Rapture, Tranquillity, Radiance, Peace, Insight

Greetings fellow practitioners! In a meditation retreat in Malaysia last year, there were a good number of questions pertaining to the interesting kinds of phenomena that can arise while meditating. These questions inspired this talk about qualities such as rapture, tranquillity, radiance and peace. A sense of context and perspective for understanding these things is, in fact, vital in order to develop wisdom and understanding, rather than miss-interpret and compound delusion.

Transcript

So just to explain a little bit,

When you practice right mindfulness on an object like the breathing,

The feelings of the breathing,

You maintain that mindfulness consistently or with footsteps.

And particularly when you maintain it throughout the day in various postures,

What happens is instead of the mind flowing out through the eyes,

The ears,

Thoughts,

The way that the mind usually flows out,

More energy is in the mind.

So the mind actually has a lot of energy,

But it gets constantly dissipated and it's flowing out into the world through giving attention to a lot of external stimulation and thoughts about the past and future and other people.

So we dissipate our energy.

So when we practice being sense restrained and circumspect and we maintain mindful awareness within the parameters of the body and try to stay in the present moment,

What happens is the mind has energy and it can experience the beginning of what is right concentration.

And this is occurring,

This is when this whole realm of phenomena is called pieti or rapture can arise.

There's a whole bunch of questions.

All of these questions are related to this.

People probably experiencing rapture.

So what happens when the mind is becoming concentrated is that it's turning away from the sense spaces.

So it's normally flowing out of them,

Interested in forms,

Sounds,

Sights,

Touch and addicted to the pleasure that we can get from that and averse to the pain.

When we maintain the mindfulness,

More equanimity,

It also becomes a type of samadhi,

Keeping the mind in the middle.

So what happens is the mind is turning inwards away from the sense spaces,

Still aware but not flowing out.

And this is when people can begin to perceive their body in a different way.

Or they can perceive it with a lot more sensitivity.

And then many different phenomena can occur.

So one person on the first night in the guided meditation felt the body ballooned like an inflated toy.

Kindly explain this phenomena.

So as I was saying that mind collecting,

The sense of solidity falling away and then a sense of spaciousness.

So we don't realize it but we're grasping at the body.

We grasp at the body,

We perceive it as solid.

And we grasp at it less.

The mind isn't solid.

I think the average person's energy field extends about two meters and we're not aware of it.

But when the mind collects,

Some people experience rapture.

As for myself,

I don't get much.

I don't get like a light nimitta.

Some people do.

My own mind,

When it becomes peaceful,

Can feel vast like the sky.

But the center of awareness is here.

But the awareness can feel very,

Very spacious and expansive.

So that's how some people experience samsamati.

Other people experience a sense of solidity and weight but it's very pleasant.

So it feels like the mind is like a mountain,

Unshakable,

Immovable.

People aren't used to it yet.

It feels very strange.

But when you stop worrying about it and relax and stay with the meditation object,

It is very pleasant.

So during meditation today I did not feel any pain in my legs and body.

Is it normal to experience no pain in meditation?

It's interesting,

Isn't it?

We first come to meditation and we want peace and we're surprised by how much pain there is.

And we finally have a session with no pain and we're surprised.

We got used to it.

So I would say it's a similar thing.

There's enough samadhi in the mind that the mind is.

.

.

You're aware of the body but the mind is probably beginning to collect inwardly.

And so it's.

.

.

Also pain is related to karma and how much pain we experience is related to karma.

So people with a lot of merit or people who've kept precepts,

Particularly related to how many animals we've killed or harmed or if we were soldiers,

How many people we killed.

So some people have been very strict with their not killing beings precepts and have been very generous and virtuous.

Some people have less pain in their bodies and so it's possible also that a certain type of merit ripens in the mind and have painless sessions.

I also have sometimes in Bodhgaya you never know what's going to happen.

You're sitting for an hour or two or three and there's a lot of pain and sometimes two hours,

Three hours,

Very little pain,

No pain.

Rapture probably and some samadhi.

Sometimes samadhi suppresses in a good way things that affect.

.

.

Things that are perceived as painful.

But it is normal to experience a painless meditation.

It's a good sign I would say.

But the tricky part is not to attach because probably the next session there might be some.

And then the point is the reason these things occur is because one maintained consistent mindfulness with some equanimity.

So when it's pleasant,

Don't abandon the equanimity so that it's not as peaceful and some pain comes up,

That's okay too.

I knew it would change.

Somebody doing walking meditation felt as they were walking that the floor was uneven,

Wavy,

Is this correct practice.

So again I think what's happening is the mind is not holding on to its habitual perceptions of things being solid and it's just perceiving things in a different way.

And it is normal.

Nothing is going wrong.

Just be aware of it.

It's a good thing to just notice these meditation retreats because the way we do perceive ourselves and others as solid is a delusion.

And the way we grasp at the world as real is illusion.

So we experience these things.

This is Dhamma teaching us.

It's not the way you think it is.

The thing we keep observing is changing.

So that experience will cease as well.

That experience will change as well.

