อาการสะดุ้งเกิดจากมลทิน แต่ก็อาจเป็นปฏิกิริยาจากฝ่ายกุศลที่สะกิดให้เรารู้เนื้อรู้ตัวเมื่อเผลอเคลิ้ม ต่างจากอาการที่ทำให้ตกใจตื่นตระหนกกลัว ซึ่งเป็นของฝ่ายอกุศลStartling can come from impurity, but it can also be a wholesome reaction nudging us back to awareness when we start drifting into a daze — quite different from the unwholesome reaction that leaves us shaken, panicked, and afraid.
Someone asked: while sitting in meditation, they sometimes feel a sudden startle. What causes this?
It's im — impurity causes the startle. This happens in many different forms whenever we encounter impurity. When we drift into a daze, can move in, producing a reaction like an electric spark, causing the startle. But sometimes it's actually reacting, to bring us back to full awareness — in cases where we're drifting into a daze, the wholesome nudges us to regain full awareness. That drifting daze itself arises from impurity, but the wholesome finds a way to restore our , freeing us from that daze. Which process occurs depends on whether the wholesome or the unwholesome is behind it — the wholesome helps us develop for the better, the unwholesome makes us regress. Whether a given startle comes from the wholesome or unwholesome shows up differently in how we feel: if the wholesome nudges us, we feel a return to full awareness; but if it leaves us shaken, panicked, and afraid, that is the work of the unwholesome.