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Nimittas
Patr
Veteran
Anyone here have experience of the Nimittas during meditation.
Curious to know how many have reached the stage.......
What does your Nimitta look like?
Curious to know how many have reached the stage.......
What does your Nimitta look like?
0
Comments
Nimittas are just like external states;
they are residues of the awareness interaction with the desire.
once one passes that, one enters into another state of concentration.
They mostly took the classic form of lights.
Once the breath was replaced by a shining path of light, like the path the sun makes on still water. Really bright and beautiful. I changed the focus of my meditation from the breath (which had disappeared) to the light, and that was that. After 5 minutes it faded, the breath sensation returned, and I went back to focusing on the breath.
When I told the monk who was teaching the retreat, he shrugged and said "That's fine, continue as before."
The other nimittas I have had is a lovely broad glow of light, with a brighter centre, as you'd get from closing your eyes and turning your face to the sun. But the breath didn't disappear with that, it stayed knife-edge sharp, and was the best concentration I have ever had.
And I also had an auditory nimitta for a week during a retreat, of a deep bell ringing at various random times. I thought the meditation centre had gotten a new bell, and some of the staff were ringing it for fun! But no, I talked to the teacher about it, and he said it was an auditory nimitta, nothing to be concerned about, he reassured me I wasn't going crazy!
But they are basically distractions from the real purpose of meditation. Pretty fireworks, but not something to deliberately generate or indulge in. Can be useful for getting to jhana, or so I have heard. Can't comment personally on that one!
my most recent ones are "fear being dragged to death" and "bliss that is so powerful that I feel I could die cause of it". suffering indeed.
That is, clear sense impressions which arise only in the mind. Not concepts or thoughts.
I could be wrong.
it is feeling
It appear as intense feeling of fear and the other intense feeling of bliss.
It arises. It passes. Toodle pip.
When I first read about nimittas only recently, I figure thats what that light/shape is, and perhaps I used to attain jhanas in a previous life- cause I haven't attained them in this one:)lol! And the harder I tried to attain them, the worse my concentration, so I've given up my goals and chilled out... back to life...sigh...;)