A Map of the Journey by Sayadaw u jotika
For free distribution only

Fourth Insight #4


The bright lights can happen in samatha meditation, through
just pure concentration, and they can also happen because of
vipassana insight; the understanding becomes so clear and sharp
that you feel very bright inside. In fact, we experience these
things from the very beginning in vipassana. Even in the first
insight when the mind becomes quiet and clear, mindfulness
and samadhi become quite strong, sometimes we begin to experience
light or piti, joy, interest also, however at this stage it
becomes so strong that, some people depending on their personality
see different images like Buddha images, peaceful scenes.

As I myself like beautiful scenes in nature, I love nature, I
tend to see mostly those, mountains, lakes, and sometimes the
surface of the lake is as clear as a mirror. Depending on people’s
personalities, images like those appear in the mind, so sharp
and vivid, as if you are there looking at it. In some cases you
can interpret this, but interpretation is not important. You can
interpret your personality also. A person, whose basic nature is
aversion, will see terrible images like dead bodies, ugly faces. A
person who has a lot of saddha, confidence might see a lot of
beautiful Buddha images; sometimes live Buddhas, real, walking,
moving and doing things. You are not really seeing the real
Buddha, your mind creates it.

When you see things, no matter what,
just note or notice them, don’t interpret anything,
because when you interpret you think.
When you think you lose awareness, concentration,
mindfulness will go down.
When you experience these lights you feel very light too.
You think because I am experiencing enlightenment these
lights are appearing, that is a misunderstanding because the
person feels very happy and delighted a kind of greed arises.

Sometimes, thoughts arise as well, we see phenomena the way
it is arising and passing away and we begin to think, oh… this is
really impermanent. Even though we are thinking, awareness is
still very sharp and we think ‘my understanding is very sharp’.
You identify with understanding. It becomes my understanding,
my wisdom, my insight, and this “my” is impurity. The insight is
not impurity, but the “my” becomes impurity.

Very strong rapture might arise; it can go through the whole
body, or just part of the body, like waves. Sometimes you feel
like your body is floating up, or that there is no weight anymore,
or the whole body disappears, only the mind, the awareness is
there. The person might become unconscious and not aware
of anything anymore. In some cases people feel that because
all the mental and physical phenomena stop and disappear this
is enlightenment. One aspect of enlightenment is cessation of
mental and physical phenomena, but at this stage it is not real
enlightenment. For a brief moment the mind just stops, there is
a kind of blank there, but immediately you become aware again
and see that there was a gap.

The difference between this and
enlightenment is that after you see this gap,
your sharpness and clarity stays the same,
you see the same phenomena
in the same way again.

After the real enlightenment when it happens, the mind
slows down a little bit, it is not as sharp as it was. Although mindfulness
and concentration are still there, the mind is not sharp
and fast anymore. So this blank is not real enlightenment.

 Sometimes the tranquility also becomes very strong, mind
and body become very tranquil and then it becomes unconscious,
for a very brief moment only. Sometimes samadhi
becomes very deep and the object of meditation becomes very
dim and it disappears, and the mind becomes blank, unaware.
The body stays the same, very calm, not moving or falling down.
When you become sleepy the body falls down. But with this
kind of samædhi, the body does not fall down, even though for
a few moments you fall asleep. Sometimes because of upekkha,
equanimity, you don’t worry about meditation anymore. In the
beginning you worry a lot, “am I being mindful, is my mind here,
is my mind wandering?” There are a lot of thoughts and worries
about meditation, but at this stage, no thoughts or worries about
meditation.

