Scared,whats going on?.
lyndall
Explorer
Hi there i'm after your thoughts about an experience i had the other night,i do alot of reading exploring different buddhist books etc,i really enjoy the beliefs and buddhist principles on different things so far,i don't particularly believe in ghosts or spirits etc, having a sceptical outlook on most things until finding things out for myself,but i seem to be stuck on figuring out what i experienced the other night.It would of been about 2.00am in the morning when i awoke with a feeling of darkness,i felt very scared and unnerved like something was there in the room with me trying to scare me,it felt really bad to me,all i could think of doing was picture Buddha in front of me and send out loving thoughts to surround Buddha myself and everything in the room,the feeling gradually went away but i was really shaken for some reason,then yesterday i found out a person who i had had a difficult past with 20 years ago passed away that same day,i know it sounds silly but do you think there is any link with this experience and the person passing,or is it just a coincidence,i had this same experience and horrible feeling during an evening once by myself in the house this person lived in after they moved out 20 something years ago also, my dog i had at the time really reacted badly,growling and standing in front of me looking at the wall,i just thought i was overreacting and it was just silly to think that it was a spirit or ghost etc. Any help on what you think is or has gone on would be great and i value your thoughts and input on this as buddhists?.
Comments
Sleep Paralysis for sure; I've suffered it myself, though once you understand what it is the next time won't be so bad. It's the same thing that happens to people who think they're being abducted by UFOs.
Here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis
Never trust your mind when you're going to sleep, or waking up. Well, not never, I mean don't trust it for stuff like this!
There are psychic links between minds, so it could be. But like all things arising, let it come and go and try not to worry about it. There is nothing unnatural in the world, only that which we don't understand.
i awoke with a feeling of darkness,i felt very scared and unnerved like something was there in the room with me trying to scare me,it felt really bad to me,all i could think of doing was picture Buddha in front of me and send out loving thoughts to surround Buddha myself and everything in the room,the feeling gradually went away but i was really shaken for some reason,then yesterday i found out a person who i had had a difficult past with 20 years ago passed away that same day,i know it sounds silly but do you think there is any link with this experience and the person passing,or is it just a coincidence,
It was an experience you had - so more interesting is how you felt about it.
Don't be bashful in trusting yourself.
Overall there didn't seem to be any reason to fear - no harm came to you - no potential harm came to you - the effect was in your mind and it is there that it should be reconciled.
Take it as it presented itself to you and try not to add anything else to it.
as it was 2.00am, what time did they pass away that day?
You experienced something called "night paralysis" or "sleep paralysis" which is a well documented and understood hiccup in our sleep cycle. The symptoms you describe are classic, including waking up to the overwhelming sensation that you are not alone in the room. This occasional phenomena is the cause of people believing ghosts, fairies, demons, and aliens visit and sometimes abduct people in the middle of the night.
The result in this case is your mind latching onto coincidence in an attempt to assign meaning to it. If you'd just moved into a drafty house where doors sometimes slam shut, you'd swear the house was haunted. If you saw a round, dead patch of grass in the field next door, you'd think aliens visited. In earlier times, someone might claim that old woman you threw a rock at the day before was a witch and visited you to put a curse on you. And if sometime in the night you also had a "wet dream"...well, that's where succubus belief came from. The human imagination is wonderful, but it's hardwired to look for threats. If there aren't any obvious ones, we invent our own.
Growing up...this was explained to me as witch sleeping.
You didn't know which one you were...sleeping or awake?
You didn't know who that witch was that was standing next to the bed.
@lyndall
A Buddhist practice is an invite to experience existence unhindered by our own conditioned reflexes.
Whether anything visits as unending tedium or bat shit crazy, all you need to do is meditatively allow it's birth, life and death to pass by unmolested just as one would do with any other phenomena in a practice.
Anything more than doing this is just how we maintain the dream that the Buddha exhorted us to awaken from.
I did not get the second experience you had but. It is not uncommon for dead people to want to say goodbye before they leave.
If you have experiences with these kind of beings often in a bad way then there is protection to be had in the Atanatiya Sutta. It is only to be loudly recited during duress, not for fun.
There are other suttas too...
Yes. Absolutely.
Metta beats spooky stuff. In fact metta beats everything, even itself. Without or with explanation, metta wins.
