Method

Participants

Each participant of study 1 underwent one SSI that corresponded to their first MI-NDE of year 1 (or of year 2 or 3 in the event the participant was unavailable to complete the SSI in year 1).

Procedure

Participants were requested to contact the research team as soon as possible after having completed an MI-NDE practice. An SSI was then conducted in which participants were asked a series of questions about their experience. To reduce recall bias due to the time-lag between MI-NDE and interview, interviews using internet-based video conferencing media were permitted. The SSI questions focused on (i) content (e.g. Did you visit non-worldly realms?, Did you possess a corporeal form?, Were you able to move unimpeded through physical objects?, Did you experience a review of this or previous lifetimes?, Are there any other key features of the MI-NDE that we have not discussed?, etc.), (ii) awareness (e.g. Were you aware of your physical worldly body whilst experiencing the MI-NDE?, Could you hear sounds in the vicinity of your physical worldly body?, Were you fully conscious of the fact that you were experiencing an NDE?, etc.), (iii) volitional control (e.g. Were you able to influence which particular non-worldly realm you visited?, Did you have control over how long you stayed in such a realm?, Did you choose to terminate the MI-NDE or did it terminate of its own accord?, etc.) and (iv) meaning (e.g. Why do you choose to undergo the MI-NDE practice?, What prompted you to undergo the practice on this particular occasion?, How did the practice help in terms of your spiritual development?, etc.). Open questioning was employed in order to encourage participants to freely express themselves, and Socratic questioning was used to elicit further clarification as required. The SSIs were audio recorded and then transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis

Grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967) uses a systematic set of procedures to formulate an inductively derived theory concerning the phenomenon under investigation (Mason and Hargreaves 2001). Transcripts were read several times and coded to identify and isolate components, experiences and significant events. In vivo codes (i.e. drawn directly from the participants’ accounts) were employed as much as possible in order to capture participants’ experiences in their own words (Strauss 1987). Categories, concepts and patterns of meaning were subsequently identified, and transcripts were assessed for divergence and convergence. The researchers continuously interacted with the data, identifying the relationships between concepts and asking questions to generate theory (Mackenzie et al. 2007; Strauss and Corbin 1990). From the initial formulation of codes until the emergence of master and subordinate themes, “bracketing” (Creswell 2007) was employed to minimise the influence of the researchers’ biases and assumptions relating to the MI-NDE phenomenon. Grounded theory requires sufficient raw evidence to establish the validity of the constructed theory (Henwood and Pidgeon 1993; Mason and Hargreaves 2001). Consequently, the “Results” section that follows makes moderate use of direct excerpts from participant transcripts. For the purposes of validation, the entire analytical process, from reading the raw data through to identifying themes, was repeated in iterative fashion until saturation was achieved (Van Gordon et al. 2016a). The analytical process was repeated by a second member of the research team as a form of independent audit. Additional validation techniques such as grounding in examples and requesting feedback from participants on the summary of themes were also employed (Creswell 2007).

Results

The analysis of participants’ transcripts generated four master themes, each with a different number of subordinate themes. The final hierarchical thematic structure is shown in Table 2, and a description of the emerging master and subordinate themes (including illustrative verbatim extracts) is provided below.

Table 2 Summary of master and subordinate themes Full size table

Phasic and Multi-faceted NDE

This master theme related to the fact that all participants experienced a rich and multi-faceted MI-NDE that comprised discrete phases. The master theme comprised four sub-themes that are presented chronologically in terms of the order they were reported to unfold during the MI-NDE.

Identification with the Elements

All participants reported that the MI-NDE began with them consciously reducing the degree of connection to their physical worldly body. Participants referred to this as a process of “gradual dissolution” (participants 1, 6 and 10), “letting go of body” (participants 2, 5 and 11) or “becoming untied” (participants 3 and 8), and it corresponded to specific visions that they attributed to the sequential unbinding of five bodily elements (i.e. beginning with earth, then water, then sun/fire/heat, then air/wind and concluding with space). More specifically, participants reported that they experienced (for example) a feeling of drowning (i.e. as they lost connection with water), being stuck and/or unable to move (i.e. as they lost connection with earth), being too hot or too cold (i.e. as they lost connection with fire), breathlessness and weightlessness (i.e. as they lost connection with air) and being without a body (i.e. as they lost connection with space).

