Any benefit from meditation, if your mind is already completely blank?

Question

I have never meditated before. I really want to get into meditation to explore the benefits, especially trying to understanding who I am and how my mind affects my perception of reality (looking for spiritual growth etc).

So, for the past week I have spent an hour a day, what I understand as meditating, on my own in a quiet room. From my very first session onward, my mind has simply been completely blank during meditation (after allowing 1 minute to adjust to such a state). I don't experience any form of brain chatter (I hardly ever do), I sit easily for an hour with only a handful of thoughts occurring to me, although I feel completely focussed, awake, present and aware. I don't force a blank mind, it simply goes quiet when I focus on breathing (perhaps due to my inability to multitask). In short, I simply feel I get no benefit from this, other than experiencing some sort of longish-lasting blissful state (but I thought there is more to it).

From my limited understanding, I understand that the ideal meditation state is getting your mind as still as possible, then simply observe (non-judgmentally) any thoughts passing by, realising it's all conceive by the mind and learning from what you witness as a kind of 'outside observer'.

Since I don't observe much, I feel I don't learn anything at all.

Can anyone perhaps please shed some light on my situation and tell me what benefit I can get from meditation when I find my mind is already completely blank and I have no thoughts during meditation sessions.

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Just to give you some background context in the event that it might help ... I have immense focus and no ability whatsoever to multitask. e.g. I literally have to stop a conversation when I plug a plug into a wall socket. On the other end, I can easily sit still and concentrate for hours and hours. In general, my mind is overflowing with ideas whenever I want it, but I simply find that my mind goes offline when I meditate and I don't find it helpful in my deeper spiritual search.

Answer 1

As others have said, meditation isn't just about a still mind, because a still mind is being found in order to be a step towards something. It''s not an end in itself (or at most it's only part of the desired end, not the whole of it).

So congratulations,you have found stillness easy, and you're doing well, but don't mistakenly imagine that this means you've "accomplished" meditation, in its deeper sense. Now to use that state.

There are two aspects to this - look carefully at what you already do, then put it in context to understand what next.

As a first question, I have to ask you to consider how sure you are, that you have accomplished what you believe you have done. I "get" the monofocus point, but having a still mind, seemingly empty and without thoughts, doesn't necessarily mean an inward watching mind,and doesn't necessarily mean you're seeing what's there. Be careful in assuming it is.

Perhaps you are taking "no thoughts" too literally. In meditation, you are watching for/remaining aware of everything. That's one reason stillness matters - the ability to notice what passes within, and move beyond mind, is immediately limited by "noise to signal" - the chatter, distraction and instability of the observing one.

In this context, one wants to stay alert, and watch and become aware of (but not reactive to) anything that arises.

A rich and important source of things, is ones immediate reactions and "involuntary" behaviours. Your eyes blink, the heart pulses, you catch the edge of a thought "how long have I been sitting" in the moment it arises, there is a sound outside and for a brief moment you feel yourself move as you react to it and decide what it means. And "yes you do" - if you didn't, you wouldn't react to a fire alarm or scream of a loved one, any more than a car driving or foot on the stairs, because you wouldn't perceive the sound or the difference between them. Literally, anything that causes the edge of a thought, or internal change of any kind, one is seeking a state of awareness of it.

A good one here is a body sensation like an itch, or ache. Do you ever scratch, ache, or move when sitting? I do. Notice that these are just sensations, the thought to scratch or move arises separately. You can see these arise separately. As these are common and observable, these are really good ways to check what you are doing when sitting. For example, when sitting, I notice that what I think of as an itch, is actually an irritating burning sensation, that arises, ripples a bit, intensifies, an instinct to move a hand arises, a thought to do so occurs to make that happen, and if I watch it a while, the itch gradually moves, then vanishes. And I can watch all those play out, and stay detached from it. Even if I do scratch, I just let my body and mind do what they will, and observe, like any other observation. This might help.

But then there is the question, "why"? What does this achieve, why meditate anyway? The aim of meditation is not just to sit untouched and have a still mind. It is more about becoming aware of how thoughts (in all ways) arise in your own mind, and developing detachment and awareness of them in daily life.

There is a saying, I forget by whom, to the effect that in the tiny fraction of a second between the raw sensation, and the reaction - that is where free will and freedom reside. In a way, that is a good description of meditation's real goal. So a still mind isn't the final aim, it's a prerequisite needed to make observation, and then more refined observation, of those split seconds, possible and more automatic. It's also to prolong the space between the two (and allow freedom and detachment into that space where judgement and reaction usually occur).

