Panda-Banana-Sock, I have also experienced sleep paralysis, but not nearly as often as you indicate you do. I only recall a few instances in my life of 62 years. One instance was very intense, and was marked by 'seeing' beings in my room, and even 'hearing' their voices or at least being aware of their communication. The experience is, as you say, very scary and extremely disquieting. There is a good, albeit brief, write up on sleep paralysis on Wikipedia. Im sure there is a lot of other information on the Web.
I do not believe this is any kind of 'demon possession' or 'witchcraft'. I think things like that are just tags we put on things we don't understand, but want to. Sleep paralysis is a real phenomena, and according to what I've read, not that uncommon. According to Buddhist philosophy, all phenomena are 'samsara', or illusions. I don't completely buy into that position, but in truth don't concern myself with such explanations, or even the need for them. You experienced sleep paralysis. You experienced loss of motor control. You experienced fear. That is all there is to that. As far as I'm concerned further explanations are not necessary, or even possible. I think meditation (zazen) is the right approach for this, but I think zazen is the right approach...for everything. Zazen is just the right approach. I don't think you should think of zazen as remedy or solution for this. You should not be doing zazen to achieve anything. There are no goals for zazen. You should just do zazen because that's what you do. Zazen is who you are. It is a pure expression of your Buddha Nature. If sleep paralysis becomes a real obstacle in your life, then I advize you to seek professional, perhaps medical, help. I'd say the same about any other condition. If you had an infection, like appendicitis, you could say "That's just samsara. It's not real. And it really doesn't matter if I'm in pain or die anyway, since THIS is all just an illusion." That's fine for hard-core Buddhists or ascetics, but I would advise you to do whatever you could to ease your suffering. Be gentle with yourself. That is the way I practice zen. Sweet Dreams! ...Bill! From: pandabananasock [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 7:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Zen] Zen and the art of ... sleep paralysis?? Help! Okay, this might be a moderately long post, but keep faith that I will relate it to zen practice by the end. That being said: Sleep paralysis (hereinafter referred to as "SP") is something I experience occasionally. Anyone else get this? About five times annually since the teenage years, within usually minutes of falling asleep but sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up paralyzed but oriented (knowing exactly where I am, who I am, when I am, etc.) with the most intense fear I have experienced in my life so far. All I know when it is happening is I can't even open my eyes, but I NEED TO GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE RIGHT F---ING NOW because I can definitely tell something or someone is in the room, and it might just try to "get" me. I am absolutely positive that these are not nightmares - I am awake and lucid, even able to feel the bed and hear sounds in the room - and within seconds of it beginning I recognize that it is SP and think "Oh God, not again!" Like most people, if I wake up in the middle of the night I can get up and walk out of the room without light because I know where everything is in the room. SP is no different, except there is an extra entity in the room, and it is apparently malevolent. Inside my mind, I am FRANTIC, trying to kick and scream and throw any muscle I can in any direction, anything I can do to just get "unlocked" and run like hell... but on the outside, I can tell that I am motionless and silent, and I feel like a "sitting duck". After about thirty seconds, I can open my eyes, quickly sit up, and whatever I was afraid of is gone. If I go right back to sleep, I will experience the same thing within minutes, so I walk to the kitchen for some water that I am not thirsty for. The only time this experience was pleasant was when I fell asleep in the middle of the day on a couch with three other people awake in the room. I woke up paralyzed, but not scared. When I tried to jostle myself awake, I realized I could open my eyes, and upon doing so, I found myself weightless, floating a few feet from my body! I can normally hear everything in the room during SP, but this time, I looked around the room and could see everything that was really happening,. I could see and hear the football game on the TV, in sync with the announcer that I could clearly hear. I could see my step-sister typing on the computer in the corner in sync with the clicking of the keyboard that I normally would be able to hear. Within about 30 seconds, I was about ten feet from my body when I regained movement, thereby putting me in corpus again. I immediately thought, "WOW, I'll be dammed if that wasn't a out of body experience!!" This was about six or seven years ago, and ever since I've really wanted it to happen again, but it hasn't. In retrospect, knowing that there is no real danger, I always tell myself that the next time I find myself awake and paralyzed I should immediately start meditating. "Just BE afraid" I tell myself. "I am not going to be in any real physical danger, so just completely experience that fear for all it's worth and see where it wants to take me." I want to just lay there in meditation, let myself be paralyzed and afraid, but the fear is just too great. While it is happening I can remember thinking about how I wanted to meditate during it, and realizing that this is my chance, but I always immediately think "Screw that! I'm outta here!!" because the fear is overwhelming and I "know" there is an evil being in the room with me - a clear and present threat. I guess the big problem is knowing how to engage in meditation in the face of a fear that takes priority. If anyone reading this has any suggestions about how I can overcome this great fear, any questions or comments, please post them here, and accept my thanks in advance. __________ NOD32 2819 (20080124) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