The mind becomes very tranquil and relaxed, and relaxed,
and after a while it becomes unconscious. When you become
too relaxed you become unconscious. Sometimes it is just real
sleep! This sleep is very different from normal sleep. Normally
when you sleep your body cannot maintain a sitting posture, it
becomes very limp. When you meditate the mind can become
very calm and peaceful and concentration becomes very strong,
when you fall asleep your body does not become limp, it maintains
posture. When you wake up your mind is still very clear,
you don’t have any drowsiness. You are ready to meditate again.
A lot of people that I know, and sometimes I have experienced
it myself, after sitting for many hours a day just fall asleep,
sometimes for a long time. When waking up the mind is very
refreshed, alert and clear and automatically the moment you
wake up, you begin to meditate again. Normally when people
wake up they don’t really know that they are awake. Vague
dreams-thoughts happen for a long time and one slowly wakes
up; but for a meditator as soon as he wakes up, with the first
consciousness meditation is together; he’s ready to meditate. It
is a very good thing.

Surprisingly at this stage some people meditate in their
dreams. Have you ever heard of it? Can you meditate in your
dreams? As a way of testing me, my teacher often asked me
“do you meditate in your dreams?” I said “not yet”, he said “ok
try to be more mindful, more mindful, meditate more”. I try to
meditate and meditate, and once I meditated in my dream and
I was so happy because I had something to tell to my teacher.
We want to please our teacher and we also want our teacher
to think very well of us. So I went to his place and waited for
a while and when he came out I said “I have something to tell
you”. I was very young, very childish in some ways, very immature
too, but I was very happy, so I told him. He sat and listened
very pleased, smiling, saying very good, your mindfulness
is becoming stronger.

So, we can meditate unconsciously even,
it becomes a habit. In dreams we dream of
what we have done during the day.
A doctor would dream of events such as operating, giving
treatment, injections, advice. People working in department
stores in their dreams they might dream of selling things. A
student studying for an exam, many times I dreamed of having
exam, it was terrible, something missing, I can’t answer my question!
It is quite natural to dream about things that we are used
to doing. So, meditating in your dreams is a sign that indicates
that meditation is becoming a habit. The moment you wake up
you are ready to meditate. After a while, you don’t dream much
anymore, very rarely you dream, you fall asleep and when you
awake up you are ready to meditate; in between no dreams.

An Arahant does not dream anymore.
Dreaming is a sign that there is some sort of moha,
something unconscious happening; moha has many
meanings; stupidity, confusion and delusion are some.
For an Arahant there is nothing unconscious.
Conscious and unconscious become one.
Most people are more unconsciousness than
consciousness; a lot of unconscious thoughts going on
even while we’re awake; but for a meditator those
thoughts become conscious.

In that way a meditator can change the unconscious mind,
which is a very strange idea for most psychologists. That is how
this meditation influences people’s personality. There is no other
way as effective as meditation to do this. A lot of mental sicknesses,
neurosis, just disappear; you don’t have to do anything
about it. This is really a good way to develop good qualities, to
overcome bad habits. A lot of people at this stage, they even
quit smoking. Smoking is not really breaking any of the precepts,
but a lot of people give it up. They even give up drinking
too much coffee or tea. Any kind of attachment or addiction is
given up. Actually you don’t even try to give it up, but you don’t
feel like doing it anymore. A lot of people that I know, some of
them are friends of mine and they used to be alcoholics, smoke
a lot of cigarettes, they just gave up.

At this stage also, many kind of bodily sickness disappear,
not only mental, but real bodily sickness disappear also.
Tranquility, and piti (joy, rapture) which are very close, have
tremendous therapeutic powers. That is why you hear of people
overcoming diseases after they meditate. A lot of phobias,
insomnia, also are overcome. When there is a lot of tranquility,
passaddhi, people don’t want to go to places that are very noisy
and crowded. They try to avoid unnecessary activities, disturbances.
They want to just go away and live in a very quiet and
peaceful place and just meditate.

 At this stage, even when you walk you feel like your body
has no weight. You think of taking a step and the leg is already
moving. You are aware of it but you don’t feel the weight. One
step after the other, you feel like you are walking in the air,
your feet just barely touching the ground, you feel the touching
sensation but you don’t feel the weight, and you can walk very
fast; you feel like running. No aches, pains, or feeling hot. The
mind is not distracted.