Fruition descriptions

There have been fruition/cessation descriptions in a number of places here by a number of yogis (Ron and Nick leap to mind), but I think it might be useful to collect them in a single thread. It would be especially useful to recent or aspiring stream winners that are still trying to figure out what is going on.

It is understood that these descriptions will be highly yogi-specific (YMMV, as they say), but I wonder if we collect them all in one place whether something useful might pop out. It would also seem that fruitions are very Path-dependent, so please be sure to say what path(s) you are describing when you contribute your experiences. I'd go first, but I am still a bit hesitant on what I may, or may not, have experienced.

Disclaimer: These are MY experiences.

Edited to say : The cessation moment is NOT remembered as it is when the senses shutdown. Just the entrance and exit is remembered...to be clear!

The anicca door:

1st path: The fruition occurs at the crown. There is a very slight movement backwards or forwards of the head when this occurs. The eyes "seem" to tense slightly at the entrance and they get slightly tenser as the cessation moment approaches and a point directly below the crown within the brain feels like it is tensing too. The cessation moment occurs, and then the exit feels like the eyes and that spot within the brain below the crown release the flexing/tensing sensation. It feels like the bliss wave that follows is felt more at the heart spot. Or maybe the bliss wave seems to be activating it...Hmmm.

2nd Path: The difference between this fruition and the 1st path one is slight. It feels like the same process above but "smoother" and less obvious tensing occuring at the eyes and crown spot. Hmmm, hard to tell. The bliss wave seems to be more spread out than 1st path and I sense it covering more the whole front of the torso in and out.

3rd path: Ok, so it seems it's a similar process to above but there seems to be a longer period of the entrance tensing moment with the eyes and that pressure point below the crown tensing for a second longer than the previous fruitions Interesting, I am not sure if it is because I am having heaps of frutions one after the other trying to see the differences, so maybe this is influencing my descriptions...but the bliss wave feels more full bodied than 1st and 2nd path anicca fruitions.

The anatta door

1st path: Ok, so for this door it feels like it's all happening at the 3rd eye spot. There is tensing of the eyes at the entrance of the cessation moment. And other tensing is happening behind the 3rd eye an inch or so behind instead of the crown. The tensing seems to be a "pulling inwards" of something physical there. The bliss wave seems to spread downwards from the 3rd eye and seems to activiate the heart area so I feel blissful vibrations mostly there.

2nd path: Hmmm it seems that it is the same process as 1st path but now the tensing seems to be a little more intense and stronger. And the tensing moment at the third eye seems to last slightly longer than the 1st path tensing. The bliss wave feels more wide spread down the body than 1st.

3rd path: There is a difference here in the way the entrance occurs compared to the 2nd. It feels like there is more of an energy surge felt around my eyes than in the 2nd which seems to be moving towards the 3rd eye spot. Hard to explain this difference. And the tensing feeling at the entrance feels again, slightly more drawn out than 2nd path. Again, the bliss wave seems more diffuse throughout the body, in and out.

Man, I wish I could explain with some authority and certainty.
One thing I can say, though, is that any time I am in synch with the objects I'm experiencing on a very detailed level -- so that no object seems to be missed beginning middle end -- something happens. The best way I can describe it is as soon as the synching happens just right, it feels like my mind sort of melts for as moment and I wind up a bit ahead of myself.
How's that for vague?
Now, when I sit for long periods and there are a lot of frutions or if I consciously try to induce them during long sittings the "frutions" are accompanied afterwords by surges of energy, feelings of bliss, temporary absence of body feelings followed by bliss.
If I get just the right kind and right amount of these frutions in a sitting (this usually happens in the evening) then the rest of the day and into sleep my body is vibrating way stronger than normal and I can synch with those vibes and get what feels like little fruitions continuously. This creates a refreshed feeling and a good mood.
I think this is first path even though I had a confusing experience a couple of weeks ago when I resolved (for some reason I don't understand) to induce "second path" frutions and had three very powerful experiences followed by about 10 hours of nice vibes and good mood. I think those were a "preview" rather than actual second path but how the hell do I know?

The dukkha door

1st path: At the entrance: There is a slight pulling up sensation "just" below the crown. The eyes seem to tense and almost cross inwards . There is a tension just below the crown that is released and relaxed after the cessation moment at the exit.
The "pulling up" tensing sensation at the crown is what makes this one different from the rest.

2nd path: The entrance experience of "pulling up" at the crown, seems to be slightly drawn out compared to 1st path. The bliss wave spreads throughout the body.

3rd path: The tensing feels more like a an energy surge downwards at the same time as some sort of "physical" sensation of "pulling up".The bliss waves are much, much more spread out throughout the body and a bit more obvious than that previous fruitions. It feels like the energy surge travels downwards down the back of the head to the top of the spine, then the cessation moment, and then when the mind comes back online, that energy surge seems to have travelled all the way down the body "letting loose" a very nice wave of blissfully subtle vibrations.

