Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

Am I experiencing "vibrations"? I suspect not, but I just want to be sure. Talk of vibrations seems ubiquitous here, and I figure I might actually be experiencing them and just haven't labeled them as such.

I experience while meditating:
1. a flickering shimmer that overlays my vision when my eyes are open. (blatently obvious)
2. a fuzzy buzz that overlays my sense of touch. (blatently obvious)
3. an ever-so-subtle static underneath my hearing (I'm not sure if this one's really there)
4. a fizzing and shimmering sensation within my body (your basic qi/chi/energy/etc.) (blatently obvious)
5. the subtle twitching in my vision when my eyes are open from the continuous movement of my eyeballs (blatently obvious)
6. "pre-talk" buzz. it's absolutely non-verbal, but it has the "flavor" of internal talk
7. "pre-visual static." I'm not seeing anything visual in my mind's eye, but it has the faintest flavor of three-dimensional structure.

All those things being said, visual objects are pretty "solid." Verbal inner talk is pretty "solid." When I touch an object, it feels pretty "solid." Only external sounds have the faintest sense of evaporating into semi-solid pieces when I focus hard enough.

Am I experiencing "vibrations?" Whether I am or not, how should I proceed? Should I continue to verbally note at a rapid clip?

Author: marinr

Hi Mark

In my experience, 'vibrations' are just another word for 'three characteristics'. I didn't worry much about what sensations I was experiencing (your description sounds a bit to complicated for me ), I just did it very rapidly. At one point I clearly understood that the mind is not different from the vibrations, and that took me straight to the 'blissed out' A&P. After that the mind and body were just 'vibrating' with everything automatically.

Hope this description was useful.

Marin

I'll tell you how I understand and experience this, but I'm not entirely sure if this is "correct", and would appreciate feedback from someone if it is not accurate.

I feel that what is being communicated by the term vibrations is the dance between form and emptiness - a subtle switching of perspective of consciousness itself between the perception and pure mind that takes place extremely rapidly. So it's no actual sensation which comprises the flickering but rather the discontinuity of the sensations themselves.

So the only one that really sounds like what I experience is #1 except for the fact you say it's "blatantly obvious."

Does that help?
David

yes those are all examples of vibrations. basically man, a vibration is anything that pulses or comes and goes.

i agree with what marin said, as well as what david said, even though the latter is a bit too head-y and theoretical heavy for me to find it useful in real-time.

my advice would be to just proceed by noticing that whatever you notice is coming and going and pay closer attention to the solid stuff without getting neurotic about it. verbally note if you want, drop it if your continuity is good and stick with the stuff that's happening.. don't worry about what sense door things are happening at or what forms they take. at some point, when you're ready, let your intuition take over.

Thanks all. I'm curious for other perspectives, too.

This is something I look forward to speaking to my teacher, Dan Brown, about when I enter a week long retreat in mid January. I'll share my experiences and would welcome feedback and impressions. Since my last week-long Mahamudra retreat (3/08), I've been aware of a quality that arises both on and off the cushion that I can best describe as a sound that my ears don't hear and a sensation that my body doesn't feel. It has a vibratory quality and the only thing I'm able to conclude is that it's mind/awareness itself, though I'm also suspicious of this interpretation because mind can't be an object, so it's confusing. Yet I don't doubt that it's "spiritual", vapid as that adjective might be.

I like to pictorially represent "vibrations" through a couple of analogies. Hopefully one strikes home for you.

There are 4 parts to this dial-up internet analogy! I'll place each side by side and make a quick/ugly picture:
Analog telephone wave signal ("vibrations"), modem (interpretive language), digital signal (communicable objects), computer ("mind") [[~~~wave signal~~~~~[MODEM] 101010digital signal1010 [Computer]]]

The "vibrations" are like the unsifted wave signal from the telephone line. The computer cannot manipulate this data unless it converts the wave into distinguishable, "absolute" bits. The same is sort of true for the mind. You can "feel" the vibrations come in, but what you are feeling is somewhat pre-processed and "raw," before the mind acts. The "mind-field/perception" (perception of phenomenal, "human reality") is the "knot of reality" as it forms the senses into a digital signal (gestalt objects) for your mind to read/store/etc. Although this analogy has a lot of holes in it, it may help you conceptualize what is or isn't going on.

A similar pop-culture reference may help also. Consider the matrix code feed! (http://files.myopera.com/mysurface/albums/22882/thumbs/1matrix.png_thumb.jpg). Think of each vertical string as one "word" or one gestalt object, such as the breath. Now look at each weird little character that makes up that string-- imagine those weird characters are "vibrations." They may have a sort of "sense" quality to them, because that is what they are. It may "feel" like something because it is a "vibration from the touch field," for example. Really dig into this and explore the characteristics, patterns, etc. etc.

Again, there are holes in these sorts of explanations, but perhaps they help put you on the right track =).

Author: JefeStock

Hello!
I've had some experiences that I think could help you define vibrations better, and if I'm wrong then I'm trusting you experienced meditaters to point it out ;)

I was waiting for the bus one day and I was watching all the splashes that show up on the the puddles. When I started to concentrate more closely I noticed that the splashes came in different frames of imagery, like a series of pictures flashing one after another. Logically, you'd think that it was impossible for 10 different splashes to all happen at exactly the same time and then 10 different splashes appearing next instant and so on. You'd think that you would notice each of those 10 drops splashing at their own particular moment, but they were all grouped together in a frame. I believe that these different frames are vibrations.

Here's an experiment for you to see if you can see this for yourself: when you take a shower, look at the streams of water coming out of the shower head. You will notice how the light reflects off of the stream in many different sparkles and refractions. Try to concentrate closely enough that you can notice how the sparkles come in different sets of frames or "vibrations" instead of each coming and going independently in its own time. You can also look at water coming out of a faucet if that's to weird for you

This was quite enlightening for me.
hopefully this helps

excellent examples and method, thanks for contributing. the first time i noticed this was looking at the little waves and light reflections on the ocean. it came at the right time and was so calming the memory's stuck with me over the years.