So, now you have a still and aware mind when sitting. But when you stop sitting, what then? The aim is to keep within this state in everyday life. The concept of "walking meditation", where you walk, or move, while staying within that state, sounds like a place you could go next.

Answer 2

Mumonkan - Case 4: The Western Barbarian With No Beard

The Case:

Wakuan said, "Why has the Western Barbarian no beard?"

Mumon's Comment:

Study should be real study, enlightenment should be real enlightenment. You should once meet this barbarian directly to be really intimate with him. But saying you are really intimate with him already divides you into two.

Mumon's Verse:

Don't discuss your dream
Before a fool.
Barbarian with no beard
Obscures the clarity.

When I first started out, I had a very similar experience with meditation as you. It was never really difficult for me to sit. I mean, seriously - butt, cushion, breath, calm. It's not that hard, right?? I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but for most people, it's not so easy. For them, that place of calm that you experienced so quickly can be years away. For these folks, a chattering mind and fidgeting body are obstacles that will take all sorts of sitting and sweat to unseat. Believe it or not, though, these people are at an advantage. To practice Buddhism isn't to sit well and have blissful experiences on the cushion. On the contrary, to practice Buddhism is to work through our bullshit and burn through our karmic obstacles. And it takes one hell of a hot fire to do that. If we were to liken Buddhist practice to a forge we have to stoke, then those who struggle with sitting are blessed with a huge, nearby wood pile of problems and difficulties that they can quickly burn up. They come out of the gate burning like stars. And it's that blazing inner fire their struggles have helped establish that make it that much easier for them to incinerate their deeper, psychological obstacles. People like us, well, we have to go searching much deeper in the forest in order to find enough wood to keep our practice fueled.

Which brings us to the question of what you should do now. How do you fuel the fire of your practice? The first thing I'd ask is whether your practice is going as well as you think it is. When you sit, do you remain completely motionless the entire time? If not, start there. Next, if an hour is so easy, why not try an hour and a half? I actually find that my meditation sessions don't really start to take off until after the first hour. Longer sitting can lead to better sitting. The same goes for frequency. Are you sitting everyday? If not, why not? If you are, why not try sitting twice a day? And even if you've got all that going, when was the last time you meditated 10 hours a day for a week long retreat?

So now that we've got that out of the way, onto beards and barbarians. Remember how I mentioned that Buddhist practice isn't about sitting well and being blissful? This is key. Real practice is when you meet the western barbarian face to face and are really intimate with him. You are the Western Barbarian. When was the last time you really took a look at your beard in the mirror? Once an adept has establish a good sitting practice, the rest of their days are spent examining that beard - those mental hangups and karmic obstacles - through a variety of insight practices. These can come in the form of Vipassana, Zen koans, sutra study, keeping the precepts, etc. etc. etc. These are the true forges of enlightenment.

So that should keep you busy for a couple of decades. Have fun!!!! :-D

Answer 3

Buddhist meditation is unique among meditation types in that it is firmly rooted in Buddha's key realization: the so-called Noble Truths. All other meditations are set within different frameworks, aiming at their respective goals. Some meditations aim at a blank mind, other meditations aim at experience of unity with All. Buddhist meditation aims at the goal of Buddhism, variously known as Nirvana, Enlightenment, Liberation etc. or more properly as "the cessation of suffering".

In order to understand this goal, one needs to understand the framework in which this goal is defined - the Noble Truths. Then you can understand Buddhist meditation as the way of achieving the goal.

The Noble Truths are centered around what they declare to be The Key Problem of sentient existence: the experience of psychological suffering, or the painful feeling of this is wrong and I can't fix it (as opposed to Peace, defined as everything is right). Following from there, the Noble Truths identify the Mechanism behind the problem, the Solution, and the Way to implement the solution.

The mechanism behind "suffering" (I will call it that for simplicity, although now you know that it refers specifically to the subjective experience of "painful wrongness") is identified as craving for one's current experience to be different than what it is now. This craving takes a million forms, some of the instances having to do with invalid desires or unrealistic expectations, and other instances having to do with the way we interpret and evaluate our experience. Anyhow, it all comes from our definitions of the world and of ourselves and from the rules by which we delineate and evaluate phenomena.