But the message I would take from it is it's not how you think.

And when we don't grasp in the same way,

We will perceive the world very differently.

During meditation there is pain everywhere.

But with Adhitaan determination the pain became warm,

Rapturous and pleasant,

Flowing.

So again,

Dukkha Vedana,

A feeling,

Maintaining a consistent mindfulness on it,

The mind collecting.

The mind is experiencing rapture.

So that's what happens.

What seems to be unbearable pain.

If the mind doesn't move,

It can be replaced by rapture.

Giving up the rapture,

It becomes bliss.

That's exactly what happens.

So if you're looking at the factors of Jhana,

Vittaka,

Vichara,

Piti and sukkha.

Vittaka is putting the mind on the object.

Vichara,

Keeping it on the object.

Piti,

Rapture.

Relinquishing the rapture,

That's exactly what one does.

Letting go off.

Sometimes I would describe it as going deeper.

So if you can see rapture,

The symptoms,

Experience of rapture is a bit like waves on the ocean.

And sukkha,

Deep peace,

Is like diving beneath the waves.

So you're allowing the mind to collect even more by not being interested in the rapture.

People get very attached to it and often start to make comments about it and then the mind becomes discursive again and it's not peaceful again.

So when rapture arises,

That can be hair standing on end,

Shivers,

Vibrations with the whole body,

Tears rolling down your face.

All of these are kind of symptoms of rapture.

If you just stay with the meditation object,

You will move through the rapture into a deeper tranquility,

Cool peacefulness.

So this person has practiced correctly.

Then the next bit I'm not sure about.

Suddenly there is no mind and no breath,

Only void.

So there is mind.

This is where we have to be careful of interpretation.

The mind is awareness.

Other ways of perceiving may fall away.

So possibly what this person is experiencing is a sense of self dropping away.

And the sense of self is a delusion.

It's not the truth.

But we so consistently have it with us.

We think it's solid.

It's a view.

It's an habitual way of interpreting.

And it's not true.

So when we practice right mindfulness,

We see impermanence,

Impermanence,

Impermanence,

Unsatisfactoriness,

Not self,

Not self.

Then the sense of self can disappear for periods of time.

And that's when you have the insight,

Oh it really is a fabrication.

It really is a delusion.

I'm not a self.

And then you come out of the meditation and the sense of self comes back.

And that's normal.

So conventionally there is a sense of self.

There is a personality.

But we need to know,

And this is the way we learn it,

Letting it go for periods of time,

That it's a construct,

A convention.

And then you know how to relate to it.

You won't take its preferences anywhere near as seriously when you know it's not the truth.

And then 30 minutes has passed.

So is this awakening?

I don't know if it's awakening,

But it's.

.

.

What I've been told about the experience of Sotapanna from Tanajana Nan is that insight should last about two or three days.

And you know the mind has changed in a very profound way,

But it's probably in the realm of Vipassana Jnana.

So it's insight.

It's.

.

.

There's different things coming together.

Right mindfulness and right concentration leading to wisdom.

You're looking at these five spiritual powers I was talking about yesterday with our faith and our confidence in our abilities,

In the methods,

Practicing consistently energy arises.

Sati,

Samadhi,

Panya.

Placing that energy into being consistently mindful.

Consistent mindfulness giving rise to more energy.

The mind can converge or collect into Samadhi and then we see with the extra energy,

With wisdom.

So this is actually a wisdom experience.

We think that wisdom is a theory.

We study it.

We understand that the lists and the studying is a roadmap.

It's directions.

It's a description.

Wisdom is seeing.

It's not self.

Emptiness,

Spaciousness,

The nature of awareness,

Empty like the sky.

Thoughts has been like clouds.

That's wisdom.

That's an experience of wisdom,

That seeing with wisdom.

And it's probably not the ultimate awakening but it is the beginning.

I was saying earlier today,

Small insights become bigger insights.

Bigger insights become profound insights.

Profound insights become liberating insights.

A little bit of concentration becomes a longer period of concentration.

Longer period of concentration becomes the Jnana absorptions.

So we just keep practicing and these are the kind of things that occur.

It's good practice.

Is the mind one with everything?

I think what happens is when the sense of self falls away,

One feels a natural connectedness.

But every single being does have their own karmic conscious continuum which is separate.

And every person has to be liberated.

But in terms of characteristics,

We all have the same,

Everything has the same characteristic.

You don't have to interpret it.

That's probably safer in terms of saying I wouldn't say I'm one with everything.

It's because it comes back to an ego position.

Everything is empty.

Everything is ultimately empty is probably a more correct statement.

And I'm of the same nature as everyone else.

So someone was asking about rapture.

Hair standing on end,

Coolness,

Some people feel warmth.

The other person was saying the warmth and coolness,

Fullness,

Tingles,

Like waves of energy flowing through the body.

There's even a kind of a sadness.

That's one of the raptures,

A profound sadness,

But it's very,

Very still.

A kind of a sober,

Profound sobriety,

A different type of rapture.

Talking about this now before the meditation session to inspire everybody.

Look at the kind of results people are getting.

