This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Sensitive to Symptoms of Samadhi; Samadhi (22) Signs of Samadhi. It likely contains inaccuracies.
The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
Hello and welcome to this meditation session. As a beginning, I’d like to tell you of a study that I read about many years ago where they took some teenagers from deep in Metropolitan New York. They grew up without ever leaving New York, and I think they were people living somewhat poor lives, so their range of experience was quite small. They took them to some place like the jungles of Costa Rica to go out with the teenagers who had spent their life living in that environment. The locals in Costa Rica would point out birds and different things happening in the forest that stood out, jumped out to them; it was obvious that they could see them. But the teens from New York could not see them. They didn’t have the ability; they didn’t know where to look and how to see.
The story points to the idea that we get accustomed to a particular way of what we’re familiar with, and we maybe pick up what’s familiar, but there’s a lot that we miss as a result. In meditation, that tendency comes. We come with our familiar world of thoughts and concerns, and even the way that we think of ourselves can be kind of set in our ways, so that we’re not so sensitive and attuned to notice other aspects of our experience.
To become skilled in Samadhi1 is to begin to become sensitive and expand the range of what we’re aware of, so we can be aware of the subtle shifts that go on—the shifts that show us the path of Samadhi, the shifts that open to a deep, deepening absorption, a deepening mind state of Samadhi. Part of that is the evidence that Samadhi is just beginning, maybe the first kind of beginning of things that lead to a state of Samadhi. If we spend our time preoccupied with what to have for lunch, preoccupied with the argument we had before, preoccupied with a negative self-talk or maybe even positive self-talk, if that’s the normal way of seeing, the lens through which we see, we might not have the mind quiet enough or the capacity to be sensitive enough to start listening, to finding the rare animals in the forest, the birds in the forest.
I think some people who are going bird watching and want to listen for the cries of the bird might make their thinking mind quiet, to have everything become still inside of them except for their listening for that quiet bird song. So in meditation, when you sit down to meditate, to start becoming attuned to the subtle shifts that happen—the subtle shifts that they have in what happens to you as you sit down to meditate and in the course of the meditation. What are the subtle shifts and the not-so-subtle shifts that are the evidence or the gathering together that represents Samadhi?
When you first sit down, you might come along with a lot of your concerns, but is there a feeling of goodness or rightness or wholeness in your body as you sit down? Does something already begin to relax and soften in taking the meditation posture? And if so, feel that, align yourself with that, attune yourself to that. As you begin to relax intentionally, what’s the impact, the influence that relaxing has on the parts of the muscles that relax, around the muscles, and the rest of you? In what way does beginning to center yourself here on the body, on the breath, begin to quiet your mind, begin to shift the direction of where your concerns are, where your attention is going?
As you settle in more, are there subtle shifts of things becoming calmer or more centered or more grounded? To pick those up, to see them as the traces of the path to be followed—not to hold on to them, not to push anything, but the more we can feel… all we have to do is see them and feel them and sense this evidence of Samadhi beginning to grow. For that to contribute to the gathering, and more important, to contribute to the mind, the attention, wanting to be here in this process. This process of Samadhi starts feeling very inviting because it’s enjoyable, it’s pleasant. There’s a goodness and rightness to it. We’re following the evidence, the path, the trail of something that feels really good.
Before we… the last thing I’ll say is that this being skilled in the evidence of Samadhi, however subtle it might be, is what the Buddha sometimes calls being skilled in the beautiful. There’s something about Samadhi, the evidence of it, that maybe we can start appreciating as a certain kind of beauty. Even though it’s only maybe 1% of our experience, that’s where the trail is, that’s where the path is. Not to push other things away, but not to leave it out. To become attuned, aligned, encouraged, guided, supported by this subtle evidence that allows you to get more and more settled.
Assume a meditation posture and, closing your eyes, now feeling the subtle shifts that have happened for you in assuming a meditation posture. Is something subtle? Is there a goodness or a rightness in beginning to be connected to oneself simply from taking the posture?
Gently, slowly, taking some deeper breaths, and as you exhale, soften, relaxing in the body. And as the body relaxes, is there a subtle influence or effect that has in parts of your body that feels good?
To let your breathing return to normal. And is there already, just sitting here quietly in your own body, heart, and mind, some subtle shift that’s happening that you associate with meditation that feels good? And to be attuned to that, aligned with that, almost as if the way you’re going to pay attention, the way you’re going to be aware, somehow takes on qualities of the calming that you feel in your body, or pleasure, or the goodness.
With a normal breath, on the exhale, to relax more fully in the body, in different parts of the body, in the whole body.
Relaxing into a subtle place deep within, the settling spot, the grounding spot, the centering spot within. Maybe where the exhale finishes and the inhale begins. And is there some glow or radiance or softening, calming, that’s spreading a little bit beyond the edges of your breathing in some parts of your body? Some evidence that the process of meditation is beginning. It doesn’t have to be dramatic; it could be very subtle and quiet, but notice it, appreciate its presence.
To settle into the sensations of breathing, as if awareness and breathing are gently absorbing each other. As if in the meeting of breathing and awareness, something good begins to happen. And awareness is very light, as light as a butterfly that lands on the breathing, as light as sunlight that shines its beauty on the experience of breathing.
Sensitive to the subtlest of shifts that come with meditation. Not searching for them, but in a relaxed way, sensing them. So that part of the shifts is shifts in the mind, the mind becoming soft, lighter. And where the sum total of the shifts that we feel gently guide the mind, guide attention to be intimate with the experience of breathing.
And noticing any pleasure that is also a symptom, evidence of the practice of meditation.
As we approach the end of the sitting, maybe letting go of focusing on the breathing, letting go of your thoughts, and becoming aware of the general, broad way in which you’ve been changed by this meditation. Is there a broader embodied feeling of being calmer, more settled? Some broader feeling of something that’s pleasant, settled, relaxed, a greater intimacy here and now?
To feel the broadest, widest sense, widest evidence of a shift in the course of the meditation, a shift that is good, that feels good, feels satisfying, feels pleasant. Even if there are other things that are troubling and difficult, to allow that to be as it is, but to attune yourself to the more subtle way that in the body, heart, and mind, there might be some subtle way of pleasure, of calmness, goodness, intimacy, quiet.
And if there is, with the lightest possible touch, allow the rhythm of breathing to gently move through it, to touch it, to recognize the broader feeling, evidence of how things have shifted in a good way.
And if you stay connected to whatever has been good that has shifted in the course of this meditation, imagine yourself settled in that. Allow yourself to be settled in that as you now turn your attention, your thoughts, out into the world that you’ll encounter today. And to allow yourself to encounter that world of today from this subtle place of meditation, the goodness of it, the subtleness of it, so there’s room for goodwill, care, generosity, respect for all that you encounter, all the people that you learn about.
And almost as every individual that you talk to, talk about, read about, see in person or on a screen, that you imagine them being settled and happy. Imagine that possibility for them and wish it for them.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.
[Music]
Thank you.
So hello and welcome to this next talk on Samadhi. This time I want to discuss the topic of the evidence of Samadhi, the evidence of becoming more settled, calm, absorbed, connected to the meditation process. In the language of the Buddha, there was a word for this evidence, the symptoms, and it is nimitta2, N-I-M-I-T-T-A.
It has sometimes come down into the present times in the meditation traditions of Buddhism to refer to only one example of the symptom of meditation. I’m not going to bother you with what that one example is because it’s really an example of what comes out of a very particular way of practicing meditation. In the ancient world, there were just lots of symptoms, evidence for what happens as we meditate. Whatever it is, whatever the symptoms are, what shifts and changes is meant to support the practice.
One of the words that I associate with this is “beauty,” and the Buddha talked about becoming skilled in the beauty of Samadhi because these symptoms that we have, this evidence, have a beauty to them, or a pleasure to them, or a rightness or goodness to them. Sometimes they feel healthy; there’s a healthfulness that comes along with them. The idea is to be sensitive to them and include them as part of the range of what we’re aware of as we meditate.
Generally, what I suggest is not to take them as the focus of meditation. Don’t get preoccupied or caught in them. Even though they feel good, some people are pumping them up, trying to make them stronger. But the idea is the symptoms that feel calmer, more subtle, are often associated, as we get deeper, with different sensations, feelings, even emotions that are quite pleasant, like joy and happiness, and a lot of pleasure, a physical kind of sense of pleasure that flows or radiates from the meditation itself.
So rather than focusing on them or being preoccupied with them or drawing conclusions from them or congratulating yourself for them being there, the idea is to take them as cheerleaders that say, “Continue what you’re doing. What you’re doing is good.” And let them be there on the edges, supporting you, guiding you. Sometimes what you can feel is that, like with the breathing, with the rhythm of breathing, you can feel that as you kind of follow that rhythm and get more absorbed and more intimate with it, you can feel that it has a growing effect on the evidence, on the nimitta, on the wider effect that it has on your body, mind, and heart.
There can be tingling in the body, there can be a sense of wonderful, delightful humming or vibration. There can be a feeling of things becoming lighter and softer, translucent. The body seems to become… the inside of the body can start feeling like it’s a vast, wonderful kind of cavern or great space. Feeling more and more space is one of these evidences of the mind entering Samadhi.
Sometimes some people will feel that the mind seems to become very expansive. The narrow mind, the contracted mind, is often a sign of preoccupation, being caught in something. As we’re less caught, the mind starts feeling more expansive, and that’s this evidence, the sign. Sometimes people use the word “sign” quite a bit for what I’m talking about: the symptom, the sign, the evidence.
Sometimes there can be strong sensations, a flow of pleasure. Sometimes it has a flowing feeling in the body, sometimes it has a pulsing feeling in the body. And sometimes, in intense ways, it can feel like a cascading waterfall or breaking waves of pleasure that rush through the body. So it can be strong, but it doesn’t have to be strong. In some ways, it can be more useful if it’s not so strong. Some people push it and try to make these things strong, but just well enough that it supports the mind to get quieter, supports the seeing or following the trail that’s opening up in front of us as we meditate—a trail onward leading to a feeling of… each person can choose their own word to describe this: a feeling of coming home, a feeling of intimacy, a feeling of being deeply calm and at ease, a feeling of being peaceful, a feeling of kind of being absorbed, gathering together and being really here in a wholehearted way, in a whole-body way, and whole-minded way. This feeling of being complete and whole right with our experience.
Sometimes the symptom can be in the inner eye or the eyes. It can seem like seeing light. Sometimes it can be white light. Some people will see different color lights. Sometimes the colored lights are shifting and changing in different kinds of patterns or something. Again, it’s best not to get focused on those things that can be quite entertaining or interesting if it’s colors. But the idea is to always let these things, these symptoms, be in the periphery, as if saying, almost like encouragements, “Yes, this is a sign that the meditation is going well. Let’s not get involved with the signs, let’s not get preoccupied with them, and let’s just keep the course, hold the course, don’t get distracted by them.”
Some of the signs and symptoms will settle away over time and disappear, to be replaced by others. Some might get stronger before they settle away and disappear. And generally, the momentum and movement of Samadhi is a movement towards more calm, more peace, more simplicity, greater and greater simplicity that feels very, very satisfying to have.
So these signs, symptoms, can start occurring at the very beginning when you first sit down, especially if you’re used to a familiar and comfortable posture to sit down into when you meditate. The familiarity, the regularity of assuming this posture means that almost immediately we can start feeling something is beginning to shift in a good way. We’re a little calmer, the body softens and relaxes. There’s a feeling of the body being aligned. Some people don’t really live in a really good, aligned posture in ordinary life, but in meditation, it can feel so good to take that kind of a posture that’s upright and aligned.
Anything that feels good about the posture, then about relaxing, centering oneself on the breathing, kind of resting in the settling place, like a grounding place… any way in which it feels good for the mind to be attentive. This is where the art of Samadhi has a lot to do with the art of learning how to use our attention in a way that we enjoy, that feels nice. If we’re jerking the mind around, if we’re pouncing on ourselves because we’ve wandered off, and that’s not good, and we’re then straining and bearing down like we’re desperate to be concentrated—that’s not beautiful, that’s not enjoyable, that’s not a pleasant way of being aware. But to find a way that’s pleasant to be aware, so the mind wants to be aware in the present moment, so the mind is more interested in being attentive to the present than it is to be preoccupied in thoughts.
All of what I’m describing can be understood as being the symptoms and signs that the meditation is beginning to create a good context, a good feeling within. Sometimes it could be subtler than some of the difficult feelings that we have. It isn’t that we want to push the difficult feelings away or condemn them or something, but to feel any of these subtler signs of calm or subtleness or goodness or receptivity that’s there, that becomes a way to hold what’s difficult. That’s a way to relate to it, that’s a way of caring for it in a nice kind of container and a nice attitude, so that the difficulties we have are being tended, being cared for, being nurtured by love, by care, by kindness, by spaciousness, by allowing them to be there in a soft, accepting way. And there’s a kind of a sense of the beauty of it, or the calm or the pleasure of meditation, that maybe allows what’s difficult to soften by itself, to be felt in a different context so we’re not so caught in it or troubled by it.
So, the signs of meditation, the nimitta, the evidence of it, of what’s happening—there’s an art to learning how to gently, modestly use them to support the gathering together, the unification, the settling, the onward-leading nature of meditation as we start entering into the world of Samadhi, where we’re entering into kind of a new space, a new way of being for the duration of Samadhi.
So thank you very much. And may you… I’m very fond of this idea of the word “whisperer,” like a horse whisperer. And so may you be the whisperer of your Samadhi. And may you respectfully care and listen and sense the things that are often overlooked so that you can settle more deeply into the practice. So thank you very much, and we’ll continue tomorrow.
Samadhi: A state of meditative consciousness. It is a meditative absorption or trance, achieved by the practice of dhyāna (meditation). ↩
Nimitta: A Pāli word meaning “sign,” “mark,” or “image” that can arise in the mind during meditation. It can refer to a wide range of sensory and mental experiences that indicate a deepening of concentration. ↩