3 Nyams – Meditative Experiences – Tibetan Buddhism

In Buddhist meditation, Nyams are the three types of temporary meditative experiences:

• Bliss – physical and mental sensations of pleasure
• Clarity – precise, ultra-focused crispness
• Nonthought – cessation of thinking or the utter non-solidity of thoughts

What is the meaning of Nyam in Tibetan

The three Nyams of clarity, bliss and non-thought are normal experiences of genuine meditation. They occur in shamatha meditation. They are very difficult to access in normal life, so when people first encounter them, they often think they are getting enlightened. They believe these experiences are the absolute nature, then pursue them. 

Bliss has multiple characteristics. Profound contentment. The body can feel ‘cotton-like,’ very pliant and smooth. Tingling sensation often occur. Pleasure is free flowing. Psychological bliss means all movements of the mind arise as pleasure. Bliss arises as the dissolution of desire and could be considered the purification of desire.

With clarity, focus is extremely strong, almost definitive. Distractions are easily spotted and have little arising. They are easily transformed into objects of meditation as desired. Visualizations are stable and clear, with a sense of presence. Meaning is readily known. Two of the three recollections: form and meaning are well established. Clarity arises in the absence of aggression and can be considered the purification of aggression.

Non-thought is not necessarily the cessation of the flow of thoughts (though that can be). It can also mean completely seeing through the solidity of thoughts. In this state, thoughts can arise, but will have no effect and create virtually no karma. Non-thought is associated with the dissolution of ignorance and can be seen as purification of ignorance.

If you meditate intensively enough and develop the skill to genuinely meditate, the nyams will almost certainly occur on retreats, typically in that order – clarity, bliss and non-thought. These are not the absolute, however, they are very good markers of progress on the path. Ideally, they are subtly cultivated without attachment. The person sees through the seeming reality of the Nyams, experiencing the awesome and depth of mind while seeing through the seeming existence.

The normal tendency with Nyams is to grasp because they are so fascinating and feel incredible. They are, in fact, the tickets to the higher realms. Do not grasp as this induces karma, rather than release from karma. Unfortunately, too many practitioners interpret this instruction as Nyams being a negative sign and consequently push them away. This creates obstacles, too, and can block deeper states of meditation. The pith instruction here is:

Nyam experiences are a manifestation of deeper meditation and will occur in deeper meditation. Pushing them away also pushes away the deeper forms of samadhi. It is possible to stabilize nyams somewhat and extend them. It is critical to release them when they naturally end and not to attempt to recreate the nyams per se, as meditation. If you can call the nyams forth to use them in meditation, that can be done, but it is important to have a very nuanced feeling for the subtle grasping of mind and release it.

Nyams are important, meaningful, and useful if approached properly to purify those realms and to escape from the trap of (positive) karma.

Nyams and the three realms of Samsara

The problem with all three of these states is they are and become objects of meditation. They are reified as having some reality and existence in and of themselves. They turn into their own realm, full of clarity, for example. Anytime the mind creates a realm, it creates samsara. The Buddha realms are a self-existing reality. They are not created, but appear spontaneously from the wisdom mind.

The nyams are normally associated with the higher realms and create the karma for those realms. Bliss creates the conditions to be reborn as a desire realm god. These gods have physical bodies, long lives and very low desire. They live lives of great pleasure. This is the highest attainment of samsaric desire, arising as bliss.

The other two comprise the perfection of the 8 dhyana states, or meditations. 

The form realm has gods with bodies of light. These gods have no desire, and have resolved aggression so that it arises as clarity. They have attained great samadhi on release of desire and aggression. Their lives are many times longer than the desire gods.

Non-thought is linked to the formless realms. These are the longest lived of the higher realms (some hell realm beings may live longer.) They exist in the four highest samsaric states of samsara. The four higher dhyana states, when perfected, cause rebirth in the formless realms:

• Infinite space
• Infinite consciousness
• Nothingness
• Neither nothing nor something

Karma here transcends the normal notions of karma being good or bad. Normally, good karma comes from virtuous acts of love, kindness and so forth. Here the karma arises from attachment to meditative states in particular. When they become so powerful as to define the identity of the person, the karma becomes existence, or the next rebirth in the various god realms. Meditative states create stability through attachment and the higher we go in the realms, the longer the states last. 

This is why bliss, clarity, and non-thought are cautioned about. They feel incredibly profound compared to ordinary samsaric states of three poisons. They are meditative accomplishment, but they are not the realization sought after by Buddhist practitioners. Because they are and do signify a higher level of meditative attainment, bliss, clarity and non-thought can be used to advance one’s path and practice in terms of the Buddadharma. One could say it is important to do so because seeing the emptiness of these states purifies the states so that one does not get caught in those god realms.

It is not bad to be in these realms, per se. In fact they’re wonderful compared to the lower realms of samsara. Life in samsara is not all suffering, all the time. That is a confused understanding of the 1st noble truth. It means that suffering is inevitable. The god realms last for time beyond reckoning, but eventually they end and the being falls back to the lower realms. In fact, the suffering of the end of the god realms, approaching their death, is said to be the worst in samsara because they know what is going to happen. 

As for a temporary solution, the god realms are great, but it is only temporary. The states of Nirvana and full enlightenment are permanent. They do not end. Nirvana can be left behind, but the being makes the choice to leave Nirvana in order to pursue enlightenment. That is said to happen when the calls to the Arhats.

It takes great skill in meditation to use the state in order to transcend the state. Unfortunately, the skill is best cultivated by going through the particular process. However, the sense of attachment within samsara is always being worked with, in any meditation, in any path. Typically attachment is far coarser, and generates a strong emotional quality. In this case, it might not even be particularly emotional, but attachment to a concept of reality, recreating the dualistic barrier in a very subtle manner.

Summary

The temporary nyams of meditative experience are powerful and meaningful. It is important to not be attached to the states, nor to dispel them out of misplaced fear or aversion. Allow them to occur naturally and practice non-attachment. It is fine even to cultivate them if you are not attached, if you are only using the states to cultivate genuine realization by seeing through the fixity of the realms.