Luminous Emptiness, Not Dark Absence

Some find meditation difficult because they rest in a blank state of mind, not in being. The mind superimposes an absence of experience onto being – a blank, empty nothing which feels boring. Thus, meditation becomes a battle between thinking and boredom. However, when you taste yourself without the filter of memory or expectation, you experience no absence in yourself. You are not boring; you are peaceful, with no impulse to escape into thinking. Imagine being in a room at night. When the light is on, you see objects. When you turn it off, you see darkness. Whatever sees both objects and their absence remains bright. In meditation, we remain as the one aware of both experience and its absence – a luminous emptiness, not a dark state of mind but the bright presence of pure knowing. Not the emptiness of objects, but the fullness of presence.

Some find meditation difficult because they rest in a blank state of mind, not in being. The mind superimposes an absence of experience onto being – a blank, empty nothing which feels boring. Thus, meditation becomes a battle between thinking and boredom. However, when you taste yourself without the filter of memory or expectation, you experience no absence in yourself. You are not boring; you are peaceful, with no impulse to escape into thinking. Imagine being in a room at night. When the light is on, you see objects. When you turn it off, you see darkness. Whatever sees both objects and their absence remains bright. In meditation, we remain as the one aware of both experience and its absence – a luminous emptiness, not a dark state of mind but the bright presence of pure knowing. Not the emptiness of objects, but the fullness of presence.