Internal sound

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  micro 6 years, 4 months ago.

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  • #2266

    micro
    Member

    Hi,

    I hear a continous high pitched sound in my left ear. In my right ear, there is a faint morse-like sound that turns into high pitched frequency when I listen to it. On my recent Mahasi retreat I used these sounds with good results – I even got few seconds of jhana with internal sound as the object. Problem is, I don’t remember what was my technique – my practice was chaotic.

    My question is, what should I do now? Focus on one sound? Both? Focus also on the visual field (it’s morphing and produces different images / animations). I’m a bit confused by the amount of stuff that is happening. Please advise how to proceed.

    #2267

    Blake Barton
    Keymaster

    Hi Micro,

    Can you provide some more information about your practice, so that we can better help you?

    What exactly do you mean by the following? “I don’t remember what was my technique – my practice was chaotic”

    Are you following the techniques in The Mind Illuminated (TMI). If so, did you work with the breath before you switched to internal sound? What was going on in your meditation practice when you followed the breath?

    The general approach in TMI is to focus you attention on one object and let everything else be in the background in your peripheral awareness.

    Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher

    #2268

    micro
    Member

    Hi Blake,

    On retreat, at first I focused on breath sensations in the nostrils. After about a week these sensations became hard to find / focus on, so I switched to internal sounds / vibrations at the tip of the nose / energy on the upper lip (below the nose). I don’t remember the exact combination of focus points / objects.

    When I followed the breath (and later other objetcs), energy started to dissolve my face. I was able to move energy over the whole body (it felt like dispersed misty cloud of cool energy). There was a lot of piti on the skull. Dissolution did not move into other places, it stayed in the face.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by  micro.
    #2270

    Blake Barton
    Keymaster

    Hi Micro,

    In this practice you generally want to have one object on which you rest attention, and let everything else be in the background. You want to have a clear intention about what your meditation object is. For example, you would either choose the inner sound or the vibratory sensations at the nose. I recommend picking one object at the beginning of your meditation session and sticking with that for the duration of the session. Inner sound is a valid meditation object. If you are focusing on the sensations caused by the breath or inner sound, I recommend letting any visual phenomena be the background of awareness.

    Since the sensations at the nose and lip are in such close proximity you may feel both at the same time as a field of sensation, and this is fine. You can have the intention to focus on one or the other in the foreground, but it is OK if you also notice the other one.

    I would argue that if you were feeling vibrations at the nostrils or upper lip that this was probably caused by the breath. At first the breath is very conceptual, but as your practice progresses, it becomes the noticing of increasingly subtle vibratory sensations.

    It seems that you may have lacked clarity during portions of your retreat. You may be been overemphasizing stabilizing attention at the expense of developing peripheral awareness. I would recommend reading the First Interlude in The Mind Illuminated.

    Breath sensations tend to get more subtle as the practice progresses, particularly on retreat. In order to increase your clarity you might try experimenting with the Body Scanning practice presented in Stage Five of The Mind Illuminated.

    Please let me know if you have follow-up questions

    Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher

    #2271

    micro
    Member

    Will try and report back, thanks.

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