003 Visions in Samadhi
One day, while using buddho in his meditation practice at Wat Liab, his mind became calm. There appeared an image[5] of a bloated, festering corpse, with vultures, crows and dogs scrambling after it in front of him, tearing it to pieces and scattering it all over. He felt a strong feeling of disgust and weariness. After the mind had withdrawn from this meditation image, he regularly kept it in his mind's eye during every moment of the night and day, be it walking, standing, sitting or lying. The meditation sittings that followed were also based on that corpse.[6] Continued contemplation on the corpse transformed it into a glass disc floating in front of him. With further contemplation of the disc came an endless panorama of a variety of objects and scenes, there being apparently an inexhaustible pattern of changes as a result of his 'chase' or curiosity, his insatiable desire to see what would come next. One moment he appeared to be climbing a high mountain, then he saw himself carrying a sword, wearing a pair of shoes, walking back and forth on the mountain. At another moment there appeared before him a wall with a door; he opened the door and saw a few bhikkhus meditating inside. Then the scene widened to show cliffs and caves nearby, some with hermits inside. Still at another moment he saw what seemed to be a cradle or basket being lowered from the cliff. He saw himself get into the basket and be lifted up the precipice and there he saw a big boat with a square table in it. The mountain was surrounded by a bright light. He then saw himself having a meal on the mountain. Such was how the ever-changing panorama unfurled itself before him, leading him nowhere.For three months an endless and indescribable pattern of change occurred during meditation, with no end in sight. The inward result was far from satisfactory. After such a sitting, the mind was just as susceptible to intruding and distracting influences driving him to spasmodic joys and sorrows as before. He could gain no poise or balance of mind from his meditation. He was then convinced that this certainly was NOT the right path leading to Deliverance. Otherwise, poise and peace of mind, not this emotional sensitivity, would have been the result. This kind of sensitivity, he thought, can be expected of an ordinary man who knows nothing of mind-development. It is certain, he concluded, that this chase or directing the attention towards external objects and events was against the principle of mind-development, thus depriving him of the inward bliss and peace that should have been expected.
Thenceforward he reversed his focus of attention, bringing it back to the body, making it traverse the whole body in different planes or dimensions--vertically and horizontally, upwards, downwards and sideways--always under the scrutinizing eye of mindfulness (sati). But most of his time was spent in walking meditation (jankamana). During his occasional meditation sittings he did not allow the mind to retreat to the condition of one-pointedness, but had it regularly contemplate the various parts of the body. The period of sleep was also preceded by meditation based on the body.