The State of Approaching Samādhi and Emptiness

Question: Every morning when I wake up, my mind feels completely empty, and at the same time the sound of the six-character Buddha's name appears. Whatever I do, I listen to the Buddha's name recitation in my mind; thinking about other things makes me feel tired, I eat little, I don't want to talk, and my family thinks I'm like a person with dementia. No matter what I do, my mind feels completely empty; looking at my family and everything else, it feels as if they have nothing to do with me. When I think of my father, I picture his body as a white skeleton; everyone I look at seems to be a moving skeleton, and I see myself the same way. Now when I sit in meditation, my mind is a blank; thinking feels tiring, even keeping my eyes open feels tiring, and I cannot recite the Buddha's name aloud—I can only listen to the Buddha's name recitation in my mind. Is there anything wrong with me?

Answer: This is a state of mental emptiness, and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of practice. This is a good phenomenon that appears after genuine cultivation—the mind has become empty, which means the mind must be very pure. This is the result of long-term meditation, the result of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the four foundations of mindfulness, cultivating the white skeleton contemplation, and recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti). Before attaining the Path, the mind is always very empty. When meditative concentration (samādhi) is well cultivated, the body also becomes lazy and unwilling to do anything; the mind is empty and the brain is empty, with no interest in anything, and a sense of unfamiliarity and spaciousness toward all things and people. All of what you describe are good phenomena of practice—a state approaching meditative absorption (samādhi) before attaining the Path. It shows that you are practicing very diligently; reaching this level is not at all easy. Keep it up.

When a Buddhist practitioner truly applies effort and achieves results, they are completely opposite to worldly people. Worldly people consider their state of body and mind to be normal, but in fact it is all afflictive habits. If our state of body and mind is different from theirs, that is right; if it were the same, that would be wrong. They cannot understand you, and even if you explain, they won't comprehend—so don't explain; just continue applying effort yourself. If a practitioner's mind is never empty, seeing everything as good and interesting, everything as familiar and dear, then their meditative skill is still insufficient. Your practice is quite diligent and has produced results. Seeing everything with a sense of unfamiliarity, feeling distant from you—that is right. This is called "separation"—separation from afflictions and worldly dharmas. Only after this separation can one attain the Path and realize emptiness and no-self.

You now feel that everything is empty—this is a good phenomenon. If your power of concentration strengthens a bit more and your power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) also strengthens, it is possible that you will truly become empty. Others simply cannot understand you and take you for a fool. We Buddhist practitioners, when we practice well, are fools; if we are not fools, we are just like worldly people, which means we haven't practiced well. You always think of your father's body in the state of a white skeleton, which shows you have an initial white skeleton contemplation, or that you have achieved some accomplishment in the four foundations of mindfulness, and your contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in meditation has produced results. We do not look at those worldly marks; we look at the mark apart from the worldly—that is called the true mark. The truth is that sentient beings are in fact white skeletons, and in the end the white skeletons also return to emptiness; the material body is empty, all dharmas are empty, and all human affairs, principles, and phenomena are empty. This is right—you are on the correct path. The results of your practice are quite good. According to your current state, you are not far from attaining meditative absorption (samādhi), and not far from realizing emptiness and no-self. Whichever kind of meditative absorption appears, it is all related to emptiness. Keep up the effort.