Date: 12/20/2025 12/21/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Sitting Meditation
Why More Meditation Seems to Bring More Disturbances
Many practitioners experience confusion: the more they meditate, the more noticeable their disturbances become—more thoughts, more emotions, more discomfort. This is not failure but a sign that awareness is deepening, revealing layers previously hidden. Meditation does not create new disturbances; it exposes what was always there.
1. Why Disturbances Become More Obvious: Increased Awareness
1. A quieter mind reveals subtle thoughts
Noise drops, so deeper patterns emerge.
2. Greater clarity magnifies what was unnoticed
Not more problems—more awareness.
3. Deep meditation exposes subconscious layers
Old wounds, fears, and tensions come to the surface.
2. Before Meditation, Disturbances Are Numbed; Meditation Reveals Them
1. Daily busyness numbs emotional discomfort
Work, entertainment, and distractions bury disturbances.
2. Silence removes the numbing effect
The mind must finally face its true condition.
3. Seeing a disturbance is the first step of transformation
Awareness begins the healing process.
3. Disturbances Are “Cleansing”: Impurities Rising Up
1. A still mind opens the subconscious
Hidden emotions float upward.
2. Like stirring a muddy pond
It becomes cloudy first, then clearer.
3. What is seen can be released
Awareness dissolves tension.
4. The Deeper You Meditate, the Finer the Disturbances You Notice
1. Beginners see only coarse disturbances
Anger, anxiety, restlessness.
2. Intermediate practitioners see subtle motivations
Comparison, expectation, ego-sensitivity.
3. Advanced practitioners see the root of self-making
Subtle contraction and clinging.
5. The Real Meaning of Emerging Disturbances: Opportunity for Breakthrough
1. Every disturbance seen loses power
Awareness is purification.
2. Insight grows with each observation
Wisdom is born from seeing.
3. Disturbances become material for awakening
As scriptures say: “Afflictions are the gateway to wisdom.”
6. How to Work With Disturbances: Three Key Principles
1. Do not suppress
Suppression strengthens emotional knots.
2. Do not identify
Not “my problem” but “a disturbance arising.”
3. Do not chase
Let it arise and pass without adding stories.
7. Seeing More Disturbances Means Meditation Is Working
1. A stronger mind perceives finer details
Increased sensitivity reflects progress.
2. Real transformation requires facing, not avoiding
Courage to see is the foundation of freedom.
3. Disturbances emerging signal deeper cleansing
Like fever signaling the immune system awakening.
Conclusion
Experiencing more disturbances during meditation is not regression—it is progress.
It means awareness is sharpening, emotional residue is surfacing, and deeper transformation is occurring.
Only what is seen can be released;
only what is faced can be transcended.
When you no longer escape disturbances but meet them with awareness,
your practice is truly beginning to work.
