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Q-04:  May I know why my mind has this music playing in my head during and post- meditation? (Background: I hardly listen to any music)

During meditation, I can focus on the in-and-out movement of the stomach even though there is a tune playing in my mind. However, I am concerned that it will affect my meditation practice.

Thank you for giving us the meditation classes. I am grateful for it. I have been attending it, and it has been very enriching and extremely helpful to me, even though it is only the third class so far. Thanks.

With Metta,

Sean

Q-04:  It may seem strange that a meditator could have unusual experiences since the mind or concentration is not very stabilized yet. One may hear music or one may hear someone whispering or telling something. We are sorry that we cannot explain “why” you hear this. From our observations, less than ten percent of meditators have such strange experiences. However, you need not worry about this so long as you can focus on your meditation object. Meditation is focusing on “what,” but not on “why.”

To illustrate, a meditator heard someone whispering while meditating. He failed to meditate on the “what” of hearing or “the sound.” Instead he went to “why.” He could not get any answer. He opened his eyes and looked around, but he found no one. For some more times he heard the same voices from different directions. And he similarly responded at each times. At each times he found no one was around.

Such meditators eventually found themselves either stopping at their meditation or they might even go the wrong way. This story gives a very important message to us. That is, a meditator must note “what” he hears and must not analyze “why” he hears. He noticed it, but suppose it did not go away, what a meditator has to know is that “it does not go away” and not be bothered by “why it does not go away.”

If a meditator is a beginner, he should ignore it and pay more attention to his primary meditation object. He should not be concerned with whether “it goes away or it does not go away”. It will go away after all because it is not reality. You will never go the wrong way so long as you can meditate on the “what” which is reality.

With Metta,

U Cittara

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     Dhamma Questions are answered by Bhante U Cittara, resident monk of Mangala Vihara, and his assistant monks. Questions and comments on given answers are welcome. Send your questions and comments to resident_monk@mangalavihara.org.sg.