Why Do I Feel Cold, Get Goosebumps, or Suddenly Startle During Meditation?

Someone asked: sometimes while meditating I feel cold or get goosebumps, and sometimes I startle as if falling from a height, though I don't actually feel like I'm falling. What causes this?

The teacher explained that as we maintain steady, continuous awareness, impurities in the mind are gradually purified, and rapture (piti) can arise in many different forms, since some subtle impurity often still remains — which is why the sensations vary. The most common experience is a feeling of the body expanding and becoming light and comfortable. For some, that feeling shows up as cold or goosebumps — still a form of piti mixed with a trace of impurity. The startling sensation, or the feeling of falling without actually falling, is also a form of piti, arising as impurity in that particular spot is being cleared. Some people get frightened and stop meditating because of it, but with continued practice the impurity lightens and these sensations gradually fade away on their own.

Meditation is a gradual journey into finer and finer inner dimensions. It begins with establishing mindfulness, which can feel difficult at first simply because it's unfamiliar and there is still much impurity present. As awareness continues, the suffering caused by that impurity gradually eases, until the mind reaches a state that feels empty and open, with nothing there — which is simply because some subtle impurity still remains. Without understanding this, one might think nothing is happening and give up, when really one should keep the awareness going until the mind feels utterly clean. From there, rapture, calm (passaddhi), and then happiness or brightness arise in sequence. With continued purification, a bright sphere becomes visible, developing into a clear sphere and eventually a crystal-clear sphere.

With sustained practice, once one can hold the crystal sphere steady, it is brought to the center of the body. At this point some practitioners experience "falling into the center" — the elements dissolving and merging into one, drawing the practitioner into the inner sphere of dhamma. If excitement or fear arises, one slips back out, since entering the inner sphere requires a matching degree of refinement. What matters most is purifying impurity step by step, dimension by dimension. A human being's task is really just two things: to maintain steady awareness, and to keep that awareness unbroken. Everything else is handled by an automatic inner process that carries one progressively into finer dimensions.

How Can Focused Awareness Help Solve Everyday Problems?

Someone then asked how one might use this focused awareness to find answers to practical, everyday questions — such as troubleshooting a recipe.

The teacher explained: when we want to know something, we establish that still, aware state of mind and simply ask directly what we want to know. The "knower" present in whichever dimension we abide in will send that knowledge to us — as happened for the questioner, who had asked about a cooking problem and received a genuine answer. Even when we understand something, we may not yet be able to execute it, because our skill hasn't caught up — that requires repeated practice, much like an athlete or musician who improves through training, supported by unseen capable beings who "reinforce" our effort during practice. Whatever we wish to know, or however much wealth we wish to acquire, we can simply state our intention, and the knowing and capable beings will guide and assist us toward it.

The teacher also addressed a related question about serious illness, noting that diseases are the fruit of past karma, but that karma can be lightened through meditation. Even in cases so severe that doctors have stopped treatment, sustained meditation practice has been known to extend life by many years — consistent with overseas research showing that meditation can support the treatment of cancer, research significant enough that dedicated institutes have been established to study it further.

Is It Right to Make Merit With a Condition Attached — Planning to Give Only if I Fall Ill?

Someone asked: I recently purchased health and critical-illness insurance, intending that if I'm diagnosed with a serious illness, I would use the payout to build a Buddha image, thinking this would help me recover. But after taking out the policy, I find myself constantly preoccupied with the thought of getting sick, especially since a close relative of mine had a serious illness and passed away. Is this the right way to think about it?

The teacher explained that hoping to gain wealth through illness is not the right path, because true wealth arises only from a good, pure mind — never from greed or from conditions we set in advance. Setting a condition that we must fall ill before we can gain something actually opens the door for unwholesome forces to mislead us. He added that merit or demerit made in this present life yields only about 10% of its result now; the larger portion is reserved to ripen in the future. Anyone who wishes for abundant merit should instead cultivate purity of mind continuously, rather than focusing solely on the expected return from giving — even a moment's genuine loving-kindness, as brief as a snap of the fingers, yields more merit than a great deal of giving done without it.

As for the illness that had affected the questioner's relative, the teacher noted this was the fruit of past karma, which can be eased through continued meditation practice. The real issue to address is not securing a financial safety net against illness, but cutting through stinginess and cultivating purity of mind — giving what one reasonably can, and being content with what one has and is. The goal should never be to give as much as possible driven by craving, because craving itself is what brings distress.