The Solution then is to figure out ways to reduce and completely eliminate all mismatch between one's interpretation of the current moment-by-moment experience and one's idea of what that experience should be. As a rule of thumb, this means eliminating all sources of conflict, both external conflict with society, and internal conflict within one's mind. This is accomplished, first by fixing one's life to eliminate all major sources of disharmony, and second through identifying and eliminating all kinds of psychological hangups. The first part is Buddhist ethics. The second part is Buddhist meditation.

The Buddhist path in general and the path of meditation in particular is a gradual implementation of the Buddhist principle of "elimination of the causes of psychological suffering". It starts with coarse and obvious sources of trouble, and proceed to progressively finer items. In the course of doing this, the practitioner keeps getting an increasingly better understanding of one's own mind and the way it shapes one's experience of peace or suffering, until at one moment, this understanding culminates in a breakthrough. This breakthrough has to do with the most fundamental assumptions underlying our experience, and enables complete elimination of even the slightest experience of suffering, regardless of external circumstances.

So when you meditate, your goal is not a blank state of mind. Your goal is to examine your experience in terms of suffering and the causes of suffering, first and foremost your own internal psychological causes, and then, through trial and error, to discover practical ways to stop the experience of suffering and create the experience of harmony and peace. As I said above, it all comes from our definitions of the world and of ourselves and from the rules by which we delineate and evaluate phenomena.

Our subjective reality, with its ups and downs, is an interpretation we make. The question is, how to be free from the ups and downs inherent to an interpretation. This is what you need to figure out and implement, first in meditation, and then in real life. Good luck!

Answer 4

You're certainly right in that one of the goals of mediation is to quiet your mind. Congratulations on achieving that! As others have mentioned, this isn't an easy feat (even if you stumble onto it by not being able to focus on more than one thing very well).

The question then becomes if your mind is completely quiet, devoid of thoughts, feelings, and whims, what are you? Are you your thoughts? Or are you the thing or being that is able to silence your thoughts? Another benefit of mediation is simply realizing that you are NOT your passing thoughts. Your thoughts and feelings are only temporary. You are the being that is able to quiet your thoughts, and, as such, you are the being that observes your thoughts.

How does this apply in everyday life? Through practicing meditation and becoming aware of your thoughts as temporary, you're able to regulate your own emotions better. You don't become so quickly consumed in the "emotions of the moment." I'm sure you know people like this, who are guided completely and totally by their current emotions and current thoughts, not having realized that they are TEMPORARY. You're able to think more critically about yourself. You gain an introspective ability and start taking apart every single thought you have.

In short, meditation teaches you to quiet your mind and in doing so also teaches you MINDFULNESS.

Answer 5

You could notice how your breath moves in and out through the nostrils. This can be done to a very fine degree even isolating individual characteristics contained within one portion of the in-breath or out-breath. There will be more gross observations happening with bodily phenomenon like the rising and falling of the abdomen and the residual echoes this produces in other parts of the body.

The other day while meditating my attention shifted to my hearing as the sound of a crow (I think) was croaking. I discerned this with more depth thus: sound - ear - interpretation - feeling. I was able to get a very sharp sense of what was happening beneath the cognizance of the sound and could focus purely on just the raw sensation that the sound seemed to produce. As the crow was croaking there was a kind of sine wave in a localized part the head in the form of a sensation. This wave-form married perfectly with the amplitude of the croaking crow.

Your focus is one that many would envy. It can be fine-tuned to observe the most subtle physiological changes. I found myself in your position with having a tremendous focus when I began Buddhist meditation two years ago.

I would encourage that you develop a good structural spiritual framework before advancing to deep levels quite simply because insight and other odd experiences came to me with quite some force. Even my Sangha were uncertain about how to support me but eventually, I found a small group of individuals who were practising at very deep levels who give me some guidance.

Read many suttas and connect with a sangha group.

Answer 6

Since i didn't feel such, i don't know what exactly your feeling is. But i have heard that people who are meditating expressing their experience by these words blankness, lightness, emptiness, weightless etc. And for those experiences the teachers advice not to focus on it or do not meditate again and again for feel that experience. Even the Lord Buddha also said not to stuck there on that lightness or emptiness, because it is kind of a craving and it is distracting.

Answer 7

Meditation is a deeply personal word, so you get to decide what it means to you. I can impose my own personal opinions and offer suggestions in that direction.

The Japanese Zen Buddhists have a term, mushin(無心). Translating the characters literally, we get "no mind," which is where the blank slate imagery comes from. For many people, it is very hard to have such a blank slate. It can take years to attain it. If you already have it from your nature, then it may be useful to explore the full phrase. Mushin is the shortened form of the full phrase "mushin no shin" (無心の心). Again, literally translating the characters we get "mind without mind." No surprise that phrase sounds rather paradoxical. These are Zen Buddhists who came up with it.

