What is the symbolic meaning of a pigeon in meditation?

Answer 1

There are at least two schools of thought about this type of experience.

Some schools, such as various Native American traditions, will assign various meanings to different images: wolf, eagle, pigeon, etc.

Other schools, such as Zen Buddhism, will suggest that all images, thoughts, ideas, and feelings even are simply "mind stuff." They are things that float through the mind as you sit and bring awareness to your inner world.

Since in these schools meditation is all about awareness, about the witness, about the process of watching itself and being present to what is, whatever it is, no meaning is attached to the images. One simply watches: "aha, a wolf has appeared. Now it is gone. Now my mind is trying to figure out what this means. Is it good? Is it bad?" And so forth.

In Zen, one is simply concerned with noticing whatsoever is happening inside, because it is the *awareness* that is significant. The awareness brings light into one's life, brings godliness into one's life, brings delight.