..續本文上一頁 One simply has not experienced anything like it before. Nevertheless, the mental activity called ”perception” searches through its memory bank of life experiences for something even a little bit similar in order to supply a description to the mind. For most meditators, this ”disembodied beauty”, this mental joy, is perceived as a beautiful light. It is not a light. The eyes are closed and the sight consciousness has long been turned off. It is the mind consciousness freed for the first time from the world of the five senses. It is like the full moon, here standing for the radiant mind, coming out from behind the clouds, here standing for the world of the five senses. It is the mind manifesting, not alight, but for most it appears like a light, it is perceived as a light, because this imperfect description is the best that perception can offer.

　　For other meditators, perception chooses to describe this first appearance of mind in terms of physical sensation, such as intense tranquility or ecstasy. Again, the body consciousness (that which experiences pleasure and pain, heat and cold and so on) has long since closed down and this is not a physical feeling. It is just ”perceived” as similar to pleasure. Some see a white light, some a gold star, some a blue pearl... the important fact to know is that they are all describing the same phenomena. They all experience the same pure mental object and these different details are added by their different perceptions.

　　You can recognize a nimitta by the following six features:

　　1. It appears only after the fifth stage of the meditation, after the meditator has been with the beautiful breath for a long time;

　　2. It appears when the breath disappears;

　　3. It only comes when the external five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are completely absent;

　　4. It manifests only in the silent mind, when descriptive thoughts (inner speech) are totally absent;

　　5. It is strange but powerfully attractive; and

　　6. It is a beautifully simple object.

　　I mention these features so that you may distinguish real nimittas from imaginary ones.

　　 The sixth stage, then, is called experiencing the beautiful nimitta. It is achieved when one lets go of the body, thought, and the five senses (including the awareness of the breath) so completely that only the beautiful nimitta remains.

　　Sometimes when the nimitta first arises it may appear” dull”. In this case, one should immediately go back to the previous stage of the meditation, continuous silent awareness of the beautiful breath. One has moved to the nimitta too soon. Sometimes the nimitta is bright but unstable, flashing on and off like a lighthouse beacon and then disappearing. This too shows that you have left he beautiful breath too early. One must be able to sustain one”s attention on the beautiful breath with ease for a long, long time before the mind is capable of maintaining clear attention on the far more subtle nimitta. So train the mind on the beautiful breath, train it patiently and diligently, then when it is time to go on to the nimitta, it is bright, stable and easy to sustain.

　　The main reason why the nimitta can appear dull is that the depth of contentment is too shallow. You are still ”wanting” something. Usually, you are wanting the bright nimitta or you are wanting Jhana. Remember, and this is important, Jhanas are states of letting go, incredibly deep states of contentment. So give away the hungry mind, develop contentment on the beautiful breath and the nimitta and Jhana will happen by themselves.

　　Put another way, the reason why the nimitta is unstable is because the” doer” just will not stop interfering. The” doer” is the controller, the back seat driver, always getting involved where it does not belong and messing everythi…

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