If I may offer just the interpretation of one person, I see the concept of potential being a reasonable resolution of the paradox. If you have a mind that is blank at the moment, but at any point in time could generate a thought without warning, that is a powerful thing. And if you don't necessarily have to know where that thought came from within your mind, so much the better. That would mean every point in your mind is ready to spawn a thought should it be the best thing to do.

To that end, I may recommend something many teachers of meditation recommend: observe the world from where you sit. Alan Watts recommended starting a meditation by striving to reach out and observe the faintest detail as you can. But he carefully made sure not to tell you what particular detail to look for. He didn't specify a sound, or a particular sight. He didn't' even specify that what you would observe would come from the five senses. He simply said to try to observe it.

The world is not blank. It's full of activity at every moment. If you observe the world while you are still, you must have movement in your stillness. And that is a very interesting paradox indeed.

Answer 8

Can anyone perhaps please shed some light on my situation and tell me what benefit I can get from meditation when I find my mind is already completely blank and I have no thoughts during meditation sessions.

What then made you finish the session and yet even thinking about benefits?

Sure, if there is an indifferent feeling (neither pleasant not painful), there is only that, but does it last, is it real? Is it satisfactory or not? Can one call it "my meditation", "a refuge", "under my controll"? Maybe inspect this for your self and try to get it under control with what ever creativity.

Mindfulness Defined might be useful to cross over what already observed ("in this, not-judging-way I stay without any understanding")

Answer 9

In Buddhism, there are two types of meditations. They are, Samatha and Vipassana. There are many sub techniques in each type. Samatha meditations focus on the "tranquility" of the mind where Vipassana meditations focus on the "insight" ie: a clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens. Path to Nirvana often starts with Samatha meditation where you can calm your mind and then practice Vipassana meditation to get a clear understanding of function of the mind.

Since you have no trouble with calming your mind, I would suggest that instead of doing Samatha meditation techniques like mindfulness of breath, you can explore more on Vipassana meditation techniques. You can start with Satipatthana Sutta, which is the Buddha's teaching that Vipassana is based on and get advice from a good meditation practitioner and share your experience.

What exactly differentiates Vipassana from Samatha meditation?

Answer 10

I like to approach to your question like this. I assume you are not a Buddhist(which is totally ok). In Buddhism there are two main types of meditations as Samatha and Vipassana.

Samatha is mainly contributing towards on concentrating your mind. In this there are different types of meditating methods such as Anapana sathiya (Focus on breathing in and out) which is a very famous one and there are other methods too(Better try to find these by referencing thripitaka). Samatha meditations will lead you to jhana(firts,second,third etc.).

Then vipassana is mainly focus on understanding the truth. For this its better to have samatha practised well.
Strongly I suggest you to prefer Thripitaka where real teaching of Lord Buddha can be found. (If not there are sometimes you might lead into a dead end)

Mean while you try for it better try to learn Buddhism which will help you to solve problems occur. Since you can sit in one posture for an hour(which is the hardest part for beginners) start with samatha medition method you prefer to try. Do it daily. Make it a high priority. You will get results. Remember explore Buddhism and good luck

Answer 11

I would say that you are able to develop calm and stillness during the in-and-out-breath very well. See: Google search for Ānāpānasati

So then, the next step is to rotate through the "Four Bases" or "Four Foundations" as listed in the texts

Also see: Satipaṭṭhāna

Next, add the positions: sitting, standing, walking, lying down, eating.

Compare 5 types of meditation to see which challenges you the most: 1. śamatha 2. Vipassanā 3. Dhyāna 4. “Silent Illumination,” or mozhao 5. Shikantaza

I suggest these because they all have taxonomical similarity to the method you indicated.

This should get you started down the path of breaking up the monotony, and can be easily found using internet researches.

Answer 12

I do not think there are any benefits of a completely blanking the mind. I think this state is very similar to the mental state of a newly born child or animal like a buffalo.

Answer 13

I would not dare to add another answer to this question, when so much incredibly helpful wisdom has already been shared, if there wasn't another important element of what is specifically "Buddhist meditation" to emphasize. (It was touched upon in other answers)

My guru says that meditation is more valuable than gold. There is NOTHING better to do then meditation. So please, for the benefit of yourself and the rest of the world, keep it up. What I want to share is a very specific aspect that makes Buddhist meditation different than others. But Buddhist meditation is very difficult and takes tremendous strength, will power, determination, persistence and most of all, faith in the Buddhadharma. So don't give up meditation if what I describe seems too much.

As Andrei, I am sure, already knows the mediation focus he described is not distinctly Buddhist although immensely helpful. The technique of recognising the conflict between what IS and what you want it to be, is a tried and true way of improving your life through meditation that is almost universally applauded. Andrei described this technique and its merits beautifully. But I would suggest if you want to take meditation to an even higher level, incorporating the teachings that make Buddhist meditation different, then you should consider the following: Suffering in life exists and it is something that can be completely resolved only by seeing for yourself what life really is. The Buddha taught that we can gain that knowledge only by first recognizing what life is not.

Genuine Buddhist meditation is always accompanied by the Buddha's teaching that ALL OF THIS is "not me, not mine, THIS I am not!" In other words, when you meditate, instead of trying to dissolve your resistance to "what is happening right now," instead, forcibly impose the recognition that none of it is you. [I don't agree with the earlier comment that forcing this type of thinking is not helpful].

The adherence to the idea that this ALL is you, is the deeply ingrained obstacle (or fetter) upon which all your psychological resistance to what life is, has been and possibly could be, comes from. If you don't feel any of that psychological resistance . . . don't worry, you WILL! Real soon.

The Buddha's truth is that it is not you, not yours. Within Buddhist meditation we say 'I am aware of this, it's arising, it's decline and (maybe even) its cessation' but we don't adhere to even THIS observation as 'mine.' The only knowledge we adhere to, is the one that the Buddha has given us as being truth: this is not me, not mine, not myself. So not even the experience of suffering is something we adhere to as "my" experience. Even more so, we abandon any experience of being delighted by something as being 'mine.'

In order to practice this one needs genuine faith in the Buddha that this type of meditation will completely eradicate suffering if followed accurately. It is very difficult to continually impose the thought 'this is not me, not mine, not myself!' The Buddha taught insight techniques concerning impermanence and dependent origination in order to help us to build this faith. Those techniques are his way of saying, 'if you can't fully trust me on this point then you can use these techniques to see it for yourself.' But if you have faith in the Buddha and this, his core Truth, then you are set to succeed.

The Buddha taught the 4 noble truths but these are the truths of life, not the truth of who you are or what is yours. In Buddhism, we drop EVERYTHING like a searing hot coal that has been pressed into our palm while we were not looking. This doesn't imply anything negative about who we truly are. It just means that ignorance of it all being "nonself" blocks everything of value and must be removed before real peace and happiness can be experienced.

As the Buddha taught, you have already suffered sooo much. If all the tears that you have shed upon the death of your mother during this aeon alone were collected in one place it would be greater than all the water in the 4 oceans! Be determined to throw off the burden of ignorance by gaining direct knowledge of this truth of nonself through Buddhist practice.

Don't be dismayed!

This type of meditation has tremendous heart as well. When you insist on this type of meditation everyone around you will benefit and this whole world will eventually become a paradise. Why? Because the Evil One doesn't want you to escape him through direct knowledge. The greatest weapon he has is to try and make you feel pleased with your meditative efforts. So when your Buddhist meditation gains inertia he will give blessings to your loved ones so that you will be tempted to be pleased with yourself and then, wham, you fall back to suffering and ignorance. So you force the evil one to improve the world by doing this meditation.

It may seem strange but this type of meditation brings peace and joy even in its early stages once you determine to courageously pursue it. So it is truly Good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end result, open to inspection, easily verified by a meditator of faith and energy.

Finally I will pass on a trip I have found valuable: virtue is key. Embodying the noble virtues and noble lifestyle helps this meditation take off. And lastly, don't smoke any intoxicating herbs! Lol

Answer 14

I am no-one, but have received instructions before from a ch'an master, have sat in on zazen classes, and have read a lot about what different Buddhists say. I only want to disagree with most of what's been said!

Meditation doesn't get us anywhere, and is not at all about a blank mind. Isn't the trick to it to calmly, with samatha, let the thoughts you have arise, without attaching to how you do so?

You're seem to have some insight into your thought processes, that you rarely think, and that's a good start!

Here is a good explanation, that shows the difference between a thoughtless mind and a clear one. I would summarize it as: moments of thoughtlessness exist all the time in anyone's life. You can concentrate on this and maybe achieve samadhi on it, but that is not Buddhist meditation!