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4, modified 3 Years ago at 1/6/21 9:58 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 5/27/18 4:40 PM

4

Posts: 18 Join Date: 5/3/18 Recent Posts
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Chris M, modified 5 Years ago at 5/27/18 6:28 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 5/27/18 6:28 PM

RE: Was that it?

Posts: 5117 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
As you describe it I'd wager that what you experienced was an A&P event. Here's some information from Daniel Ingram about A&P:

http://integrateddaniel.info/the-arising-and-passing-away/
T DC, modified 5 Years ago at 5/27/18 10:12 PM
Created 5 Years ago at 5/27/18 10:12 PM

RE: Was that it?

Posts: 516 Join Date: 9/29/11 Recent Posts
It sounds like possible Stream Entry to me, at least the way I define it.  Some things that stood out in your description were: 

1.  That it happened out of the blue.  Given that you weren't activly striving for an attainment, it's less likely to be 'in your head'.
2.  The synching / merging + the 'fwipp' sound is highly reminiscent of the sort of percepetual experience that occurs with genuine attainment - at all levels.
3.  The fact that you immediately had a major bliss wave - note 2 seems significant, and that it was followed by a major bliss wave seems to line up pretty clearly with the way MCTB stream entry is decribed and experienced.
4.  That you feel residually chilled out - this is a noteable characteristic of stream entry.  Certainly it fades somewhat in strength, but you should notice a permenant, if subtle, shift in baseline experience.

I experinced stream entry in a text book way - followed the cycle of insight up to equanimity, got lost in thought, had a gap in experience then a bliss wave.  I know other people who I'm sure also got stream entry, but experienced it differently from myself (also, neither was following MCTB, and one was largely wholly unaware of it).  What convinced me that they had gained it was their description of a meditative shift / insight, followed by a weight being lifted, and a post-experience chill.  Your experince sounds disctintly similar. 

Another note - one way to test it is to practice running through the review cycle.  If you can call up repeated fruitions - resulting in a repeat exprience of body bliss - that's a good way to confirm it.  Generally speaking, additionally, concentation should now be somewhat enhanced.

(Sorry for the spelling!)
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Chris M, modified 5 Years ago at 5/28/18 7:49 AM
Created 5 Years ago at 5/28/18 7:43 AM

RE: Was that it?

Posts: 5117 Join Date: 1/26/13 Recent Posts
With the understanding that I'm not dismissing your dharma diagnosis: Could you maybe explain your reasoning for determining A&P? 

Please dismiss away if you prefer!

I was making an educated guess. Your narrative reminded me of many A&P events I had. Honestly, no one here really knows what happened to you because the range of experience is so broad among all practitioners. In my experience, there was a very big difference between A&P events and stream entry, that difference being a clear, undeniable cessation. What I wrote after the experience:

While observing an object in meditation – let’s say the breath entering and leaving my nostrils – I perceive a slow building of energy and focus. The in-breath starts to bring a very fine set of vibrations in the top of the head and an almost giddy mental feeling, sort of like a tiny whiff of laughing gas, that grows as the breath is drawn and until it is at its peak. The peak of the breath brings a sharp distinct break and when the out-breath starts that same energetic and finely vibrating giddy feeling resumes (this not a hyperventilation-like giddiness). Each successive breath slowly increases the intensity of these fine vibrations until a kind of crescendo is reached, at which point all the energy that has built up quickly flows to the observed object, appears to merge with the object and then FLASH!, an image appears, a complex image, for just a tiny fraction of a second, after which everything – and I do mean EVERYTHING – winks out of existence. Pure pitch black, silent nothingness ensues (no sound, no light, no feeling, no self, no perception of any kind) and lasts for about a second or so. Then awareness reappears anew. The impression after the second or so of nothingness reminds me of the rebooting of a computer. Everything is turned completely off and then restarts.

That said, people have different kinds of things happen to them and the only real way to diagnose them, if we can at all, is to wait and see. 
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spatial, modified 5 Years ago at 5/28/18 8:35 AM
Created 5 Years ago at 5/28/18 8:35 AM

RE: Was that it?

Posts: 614 Join Date: 5/20/18 Recent Posts
I don't believe I have ever experienced a cessation, so understand that I have no clue what I'm talking about. 

However, I do think that I have experienced events similar to what you describe. It sounds like you got really really absorbed in what you were observing. And, you were really tuned into all of your senses in that moment. And, you were probably so absorbed, that you were able to release a lot of unneccessary tension that you had been carrying around due to the rest of your human problems which you realized had nothing to do with the bird. 

The events which have happened to me, I can describe as something like "I never realized before how rich this particular experience is. I am actually OK being right here, right now, because this is enough for me." It is a very liberating feeling. I am assuming these are A&P events (I did think it was stream entry when I first read about stream entry).

Not sure if you relate to what I'm saying, but please feel free to ignore it if you don't!