During a soto zen meditation session…

Dear Venerable,
During a soto zen meditation session, I began to be able to blend into the room, among objects, plants and people. Then this “merger” extended outwards, outwards, and it could have encompassed the entire universe. I was nothing, I was part of a whole. Everything was perfect. What was that ? And especially how to manage the noise and the people after that, because it is very violent to be in the street the street after such a meditation? Thank you for your reply.

Venerable Nyanadharo: First of all, if you practice soto zen, in order not to multiply the teaching methods and by correction vis-à-vis your instructor, it would be more legitimate to take his opinion.

Concerning this “merger”, it can indeed sometimes occur experiences of this type. This experience will only be right if the harmony felt during it continues afterwards, in the turmoil of the world around us, but understand that loving and attaching oneself to visions of light, to concentration when it is very good or even to ecstasy leads down the wrong path which hinders progress in the knowledge of insight. Persevere without trying to find anything and continue your practice patiently so that the ego does not take hold of this experience; you would waste a lot of time and energy with the risk of cutting yourself off from the world. Through your meditation, detachment must gradually develop with respect to all the formal expressions produced by our five senses and the mind, from the most mundane to the most "wonderful".