It's Inside

PAGE SIXTEEN takes illumination further by noting that it is associated with wisdom that helps us to see things as they really are. Additional information is footnoted to page 138, which I won't go to right now.  Instead, I'll look around.  From Access to Insight again:


If all that, too, does not help, then he may recall the inner light of which many mystics speak and which arises in the meditations of a purified mind that has turned away from the world. Then, in his practice, he will be unconcerned about day or night, because an inner light is shining within him. Then, with his self-radiant mind, he will be able to leave behind, like a Brahma-deity, the whole realm of days and nights as perceived by the senses. This indicated that Moggallana had experienced such states before, so that the Buddha could refer to them as something known to Moggallana. This "Perception of (inner) Light" (aloka-sañña) is mentioned in the 33rd Discourse of the Digha Nikaya, as one of four ways of developing samadhi and as leading to "Knowledge and Vision" (ñanadassana).


and from one of Ajahn Lee's teachings:

1. Investigate the in-and-out breath. When the breath comes in long, be aware of the fact. When it goes out long, be aware of it. When you first begin dealing with the breath, start out by sending your attention out with the out-breath and in with the in-breath. Do this two or three times, and then let your attention settle in the middle — without letting it follow the breath in or out — until the mind becomes still, paying attention only to the in-and-out breath. Make the mind open, relaxed and at ease. You can settle your awareness at the tip of the nose, at the palate — if you can keep it centered in the middle of the chest, so much the better. Keep the mind still, and it will feel at ease. Discernment will arise; an inner light will appear, reducing distractive thought.
   I have been meditating for a long time and have seen clarity and a light but it has been more metaphorical.