The present study is aimed at describing the altered states of experience in Chan meditation. Chan meditation is a core method of Buddhist practice, but the practitioner’s experiences are rarely to be clearly articulated in the tradition sources. It then results in the disconnection between the teaching and the experience of its practice. To describe the experience in terms of modern everyday language then is a way to bridge the gap. The present study thus interviewed 3 practitioners who had experienced altered states in their Chan meditation. A phenomenological method of analysis was applied and 11 themes of describing the altered states of experience were obtained. (1) the Chan state and the activity of language: With or without, (2) the dissociated reflexive judgement: differentiating or nondifferentiating, (3) Subtle and sharpened sensational experiences, (4) altered temporal framework of perception, (5) the alternations in proprioception and spatial experience, (6) the fusion mirroring experience of “to see thus to be”, (7) the experience of body in flow without inertia, (8) spontaneous tearing without sadness, (9) the enjoyment of comfort and ease, (10) the experience of double agencies, (11) the interpersonal interaction with Chan state. The signification of the 11 theme in terms of understanding consciousness is discussed in this study.