I used to pay attention to the specifics of the different entrances and exits of fruition. I sort of stopped caring a while ago.

I really only notice two types anymore: one where my eyes clench down on the entry and release on the exit, and one where the mind's eye turns toward the unconditioned without any physical contraction whatsoever. The eye clenching occurs at varying degrees of intensity.

I don't really know what brings one or the other about. Though, I tend to get the clenching fruitions more when my focus in on the body, and the mind-turning kind more when resting as wide open natural wakefulness (awareness without an object).

While mind (thoughts, concepts) and body sensations do vanish momentarily, the intuitive sense of a continuity of being is there most of the time. This is a fairly recent development, as these used to feel more like a straight-up wink-out. I really think there's something more to this fruition business than a simple reboot. Just my honest and humble opinion.

EDIT: Grammar.

"I used to pay attention to the specifics of the different entrances and exits of fruition. I sort of stopped caring a while ago." -- Jackson

Yep, and thank you, Jackson. I don't think it matters, either. What matters is what we do with this practice. How we use it to change the way we live and interact with ourselves, each other, and the universe at large (spoken as if these were all different things which, of course, they aren't).

Yes i agree that we shouldn't waste our lives playing video games either. But having a collection of fruition descriptions can be helpful in just having a collection of descriptions. People could stop fussing over it so much. Or maybe someone who has no idea what's happening to themselves could see something similar in someone's descriptions. It really could help. Playing with stuff is part of life too. My goodness! We all know to live our lives, Chris. This is a thread for those interested in seeing similarities or differences. Why not?

Edited to add, actually let's not derail this thread with any voicing of opinions on the importance on having a thread like this. Let's just keep it for descriptions and trust ourselves not to get lost in fruitions.

Yep, sorry, I carried the theme to my own thread. Carry on. As you were. Have fun!

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Yep, sorry, I carried the theme to my own thread. Carry on. As you were. Have fun!

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In the interest of documenting for posterity, would you be able and willing to share your experiences Chris?

So, let me make amends here by posting something I posted here at KFDh a while back - a description of my stream entry fruition:

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I perceive a slow building of energy and focus. The in breath starts to brings a very fine set of vibrations in the top of the head and an almost giddy mental feeling, sort of like a tiny whiff of laughing gas, that grows as the breath is drawn and until it is at its peak. The peak of the breath brings a sharp distinct break and when the outbreath starts that same energetic and finely vibrating giddy feeling resumes (this not a hyperventilation-like gidiness). Each successive breath slowly increases the intensity of these fine vibrations until a kind of crescendo is reached, at which point all the energy that has built up quickly flows to the observed object, appears to merge with the object and then FLASH!, an image appears, a complex image, for just a tiny fraction of a second, after which everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - winks out of existence. Pure pitch black silent nothingness ensues (no sound, no light, no feeling, no self, no perception of any kind) and lasts for a second or so. Then awareness reappears anew. The impression after the second or so of nothingness reminds me of the rebooting of a computer. Everything is turned completely off and then restarts.

FWIW - this is very clearly not the same as the experience of the simplest thing.

FWIW#2 - the fraction of a second image always reminds me afterward of a mandala that you see from the Vajrayana tradition or a series of tiny network nodes connected by tiny threads. Coincidence? Meaningful? Meaningless? I really just don't know.

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There. I feel better now.

Tom slipped in and Tom, yes. I just did.

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Tom slipped in and Tom, yes. I just did.


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Awesome. Thank you!

During late second path fruitions took on a different sort of "tone." I'm not completely sure but the fruition that seems to have opened the door to third path was a bright flash surrounded by intense blue light in the periphery of the visual field. This blue light appeared to me to resemble the iris of my eye in aspect and shape. At the center of this blue ring was deep blackness. This image was followed by the usual winking out and nothingness. For some weeks beforehand the blue ring shape would appear in minor fruitions and at other times when I was half asleep.

Fruitions these says just aren't interesting (risking Nick's wrath all over again) but I think that's an important thing to say here as Jackson reports a similar tendency. This might be worth noting just for for posterity in a fruition topic as it might have implications beyond just my a$hole-ness.

Hahaha! Chris, sorry. I am not wrathful at all. I actually am thinking back to pre-path and the early paths when i was also experiencing strong interest in such things. Such descriptions could be cause for relief and understanding of what the path entails for some.

I actually don't care either about frutions these days. They are so meh!

I love you, man.

I am so glad to see that some of the more advanced among this group recognize the importance of describing their experiences along the path. It may no longer be interesting to you, but for those of us still waiting it's like a finger pointing at the moon...or somthing...kinda...sorta.

For me, it gives me an idea of what to look for and or expect.

Thank you all for sharing.,