Disappearing body & parts

[Humanb]

During meditation i have noticed that sometimes parts of my body will disappear, mostly it starts in my hands but in deep meditation my whole body will disappear along with my environment. Sometimes admittedly i fall asleep in meditation and i know when this happens because i will loose my focus and wake up in a semi dreaming state which dissipates when i open my eyes.

When parts of my body disappear i am aware of my environment and i am aware that the parts still exist but i can't feel them like a peaceful numbness has taken over them, this only usually happens when i meditate on Emptiness (with the techniques the monks taught me.) i can see how this could be helpful and it could definitely be a meditation that could be constantly practiced, thus relieving oneself from self grasping ignorance (The root of all suffering according to Buddha.)

But sometimes when i have a particularly good focus on the breath i will enter what i believe is the void of existence, i don't know when i am in this state of emptiness until i return and when i return my body is tingling gently, i feel at peace when i return. This experience only happens when i achieve an ultimate relaxed state and tends to last around 20/30 minutes.

Now, i follow Buddhism and i have received many teachings on Emptiness and i have spoken with the monks at the temple about experiences of total body and mind Dissipation and they have told me that what i am experiencing isn't emptiness and actually i have let my mind go blank, apparently this isn't a helpful practice. This is when i started practicing meditation on Emptiness, something which i didn't really have much experience in because in meditation i am much used to becoming thoughtless.

Anyway, i am just wondering what you think.. I have posted about this before but i realized i can now explain my experiences in a more understandable and straight forward way.

[Light Seeker]

In meditation , consciousness projects and leaves the materially manifest (your body). Perhaps then it would be acceptable to shed the Body..I am thinking of Rockets here ..As a very weak analogy. When a Rocket leaves the atmosphere it sheds it's outer casing. I seem to think that as your consciousness departs your physical head/heart that the body (a host for transitory consciousness ) falls away also.

[Silver]

I've heard of that happening to people - I don't take a shine to straight meditation but I do practice mindfulness which has helped me immensely. I'm glad you don't feel frightened when this happens.

[Kylie<3]

This happens to me too! I always just thought it was what happened to everyone who meditates? But thank you for putting it into words, bc I've never been able to quite as well as you have.

[Humanb]

Originally Posted by Silver

I'm glad you don't feel frightened when this happens.

Well, in this state i am no longer aware i am a being, there is no self to experience fear.

Originally Posted by Kylie<3

This happens to me too! I always just thought it was what happened to everyone who meditates? But thank you for putting it into words, bc I've never been able to quite as well as you have.

As far as i am aware, the meditation that leads to experiencing a void of self and environment is a constant focus on the breath, now this is something that is included in a lot of types of meditation but Buddhism for example focuses on using concentration on thought to change the self. The monks do use concentration on the breath but this is at the start of the meditation to quieten the mind.

Buddha actually says "What we think, we become." Which i'm sure me, you and others who experience this void can understand because when we meditate on the breath we reduce our thoughts right down until we are no longer thinking anything at all, this is when our self becomes nothing.

I can see why it might not be that beneficial permanently because although we are attaining some peace from non-experience we aren't actually improving our mind by meditating on positive thought.

With that in mind (Pun not intended haha), i still enjoy retreating into the void (As i like to call it.) as it often releases a lot of stress. but i deviate between meditating on emptiness and meditating on the breath. (Sounds a little confusing because emptiness sounds very much like the void but it is different.)

[Flute]

Originally Posted by Humanb

During meditation i have noticed that sometimes parts of my body will disappear, mostly it starts in my hands but in deep meditation my whole body will disappear along with my environment. Sometimes admittedly i fall asleep in meditation and i know when this happens because i will loose my focus and wake up in a semi dreaming state which dissipates when i open my eyes.

When parts of my body disappear i am aware of my environment and i am aware that the parts still exist but i can't feel them like a peaceful numbness has taken over them, this only usually happens when i meditate on Emptiness (with the techniques the monks taught me.) i can see how this could be helpful and it could definitely be a meditation that could be constantly practiced, thus relieving oneself from self grasping ignorance (The root of all suffering according to Buddha.)

But sometimes when i have a particularly good focus on the breath i will enter what i believe is the void of existence, i don't know when i am in this state of emptiness until i return and when i return my body is tingling gently, i feel at peace when i return. This experience only happens when i achieve an ultimate relaxed state and tends to last around 20/30 minutes.

Now, i follow Buddhism and i have received many teachings on Emptiness and i have spoken with the monks at the temple about experiences of total body and mind Dissipation and they have told me that what i am experiencing isn't emptiness and actually i have let my mind go blank, apparently this isn't a helpful practice. This is when i started practicing meditation on Emptiness, something which i didn't really have much experience in because in meditation i am much used to becoming thoughtless.

Anyway, i am just wondering what you think.. I have posted about this before but i realized i can now explain my experiences in a more understandable and straight forward way.

Yes very similar to my own experiences of body parts disappearing and the void. In the moment of such experiences I have an acute awareness that what I would describe as my True self is in fact separate from this material form and body. In regards to what the monks have said regarding your experience I can't say - the experiences you describe I have always felt to be positive moments on my own journey.

[Humanb]

Originally Posted by Flute

Yes very similar to my own experiences of body parts disappearing and the void. In the moment of such experiences I have an acute awareness that what I would describe as my True self is in fact separate from this material form and body. In regards to what the monks have said regarding your experience I can't say - the experiences you describe I have always felt to be positive moments on my own journey.

I think the reason why the monks say its not helpful is because Buddha actually experienced this in meditation at the very start of his journey, but he wasn't happy with the experience because once he had finished meditating his body and mind appeared to him once again and he was back in Samsara (eternal place of suffering)

The experience of the void makes me feel very peaceful and alert and it definitely rids me of stress, as well as the fear of dying.. Because although i can't feel anything in the void, its not horrible because i have no mind to process the non-existence of self. This or re-incarnation are the only two possibilities after death and i have experienced them both.

[Miss Hepburn]

I love reading about your experience Humanb!