This person finds if they focus between the eyebrows sometimes,

They can see a bright light or spots of light for 10 or 20 seconds.

So this is very common once again.

It's the same thing really.

The mind is not flowing out of the sense spaces.

The mind is beginning to collect.

What you're probably seeing is the radiant nature of mind.

Consciousness is radiant.

And so some people when the mind is becoming peaceful get a bright,

Radiant nimitta.

It's normal.

But this person says they can be aware of it for 10 or 20 seconds.

So what I would suggest is,

It is a good sign,

But I would suggest to stay with the awareness of the breathing.

And what will probably eventually happen if you're that type of person is that when the breath gets more subtle and you're more consistently with it,

That light will arise by itself.

And once again one just stays aware of the breath.

Or if the breath,

Sometimes the breath stops and you just keep the,

It doesn't actually stop by the way.

People get frightened.

They think they're going to die.

And what's happening is the mind is turning inward from the,

Not just from sights and sounds and it's also turning inward from the perception of the body,

Rupa.

And so the breath does become very shallow.

But the mind isn't aware of it anymore because it's not paying attention to it.

The mind is absorbing into its own purity and radiance.

When I say purity,

I'm talking about purity of samadhi,

Not yet the purity of having uprooted or chilesa.

So it's a good thing.

Don't worry if the breath seems to stop.

But keeping the presence of mind,

This is important,

So basically staying still.

Keeping the presence of mind where it was when the breath stopped.

So it's probably in the same area.

You're watching the breath here.

Just keeping the awareness,

The center of awareness there.

And then when the breath comes back,

You'll notice that as soon as the awareness of the breath comes back,

Then it might be possible to become more concentrated again.

But if we don't keep a center to the peacefulness,

It will disappear quickly and in a sense we have to start again.

But if you stay very,

Very still,

Stay very,

Very mindful,

You might be able to stay peaceful for quite a long time.

So all of this is good.

I wasn't quite expecting these results in a two-day retreat,

But I'm happy.

I'm happy that people are experiencing this.

This person,

During meditation,

I can feel my body sensations tickling and vibration under the skin.

I'm kind of lost about how to proceed,

So there's no problem here.

These kind of.

.

.

The whole body is full of sensations and they're constantly changing.

And when mindfulness is dull,

It simply doesn't notice.

But the sensations have always been there.

When the mind isn't flowing out into the world as much,

It becomes more sensitive and then it experiences these things that were always there anyway,

But we didn't notice.

Sometimes during activity when I hear a noise,

I can feel the vibration of the noise.

So the question is,

Is it normal?

When mindfulness is good,

Yes,

This is normal.

This sense,

Sense contact,

It's all vibration.

And a very clear mindfulness,

Sensitive mindfulness will feel,

Will actually feel the sense contact,

Not just hear it.

You can feel the noise hit and then feel feelings arise.

During walking meditation,

When my feet touch the ground,

I can feel the impact through my whole body.

Same thing.

It is normal.

It's always been like that.

It's just the first time that you noticed.

Good.

There are a few other questions which are more general and I'll answer them later.

Like what is the meaning of life?

A simple question.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you for your time.

Reviews

These talks are always insightful and much appreciated

Your teaching is supporting my teaching, helping those overcoming addiction, pain and sorrow, coming to peace and understanding with Compassion. Deep appreciation. 🙏

Always very insightful. I enjoyed very much the description of the sensations people feel while meditating. Thank you 🙏🏽

It was so informing and so many great points . I loved to hear the different questions .
Thank you

You are changing me! Thank You!
With Metta
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This is very helpful
Thank you!

Thank you for this explanation. I've been feeling some of these raptures during meditation. And I wasn't sure if it was normal.

Dear Teacher, this talk assisted me in deeper understanding of practice, as it pertains to rapture and the attachment to it.

Wow. This is fascinating, and also may answer questions about meditation for anyone using this app.

Very well explained. This talk helped to answer some questions surrounding some experiences I've had. Thank you 💚🙏🏼

Thank you for this clarifying and evocative instruction
💐💛🌟💖🙏🏽💖🌟💛💐

This short talked explained so much to me. Thanks Ajahn Achalo 🙏

Very informative thank you!

Much to sit with, thank you!

Thank you for sharing all your teachings and experiences 🙏🏼

This is something that doesn’t get talked about much, and yet is so important. It’s important to have this reference point, so one can place such experiences and not feel like he/she’s gone crazy. Also, the flow of experience between rapture and bliss, which can be achieved by not grasping...it is indeed putting all the teachings into practice and living it, which gives an insight that ultimately changes one’s perceptions forever. Immense gratitude for sharing this teaching! 🌈🌺🙏

Thank you for this talk, it is very helpful in the meditation progression. This brought an understanding to me. Thank you again! Namaste

So very grateful for your compassionate good humoured presence here and for the wisdom you share. Thank you.

Enjoyed the insight.
Thank you.

Thank you so much for this teaching, so so helpful - I will come again to it - with love and light to you dear Ajahn Achalo 🙏🏽💖🙏🏽