The first barrier arises from samadhi, or deep concentration, and comes as an experience of a boundless bright light, and a sound of music, beyond description, endlessly floating. You feel very clear and very relaxed. You are not beyond time and space, for light exists in space, and music goes on in time. But this light and sound seem limitless, and you feel liberated. As long as you are meditating there is no problem. But when you return to the everyday world you also return to its influence and distractions. You return to attachments. You find that you cannot maintain that state for long.

As your practice strengthens and your samadhi deepens, you may enter the second barrier, a sense of extreme purity and peace. You feel as if you are beyond time and space, as if they didn't exist. In that state a whole day or night could pass in a flash. Many people who enter this state think that they have become enlightened. With even stronger practice, as you work through the second barrier, coming out of samadhi, your mind is pure and peaceful. Vexations don't arise very easily; but rarely can this condition be maintained for more than two weeks. After awhile it will begin to fade. This is not to say that every time you sit you can say, "Now I will go into samadhi, " and just do it.

Both of these stages can easily be mistaken for genuine enlightenment, but in fact they are not because there is still attachment. In the first stage there is attachment to the limitless light and sound. At the second stage there is attachment to the feeling of purity and peace. Since you have attachment, it is very difficult to recapture the experience at will. The only thing you can do is forget about it, and start from the very beginning.