Reflections on Meditation — II — What is its Ideal State of Mind?
Empty? Focused on something? Filled with thought?
When I started meditating, I assumed that the aim was to achieve a state of thoughtlessness.
However, I had seen allusions to meditators achieving nirvana or realising tremendous fundamental truths through meditation. It seemed unlikely it was a product of thoughtlessness (or sudden mutation or divine revelation, which I was unwilling to countenance). So I considered the opposite — maybe these meditators had channelled intense and highly focused thought, the opposite of a blank mind.
But then, how would meditative thinking be different from just being quiet and thinking hard about something without interruption? Should meditation be just that?
Or are both valid states of meditation — an empty mind and an intensely thinking one? When would we apply each, assuming we don’t mix them in a session? Should we aim for thoughtlessness when we want one type of outcome and concentrated thought when we want another?
To find the answer, I considered two things. The first was the practical benefit of meditation (listed in my earlier post ‘How does it help us?’) in our emotional, intellectual and physical aspects. The second was what happens within me as I meditate.
