Dear friends,
The first two stages of shamatha invited us to cultivate steady concentration grounded in relaxed, expansive awareness. The next two stages help us learn to maintain presence without relying on a fixed reference point like the breath.
Today’s video focuses on the third stage: dissolve into space. Here, we begin to attune to the quality of spacious awareness itself. This stage offers a gradual and essential bridge to the fourth stage of shamatha (which we’ll explore in two weeks), helping us become more familiar with the felt sense of space or “the gap.”
For me, this stage offered the beginnings of an embodied understanding of the Buddhist notion of emptiness. Being with the fullness of awareness reminded me that emptiness is not a lack or void, but a fullness of being that transcends self and other.
I like to think of this stage as a bird leaping from its nest: suspended, untethered, learning to trust the open sky, but knowing that the floor is right beneath them.
In this week’s video, you’ll learn:
The technique, gaze, and quality of attention in the third stage of shamatha
How this stage helps us develop a relationship with “the gap” and our ability to let go of a reference point
Why mental turbulence often arises between the second and third stages—and what to do when it does
Why I’ve always found this stage to be the most subtle and difficult
How it prepares us for the final, fourth stage of shamatha
Dissolve into Space Guided Meditation [10-mins]:
