1
00:00:00,031 --> 00:00:10,203
Difficult to describe in short, in meditation my chin sank to the breast, then my head started describing a certain kind of orbiting, circling, and tilting.

2
00:00:11,946 --> 00:00:18,073
And he goes on to describe that particular tilting motion.

3
00:00:19,194 --> 00:00:23,600
Vibrating or rocking would it be, or no?

4
00:00:24,020 --> 00:00:27,945
Slow and small increments felt like the outside of his head was orbiting

5
00:00:29,309 --> 00:00:34,174
Well, inside there is a fixed and stable mass, this sort of thing.

6
00:00:36,457 --> 00:00:37,018
Piti.

7
00:00:37,038 --> 00:00:40,722
This is generally referred to as piti, a part of rapture.

8
00:00:42,143 --> 00:00:43,725
Rapture comes in meditation.

9
00:00:43,745 --> 00:00:46,808
If you're in a course, it comes after a few days.

10
00:00:48,510 --> 00:00:52,375
Not for everyone, but if it comes, it comes after a few days, maybe five days, let's say.

11
00:00:53,356 --> 00:00:58,101
And so for some people, piti is getting caught up.

12
00:00:59,279 --> 00:01:16,427
getting in falling into a habit or becoming accustomed you might say like falling into a rut but it can be positive you can fall into the rut of meditation like get into the groove this is the word you get into a groove

13
00:01:16,643 --> 00:01:35,884
and so if it's with some mindfulness then it's quite useful you're enraptured in just being mindful and the mindfulness becomes easier and easier and clearer and clearer but if you get in a groove like this this person's talking about

14
00:01:36,252 --> 00:02:01,753
it it's just a dead end it doesn't lead anywhere so you get into a group many people rock back and forth this is what is most common some people slowly slowly go in one direction until they're lying on their back or so and yeah some people start to go in circles so you have something like that um it's this is this is the point

15
00:02:02,527 --> 00:02:10,242
One of the more crucial points of the meditation practice, according to the Visuddhi Manga, called , where one

16
00:02:10,610 --> 00:02:20,479
purifies one's knowledge and vision by making a decision or gaining understanding of what is and what is not the path.

17
00:02:20,839 --> 00:02:34,672
So at this point the meditator doesn't know what is the path and what is not the path and they have to clarify for themselves or realize for themselves and get themselves on the right path and stop following the wrong path.

18
00:02:35,332 --> 00:02:39,216
So at this point the meditator will be

19
00:02:39,466 --> 00:02:43,432
afflicted by these sorts of experiences and will take them to be the path.

20
00:02:43,492 --> 00:02:45,194
They will have lots of energy sometimes.

21
00:02:46,316 --> 00:03:00,896
That video I did called What the Meditation is Not, I don't think it was actually quite... The problem with that was I still didn't have a partner account, so I only took 10 minutes to talk about something that probably should have taken maybe 20 or a half an hour.

22
00:03:00,936 --> 00:03:06,885
I've given audio talks on the 10 imperfections of insight, I think.

23
00:03:06,905 --> 00:03:08,066
Maybe I can find one of those.

24
00:03:09,188 --> 00:03:09,388
But

25
00:03:09,672 --> 00:03:13,157
Otherwise, I'll try to do another video about the ten imperfections.

26
00:03:14,299 --> 00:03:17,143
If you look it up on the internet, you might find it.

27
00:03:20,869 --> 00:03:26,037
But they're basically, they count ten categories of things that can come.

28
00:03:26,077 --> 00:03:35,832
You feel very happy, you feel very calm, you have these rapturous experiences, you get a lot of energy, you have a very strong

29
00:03:36,267 --> 00:03:51,090
or you gain knowledge, or you realize many things that you didn't think of before, how to run your life, or even things about Buddhist teaching and meditation, and you get caught up in these experiences and run with them.

30
00:03:51,531 --> 00:04:01,026
And so rather than being mindful of them and being objective about them, you cling to them, subtly cling to them, and as a result get off track.

31
00:04:02,255 --> 00:04:07,122
So the key is this teaching that I mentioned yesterday.

32
00:04:07,142 --> 00:04:09,586
Always remember this is not that.

33
00:04:10,227 --> 00:04:12,411
And always remind yourself this is not that.

34
00:04:13,092 --> 00:04:14,474
Whatever it is, it's not that.

35
00:04:15,796 --> 00:04:23,347
And it should be observed objectively just as anything else.

36
00:04:24,249 --> 00:04:30,979
This is the task that we're given in the meditation is to

37
00:04:32,393 --> 00:04:41,710
to set ourselves in objectivity and to become purely aware and to give up our partialities and our subjectivity.

38
00:04:45,958 --> 00:04:47,601
Does that seem to answer what they were talking about?

39
00:04:49,424 --> 00:04:51,648
I guess they continue on.

40
00:04:51,668 --> 00:04:56,697
They said it sort of felt like a trance, but they're not sure.

41
00:04:56,744 --> 00:05:25,890
don't worry about trance put it out of your mind let's talk about meditation there's too much in Buddhism about trances and jhanas as far as I'm concerned jhana is meditate if your mind becomes calm, great if it doesn't become calm, great if your mind becomes calm, that's your mind being calm if your mind becomes clear that's your mind becoming clear good things, great things, don't give them labels don't say this, this, this, that, this, that it is what it is you'll do the best that way

42
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,284
It's my opinion, but there, I knew it.

43
00:05:29,626 --> 00:05:30,268
It is what it is.

44
00:05:31,229 --> 00:05:31,770
That's the key.

45
00:05:31,790 --> 00:05:32,792
I mean, I can call it piti.

46
00:05:32,812 --> 00:05:33,874
You can call it a trance.

47
00:05:34,436 --> 00:05:35,798
In the end, what's going on?

48
00:05:36,059 --> 00:05:36,820
See it for what it is.

49
00:05:37,622 --> 00:05:44,014
One thing that I've said, and I think it bears repeating, is that sometimes you have to tell it to stop.

50
00:05:45,175 --> 00:05:55,266
These piti or rapturous states that you get into, they become very, very physical where you're not really in charge of it anymore.

51
00:05:55,286 --> 00:05:59,218
So you have to really make a demand on your body and tell yourself, stop.

52
00:06:00,447 --> 00:06:09,040
Sometimes it's not enough to say spinning, spinning, or feeling, feeling, because it's already gotten on its way.

53
00:06:09,701 --> 00:06:11,243
You have to actually tell it to stop.

54
00:06:11,383 --> 00:06:17,633
And if you say stop in your mind, and just firmly and politely, no, no, stop.

55
00:06:17,653 --> 00:06:18,894
Tell it to stop.

56
00:06:18,935 --> 00:06:22,780
And then go on with your meditation.

57
00:06:24,563 --> 00:06:25,324
I think I've...

58
00:06:25,473 --> 00:06:28,758
experienced a sort of thing that he's describing.

59
00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:32,924
And like you said, it's kind of a physical thing.

60
00:06:33,686 --> 00:06:38,092
I don't think it's really meditation at all.

61
00:06:38,132 --> 00:06:41,818
It's just kind of a physical phenomenon.

62
00:06:41,838 --> 00:06:54,197
I mean, there is the mental part of it, but it's very subtle to...

63
00:06:55,122 --> 00:06:56,909
The attachment can be very subtle.

64
00:06:58,616 --> 00:07:03,274
Sometimes you just have to give yourself a slap in the face and say, stop.

65
00:07:03,294 --> 00:07:03,816
Back to work.