Blue light

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
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greggorious
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Blue light

Post by greggorious »

What is this blue light I keep seeing while I'm doing Samadha? Usually it's central but sometimes it can consume all my vision, as though it's washing over me.
"The original heart/mind shines like pure, clear water with the sweetest taste. But if the heart is pure, is our practice over? No, we must not cling even to this purity. We must go beyond all duality, all concepts, all bad, all good, all pure, all impure. We must go beyond self and nonself, beyond birth and death. When we see with the eye of wisdom, we know that the true Buddha is timeless, unborn, unrelated to any body, any history, any image. Buddha is the ground of all being, the realization of the truth of the unmoving mind.” Ajahn Chah
Nyana
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Re: Blue light

Post by Nyana »

greggorious wrote:What is this blue light I keep seeing while I'm doing Samadha? Usually it's central but sometimes it can consume all my vision, as though it's washing over me.
Just a light nimitta. I get the same, especially the latter part of your description of it "washing over me." It's very easy to get attached to such experiences, but they are adventitious and impermanent like anything else.
David2
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Re: Blue light

Post by David2 »

greggorious wrote:while I'm doing Samadha?
You mean while you're doing samatha (meditation) (to develop samadhi). :smile:
perkele
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Re: Blue light

Post by perkele »

Ñāṇa wrote:
greggorious wrote:What is this blue light I keep seeing while I'm doing Samadha? Usually it's central but sometimes it can consume all my vision, as though it's washing over me.
Just a light nimitta. I get the same, especially the latter part of your description of it "washing over me." It's very easy to get attached to such experiences, but they are adventitious and impermanent like anything else.
Hello!
I'm not an experienced meditator. I never had a nimitta. So just an uninformed question based on what I've recently heard in this Dhamma talk video by the Venerable Sayalay Dipankara: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYsoi46coA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. She starts talking about the nimitta after about four minutes. Maybe it's interesting.
According to what she says it seems the "danger" so to speak with the nimitta if you want to establish a stable foundation in Jhana is to get too fast into the "absorption" (that is the "washing over you"?). She says that one should keep with the nimitta for a very long time to establish it very firmly and explains how to do that. So according to her one should not get absorbed very fast and then stay with the joy and happiness that comes from that for as long as it lasts but instead to keep the nimitta "fixed in front" as far as I understand for a very long time until one goes into the absorption.
Is my understanding of the absorption being what you both describe as the "washing over you" correct?
Just trying to get a picture of what real meditation is like.
Metta
perkele
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Viscid
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Re: Blue light

Post by Viscid »

I get the same thing. ( http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9158" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) It used to be very interesting and exciting, but it gets fairly mundane when you see it all the time and seems to actually 'mean' very little.. (i.e. it's just visual phenomenon) I've found it only to be a vague indicator of decent concentration.
"What holds attention determines action." - William James
Nyana
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Re: Blue light

Post by Nyana »

perkele wrote:Just trying to get a picture of what real meditation is like.
Light nimittas are just adventitious side-effects of the development of samādhi that occur for some people. And although some teachers emphasize using the occurrence of light nimittas, these phenomena are not essential for samatha.
danieLion
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Re: Blue light

Post by danieLion »

Mine's purple. They're right. It's nothing. Might not even qualify as nimitta.
Goodwill
Daniel
perkele
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Re: Blue light

Post by perkele »

Ñāṇa wrote:Light nimittas are just adventitious side-effects of the development of samādhi that occur for some people. And although some teachers emphasize using the occurrence of light nimittas, these phenomena are not essential for samatha.
Okay. Thank you.
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marc108
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Re: Blue light

Post by marc108 »

from what i understand the 'washing over you' lights are pretty common even in beginning meditators. i always thought this was prana because it moves with the breath. :smile:
"It's easy for us to connect with what's wrong with us... and not so easy to feel into, or to allow us, to connect with what's right and what's good in us."
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reflection
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Re: Blue light

Post by reflection »

It might be a nimatta as others said, but it doesn't have to be. You mention the word vision, but a nimatta is not a thing seen by the eye; it is an image of the mind. So if the blue light is really seen with your eyes, it may be your sense of sight doing funny things (which is also nothing to be worried about) and it is not a nimatta. If it is an image of the mind, it is in a way very different from previous experiences. This is important to consider, so you don't start focussing on the wrong things.

With metta,
Reflection
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