I have like an electric current passing through my body during meditation. It is like in the whole body or maybe not just in the body like in my sphere. It is a fine-tuned electric current that comes for a couple of seconds. It stops for a fraction of a second and there is nothing and then it starts again. It feels like it is changing direction. It is not unpleasant it just is. What is this? What can I do with it?
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4 Answers
It may be piti, an emotion that can be aroused during meditation.
It can also be a phenomenon accompanying meditation, since a lot of different unusual sensations can appear as a mere side effect.
...or it may be something else buddhism doesn't have a saying about. Meditation clears the path for a lot of things.
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It is like electricity like if you have your fingers on 12 volt, a steady electric wave and for just a halv of a second it stops and then starts again. It doesen´t feel like a feeling. In OBE it is stronger and not like this. Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 12:17
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I like this answer because it covers all the surprising stuff that happens.– user14119Commented Apr 27, 2019 at 10:17
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/piti-joy-rapture/2970 : "Pīti is a sense of joy or uplift that occurs during the course of meditation. It is best understood as an emotional response to the pleasure experienced in meditation. It may have physical manifestations, such as goosebumps or hair-raising, but is primarily a psychological quality. Since it is a subtle excitement or thrill in response to pleasure, it is moderated by passaddhi, and drops away in the deeper states of samādhi.
It is common for meditators to experience such joy occasionally. In deeper meditation the sense of pervasive joy may last for many hours without interruption."
"In modernity, pīti may be related to the psychological phenomena known as frisson or A.S.M.R.,1 and moreover, in a case study, researchers have reported strong dopamine reward system activations in the brain of a long-term Buddhist practitioner during meditation""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response : "Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is an experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. It has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia and may overlap with frisson.
ASMR signifies the subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" characterized by "a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin". It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control."
Piti and sukha arise with directed and sustained thought during practice, and will lead to "one-pointedness" (horrible translation) and equanimity. As you already know, these are not visualizations, but rather actual spontaneously arising phenomenon. Sukha is more like a generalized euphoria, but piti is like electricity with goosebumps, but it can also be very dramatic like a thunderstorm with lightening.
Some Buddhists will claim because there is an experience here, it must be a wrong experience. Mostly modern, western converts to Buddhism who have been taught that every experience that arises in meditation is distraction. I can't find any support for this teaching in any meditation texts until the modern era. In fact almost all meditation texts from any branch of Buddhism involves calm/insight, stopping/seeing, tranquillity/Wisdom, through which one moves through dhyana/jhana and samadhi/samāpatti.
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sukha is soothing, piti is energizing, neither arise from sense gratification, but from skillful practice Commented Apr 28, 2019 at 18:41
What is this? a sensation caused by kamma (action)
What can I do with it? watch it coming and going, whether it last and might be worthy to go after it as refuge.
A just "This has come into being"-approach is not that unwise as letting go of it with it.
Does Nyom even know why "Buddhist" try to get toward meditation?
(Note: this is not given to trade you to come for another binding thought question, something to grasphold, trade, exchange or to increase stacks but as a tiny door to escape form this wheel toward unbound)
I have like an electric current passing through my body during meditation. It is like in the whole body or maybe not just in the body like in my sphere
These are subtle sensations and likely piti also. These are caused by the mind being happy with the stability of attention. There are several books that talk about it. You can check out Leigh Brasingtons or Culadasa's writings to learn how to progress from here.
