Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

Hi Guys

Have been lurking for some time off and on ... anyway Daniels own friendly fire at the forum and an old fellow-retreatent looking worried together made me breka cover :-D

Anyway I have never found any group that was hardcore enough or young enough to ask this question to... so here goes.

So by video games I mean the old-fashioned sort - kinda space invaders or tertris or a more modern example Luxor... By nimitta - well ya'll know that one.

So I have found too often (but not that often in recent decades as waste less of my life lol) that after overdoing it when I shut my eyes, go to sleep etc etc I can see the darned little critters doing their things.

Of course the simple "traditional" answer here is "irrelevant and unconnected" .. however there may be some deep connection. Certainly if one focuses on the virtual thingies its a samatha object (but as they move around I suspect not one of the best lol). Not that I am suggesting this as a meditation object of course ... more just one of those "bottom drawer" curiosities of no particular importance whatsoever ... one of those leaves that was far away in the forest from the Buddhas hand :-)

kind regards and may all beings be happy!

Mike

Hi Mike,
I guess it's a lot like having a tune stuck in one's ear.

Have you tried to do noting practice on the visual thingies? When noting on a stuck tune, I usually get a kind of strobing, wobbling effect. I wonder how the visual object would respond.

Cheers,
Florian

Hi Florian

Thanks for indulging me on this one :-)

Yes interesting connection ... i hadnt made a connection with those ear-worms (German has a good word for it of which that is the translation) ... used to get it a lot, less so these days but am still carefull what I play in the car when dirving to retreats ... nothing "catchy" for sure :-D

So in Shinzen Young terms we are talking about mind-created objects in visual and aural mind-space. In this case based on prior sense contact. I have forgotten (and never done it) what the kasina nimittas are as I guess that would be the nearest parallel (some simpler video games being equivalent to watching loads of little tiny kasinas run around a screen :-D)

I have tried looking at them but either get too annoyed (with them and myself for having overdone it lol) or they disappear ... as its a rare occurence these days and not done it near a retreat never kind of checked it out "on the cushion" as it were.

Fascintaing about your kind of strobing effect on the ear-worms .. cool.

kind regards

Mike

Hi Mike,

The kasina nimitta I get is an irregular-shaped, hard-edged dot - sometimes bright, sometimes dark, against the background of the kasina after-image. It's a visually real object, as opposed to the daydreamlike (but nonetheless very vivid) visual "ear-worms" you described (and which I also remember from my video gaming days).

Getting annoyed at them - dukkha. Their disappearing - anicca.

Cheers,
Florian