Altered Perception of Time and Space

All participants reported that during the next phase of the MI-NDE, they ceased to be aware of time and space. More specifically, participants explained that rather than becoming unaware of time or space, they realised that time and space are relative phenomena that ultimately do not exist. Participants’ sentiments concerning their altered perception of time and space are best captured by the following excerpt from participant 7:

When I’m not meditating, I know that time and space don’t exist. I know it and I remember it, but I don’t experience it. But the [MI-NDE] allows me to experience it directly. I am nowhere and I am everywhere. The past, present, and future merge into one. (participant 7)

Ten participants stated that as part of this timeless perspective, they were able to see scenes of the past and future. This included scenes relating to their own past and future, as well as scenes relating to this and other worlds. However, such visions were deemed by participants to be “normal” (participants 2 and 3), “no big deal” (participant 4) and “something that you experience and then let go of” (participant 11). Participants 5 and 9 did not report such an experience for the NDE in question but explained that precognitive abilities had been a feature of previous NDEs.

Non-worldly Encounters

All participants reported that the next phase of the MI-NDE involved encounters with non-worldly realms and beings. More specifically, participants recounted that they experienced (i) undesirable realms (that they referred to using terms such as “hell” [participants 2, 5, 6, 8 and 12], realms of “torture” [participants 1, 4 and 11], worlds where the beings “hang from ropes” [participants 3 and 7] and “hungry ghost realms” [participants 9 and 10]), (ii) other realms comprising humans and animals and (iii) realms where the inhabitants were partially or fully composed of light (that participants referred to using terms such as “heavens” [participants 1, 5, 6, 7 and 11], “godly realms” [participants 2, 4, 7 and 12] and “asura realms” [participants 3 and 9]). All participants (except participant 5) also made reference to encounters with three other categories of non-worldly beings: (i) recently deceased beings in the process of moving between worlds, (ii) demonic beings attempting to enter this or other realms and (iii) liberated beings not bound to a given worldly or non-worldly realm. In respect of this latter group comprising liberated beings, all participants (except participants 5 and 12) specifically reported they met with their spiritual teacher (whether living or deceased) who supported and guided them during (and following) the NDE.

Emptiness

Although participants gave rich accounts of the content of their MI-NDE, they referred to this content as being of the nature of “emptiness” (participants 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12), “voidness” (participants 2, 5, 9, 10 and 11) and/or “non-self” (participants 1, 2, 4, 11 and 12). The following excerpt from participant 6 best captures how participants related to the MI-NDE in this respect:

Emptiness is the way things are. Its why you don’t hold on [to the MI-NDE]. You experience something or someone [during the MI-NDE] and you’re fully involved in the experience. But you pull back and recognise that it’s like a dream. It’s dangerous not to do that. If you don’t pull back, you can get caught [in the MI-NDE]. (participant 6)

Participants 3, 6, 7, 8 and 10 went one step further and stated that not only were their MI-NDE experiences empty of inherent existence, but they were “mind-made”. Participant 8 clarified their sentiments on this point as follows:

The mind has unlimited potential. But it gets stuck in one way of seeing things … But when you die the mind kind of goes through a process of unfolding. Its potential is unlocked. If you’ve trained enough you can harness this [potential] – you can harness it before you die as well. But if you’re not trained – and most people aren’t – then [death] is a frightening experience and there’s no way of controlling it. But it’s all just a projection of the mind. (participant 8)

Awareness During the MI-NDE

This master theme referred to the extent to which participants were consciously aware that they were experiencing an NDE as well as the extent that they remained aware of their body (both their physical worldly body and any bodily form they assumed during the MI-NDE). The master theme comprised two sub-themes that refer to participants’ awareness of their physical world and body and non-physical (i.e. NDE) world and body, respectively.

