What is Bhante Gunaratana talking about?

[Tobin]

From his book, "Mindfulness in Plain English", Gunaratana wrote:

"As you keep your mind focused on the rim of your nostrils, you will be able to feel the pleasant sensation of a sign. Different meditators experience this differently. It will be like a star, or a round gem, or a round pearl, or a cotton seed, or a peg made of heartwood...", etc etc, and then he goes on to say, "Earlier in your practice you had inhaling and exhaling as objects of meditation. Now you have the sign as the third object of meditation. When you focus your mind on this third object, your mind reaches a stage of concentration sufficient for your practice of insight meditation."

What exactly is he talking about when it comes to this "mysterious" 3rd sign? The more I read from this author, the less believable I find him to be. He also talks about being able to call on this sign at will after continued practice. Is this all hogwash?

[Obol]

Have a look at this:

http://www.arrowriver.ca/dhamma/nimitta.html

[Tobin]

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for.

[Obol]

Good. I had some trouble with the nimitta myself - glad I could help.

[Matthew]

Good link Obol, thank you for sharing. I was going to simply say that if you consider these "signs" they are all Asiatic symbols of perfection: and clearly culturally derived, hence cannot be part of the true Dhamma. True Dhamma is completely independent of time and space - including cultural context. The link you provide offers a well studied explanation in line with this understanding.