And when I say metta I mean Love.
. . . as for what is going on . . . no idea . . .
Now I iz off to meet Vajra Claws, friend of Santa, your favourite cructacean and all good Tantrika . . .
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/teachers/zopa/advice/pdf/vajra_claws_dorje_dermo_0510_reader_spread.pdf
NAMAH SAMANTA BUDDHA NAM
KAYA VAK CHITTA VAJRA NAM
OM GHA GHA GHA TAYA GHA TAYA
SARVA DUSHTAM MARAYA PHAT PHAT
KILI KILA YA
SARVA PAPAM HUM HUM HUM
VAJRA KILI KILA YA
VAJRA DHAROD AJNAYA PAYATI
KAYA VAK CHITTA VAJRA KILI KILA YA HUM PHAT
OM AH KRODHE KA MUDGARA HUM PHAT
OM VAJRA KRODHA MAHA BALA HANA HANA DAHA DAHA
PACHA BIDHAM SAYA
JATI LAMBO DHARI UCHUSHMA KRODHA HUM PHAT
or as they say in USA . . . 'Have a nice day'
Thanks everyone:).
What actually happened may never be clear. Feeling urgency to explain it to yourself is fear manifesting, completely natural, but you don't need to take this urgency as 'marching orders' -- I must figure this out!! I need to know, it must be explained!
It won't change what happened and it won't 'prevent' it from happening again, or make it happen more often. Knowing exactly what it was would be more soothing than not knowing. Keep that in mind when trying to find an explanation
If you figure it out and rest in a conclusion, the truth might come around and you won't be 'open' for it.
What it MEANS to you seems much more useful a task, and then there's no mind-closing finality to get in the way of further useful meaning.
Do not make absolute, definitive statements, unless you can substantiate them. What I think you meant was, "Yes, I personally absolutely believe it was."
I know people who never believed in this kind of thing, always rejected the idea of anything paranormal, spirits, etc., who were shocked and a bit disturbed to find themselves being visited by a recently deceased loved one on a regular basis. Or they had an experience similar to the OP, where someone came to say goodbye at just the moment of death. I'm not sure if in the end, the experience caused them to change their world view, because they're still not comfortable discussing it after these years. It definitely shook them up, and they didn't like having their worldview challenged with a real-life event like that.
I think you're in good company, OP. And btw, your dog knew something was up. Animals are very sensitive to such phenomena. There's so much more to reality than meets the eye, IMO.
My wife claims that one morning she was travelling to work on a tram and suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of nausea. She had to get off the tram and wait until it passed.
At around the same time her best friend gave birth to a baby that, unfortunately, ended up dying.
Coincidence? I don't know. They are very close and are very similar personality types.
My aunt's favorite flower was sunflower and she passed away (short version). My mom was grieving and the next spring a row of sunflowers grew along our driveway. Maybe squirrels planting seed, but they were all in a perfect row!
Thankyou
Hey lyndall it does sound very much like sleep paralysis to me, & i myself have had at least a couple of dozen episodes/experiences in the last 10 years..Every time i had one it came with "very" intense feelings of fear, & every time i was laid on my back "bobbing off" to sleep..At the time of every episode/experience I'm pretty sure i had some emotional issues in my life that i was trying to work through, or i was very stressed out for what ever reason..I will say this "nothing" bad has ever come from all of the one's I've had, & even though they we're "easily" the most terrifying feelings I've ever experienced, i now find them interesting & i had my last one around a month ago..That last one still came with a brief moment of a feeling of being paralysed & fear, but i can manage to come out of it within a few seconds..I think it's because I've had the practice, but maybe it can work for people new to the experience of having them..Anyway i say to myself: I've had this before many times, & nothing bad has ever come from it..Then i picture my hand in my mind, & are then able to come out from it & move around freely..My best advice is don't read up about it, & try not to think about it. :-)
Thanks Daveadams:)
@lyndall Sleep paralysis wouldn't explain why this only happened when someone you knew had passed. It also wouldn't explain your dog's reaction.
@lyndall always trust your dog
although he could of been reacting to your fear and seeking a threat. My dogs intuitive like that.
Try not worry to much, regardless of any course or reason. The experience won't harm you. Don't listen to Hollywood