Awareness of Physical Worldly Body

All participants reported that during the MI-NDE, they remained meditatively aware of their physical worldly body but described it as being a “partial” (participants 1, 6, 7 and 11) or “distant” (participants 3, 6 and 9) form of awareness. Participant 4 explained this process as follows:

You leave a small thread that you use to remain in contact [with the physical worldly body] and you use it to return to the body. (participant 4)

Participants qualified this partial awareness by explaining that if during the MI-NDE their physical worldly body became (for example) cold, was subjected to pain or suddenly encountered loud noises, they would recognise such changes. However, all participants explained that during the MI-NDE, meditative awareness was primarily focussed on the NDE itself and that allocating attentional resources to their physical worldly body could interfere with (participants 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12), or even cause a termination of (participants 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10), the MI-NDE.

Awareness of NDE and Non-corporeal Form

All participants reported that they retained full meditative awareness and control over the fact they were experiencing NDEs. Furthermore, participants (all except participants 1 and 5) reported that they could exercise choice in terms of whether or not they assumed a bodily form during the MI-NDE. Participants also explained that in the event they did assume a bodily form, (i) they were fully aware of it, and (ii) it possessed abilities that would defy conventional physical laws. Participants 4 and 9 explained this as follows:

During [the death process], the mind of most people wants, or needs, to take on a bodily form. It doesn’t know what to do with itself otherwise. But there is really no need to [take on a bodily form]. (participant 4) You can assume whatever [bodily form] most suits yours or others’ needs at that given time. And there are no limitations. [The body] can move through walls, fly, and instantly [translocate]. And with practice, it can even be in two places at once. (participant 9)

Volitional Control

This master theme, that did not comprise any subordinate themes, related to the extent to which participants retained volitional control over the content and duration of their MI-NDE. All participants explained that to differing degrees, they could voluntarily induce and terminate the NDE, and that although they could not dictate the content of an encounter with a given non-worldly being or realm, they retained control over (i) which non-worldly realm and/or being they visited and (ii) the duration of the encounter. Five participants (2, 6, 7, 9 and 11) shared their view that individuals without extensive meditative and/or spiritual experience would not be able to retain volitional control over an NDE.

Spiritually Meaningful Insights

This master theme, that likewise did not comprise any subordinate themes, related to the meaning that participants assigned to the MI-NDE. Participants provided a variety of reasons for engaging in the MI-NDE practice including (i) “preparing for death” (participants 1, 2, 6, 9, 10 and 12), (ii) “preparing for life” (participants 2, 3 and 9), (iii) “letting go of body” (participants 1, 3, 4 and 11), (iv) “advancing spiritually” (participants 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12), (v) “helping [non-worldly] beings” (participants 1, 7 and 10) and (vi) “letting go [in general]” (participants 1, 3, 7 and 12). Furthermore, all participants reported that engaging in the MI-NDE gave them access to spiritual insights that helped to augment their meditative awareness both during and following the MI-NDE, and that would not be accessible during a standard meditation practice. Participants (all except 5, 9 and 12) expanded on this and stated that in addition to gleaning insight into death-related processes, the MI-NDE sometimes allowed them to discover “treasures” (participants 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10) or “gifts of wisdom” (participants 2, 3, 7 and 10) that had been “placed in their mind” (participant 3) by their spiritual teacher.

Theory Building

The present sample of advanced Buddhist meditators derived spiritually significant insights from engaging in the practice of the MI-NDE. In particular, they used the MI-NDE as a means of preparing for death and letting go of attachments to physical worldly existence. The MI-NDE commenced by participants “disconnecting” from their physical worldly body whilst experiencing visions and/or feelings that corresponded to what they deemed to be a process of “untying” from the five bodily/natural elements. Having “let-go” of their body in this manner, participants were able to experience “spaceless space” and “timeless time”. This allowed them to experience visions of what they perceived to be future or past occurrences, and to encounter non-worldly realms and beings. During the MI-NDE, participants were fully cognisant of the fact they were experiencing an NDE and retained a partial awareness of their physical worldly body. Furthermore, participants retained volitional control over the NDE and—to a certain extent—could dictate its content and duration. Of key significance to participants was understanding that the component features of the MI-NDE were “empty” of inherent existence and that although the MI-NDE elicited spiritually meaningful insights, such insights were not to be dwelled upon or assigned a “mystical” status. A working model showing the interaction of MI-NDE content, cognitive and meta-cognitive processes and concepts is described in Fig. 4.