then that activity is watched in the same way as everything else. In this way detachment from thoughts begins to occur, and one learns not to follow thoughts down infinite numbers of rabbit holes. The goal of such practice, like most meditation practices, is to bring one into a state of psychological presence and to free one from the mind's usual shenanigans.
The practice has been likened to standing in a train station and watching trains of thoughts go by without jumping on board. When someone first tries this sort of meditation, she may have a thought and subsequently "wake up" fifteen minutes later with the realization that she followed the thought (jumped on board a train). She then returns to the train station, metaphorically speaking, and simply watches. After several months of this practice, she may be able to watch thought trains go through the station (appear and disappear) without following them, or, only following them for a few seconds.
After learning to stay in the station and watch thoughts, a koan usually arises--"Who is watching all of this?" This question is capable of generating a significant realization, because the watcher isn't who we THINK it is.
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Post by silver on Dec 14, 2014 21:16:35 GMT -5
I wonder out loud, if doing mindfulness practice or meditation can cause them to sleep deeper and/or remember their dreams in more detail because that's what happened the last couple of nights. If so, does it mean anything in particular? Mindfullness is what some of us have been pointing you toward here for years. What it means is 'being conscious'. I've found there's too many people (one is too many) pointing in every which way and it's just too confusing to glean anything much from your guys's pointing. About the only measurable bit of helpfulness has been in the form of mainly Reefs on the old BP thread because I needed a strong bit of jostling before I could come to realize there's always a different way of looking at things. |
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