As you continue to practice (meditation), you may have all kinds of experiences, both good and bad. As you continue to practice meditation, the most noticeable aspect is during dreams. As your meditation practice deepens, you will encounter various states in your dreams.
Just as a room with many doors and windows allows the air to enter from many directions, in the same way, when your mind becomes open, it is natural that all kinds of experiences can come in it. By themselves, they are good experiences, but if you get attached to them, they become obstacles. These states are actually obstacles; they are experiences that arise during meditation. However, these experiences are not enlightenment or the awakening of wisdom; they are merely some signs or characteristics of the meditative process. Experiences are not realization in themselves; As clearly stated here, these experiences are not realization. But if you remain free of attachment to them, they become what they really are, that is, materials for realization. That is, a condition for realization: going through these three aspects (bliss, clarity, and absence of thought). Negative experiences are often the most misleading because we usually take them as a bad sign. Negative experiences may not necessarily be bad things. In fact, the negative experiences in our practice are blessings in disguise. Look, this is contrary, “Negative experiences are blessings in disguise.” On the surface, they may appear bad; but in reality, they are a form of blessings. Try not to react to these negative experiences with aversion as you might normally do, but recognize them instead for what they truly are, merely experiences, illusory and dreamlike. These experiences, such as having nightmares on your spiritual journey, facing challenges during the daytime, or encountering seemingly negative experiences during meditation that may trigger fear or low mood — are actually manifestations of karmic habits. As you delve deeper into your practice, seeds of karmic habits accumulated over countless eons may even surge. Therefore, negative experiences are also materials for realization; they are experiences that help us attain spiritual awakening. It’s like passing a test: after going through a negative experience, if your mind remains undisturbed and unaffected by it, without generating negative emotions — when a negative experience fails to trigger negative emotions, it becomes a positive experience. The realization of the true nature of the experience liberates you from the harm or danger of the experience itself, and as a result even a negative experience can become a source of great blessing and accomplishment. When experiences arise, you should see through their nature: devoid of inherent nature, illusory, and dreamlike. In this way, you won’t be deceived by them. Only by transcending these experiences can you possibly attain enlightenment.