“The middle path when you meditate is to enter into emptiness, into calm and peace.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

19 September 2024

“The middle path when you meditate is to enter into emptiness, into calm and peace.”

- - -

Question: Are nimittas essential for Awakening?

Tan Ajahn: Most nimittas, or visions, are bad for your development of meditation because they can be a distraction, leading you out of the middle path. The middle path when you meditate is to enter into emptiness, into calm and peace. But when you start to sit and see all sorts of nimittas, and the mind follows them, you will forget to meditate. And you will never be able to enter into full concentration, into the peace and happiness that arise from being fully concentrated. 

So, when you meditate, should you have any nimitta, you should disregard it. Just concentrate on your meditation object. And if you do this, eventually this nimitta will disappear and your mind will then enter into full concentration.

When it does that, you will have nothing left except emptiness, peace and upekkhā. And you can see the mind in its pure form, the one who knows, the knower. 

Then you will know the mind and the body are two separate things. 

During that time the body will disappear from the mind’s awareness. Then, when you come out of the meditation, it will give you the capital or the strength to let go of everything because you know that the mind can be by itself and be happy. It doesn’t need to have anything.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Nov 18, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g