17/08/2026
Q: In life, we often run away from emptiness by buying things or eating things but in meditation, it's a place for peace and a place to embrace.
Than Ajahn: Yes, peace and happiness. True peace and happiness is the emptiness. The Buddha said nibbāna is the absolute emptiness. There's no thing, not even the body. Just the mind alone by itself, and there is no defilement either. No defilement, no greed, hate or delusion.
Student: And we can rest in it.
Than Ajahn: Yes, your mind will be at ease in that position. It’s a natural position. You don't have to act. It's just a natural place for the mind to be.
But you have to go through the resistance of the defilement. The defilement doesn't want you to go into emptiness. The defilement wants you to go to the sensual objects: to see, to hear, to drink, to eat, and to socialise. So you have to fight against these obstacles.
Student: It's a very big battle, Than Ajahn.
Than Ajahn: Yeah, sensual pleasure is one of the obstacles that prevent you from going into emptiness. One of the five hindrances is the sensual pleasure desire. So you have to keep the eight precepts because the eight precepts will force you not to go after any sensual objects.
“Dhamma in English, May 31, 2022.”
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Q: I really like meditating in this retreat cabin and have been experimenting with how much concentration I get and how much openness to all experiences, and then I gathered the mind again.
Than Ajahn: I think you should aim towards emptiness because emptiness is the only thing that doesn’t hurt the mind. Everything else, sooner or later, will hurt the mind. All experiences prone to create suffering sooner or later, so don’t try to experience anything except emptiness.
Emptiness arises from stopping thinking. When your mind stops thinking, the mind will have emptiness because everything you experience is the mind’s creation. I am talking about the experiences you have when you are meditating, not when you are not in meditation. All experiences that you experience while meditating are all mind created and they are all illusions. They are not real. The only real thing is emptiness. So try to get to emptiness where the mind is most peaceful and happiest.
You need mindfulness to get to there. You have to stop thinking. So stop creating all those experiences because they can backfire sooner or later. Instead of creating good experiences, your mind can also create bad experiences. So you want to control your thought, the creator of all your experiences. Keep it still. Then you’ll have emptiness which the Buddha said it’s the best form of happiness. ‘Nibbānaṁ paramaṁ suññaṁ.’ The supreme bliss comes from supreme emptiness.
With emptiness, there is no aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. Because there is no thing. Only when there is something, then there is anniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. When there is no thing, how can there be aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā? Could there be aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā with the space around you? The space doesn’t change. The space doesn’t rise and cease. The space doesn’t come and go. The space is all around you. It is always there.
If your mindfulness is quite strong, you might be able to create this emptiness anywhere. But you need a strong mindfulness to create this emptiness anywhere. When you have weak mindfulness, then you need the emptiness of the surrounding to help you develop this inner emptiness. Once you know how to create this inner emptiness, then you can be anywhere, and you can still create this emptiness inside you.
Why do you have to meditate alone? Why do you have to be alone? It’s because you have to have the external emptiness first. If your surrounding is not empty, if the surrounding is full of distraction, then you’ll find it difficult to be mindful and difficult to create this inner emptiness. But once you are capable of creating this inner emptiness, then you can be anywhere and still be able to keep creating this internal emptiness.
So you should make use of the time that you have, so when you have to leave your meditation cabin, it won’t bother you. Then you can create this inner emptiness anywhere.
Layperson: Okay. I’ll try Ajahn.
Than Ajahn: Just concentrate on your breath. Keep watching your breath to stop thinking. And don’t be distracted by any experience that comes up.
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Q: I really like your talk about emptiness that there is no aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā in emptiness. Even though it was just a superficial knowledge for me, it’s somehow so profound.
Than Ajahn: You should do it. Throw everything away so you have an empty room. Throw away the picture at the wall behind you. Strip off everything that is unnecessary. Then you’ll find that you are much happier because you have less things to worry about, less things to take care of. You can empty your physical environment first. Next, you empty your mental environment by using mindfulness, by stop thinking.
Student: So what Ajahn said was to use kāya-viveka first.
Than Ajahn: Yeah. First, kāya-viveka. This kāya-viveka will then induce citta-viveka. If you are surrounded yourself with so many things, then you’ll be involved with all those things, i.e. you’ll be looking after them, taking care of them, and you won’t be able to go inside. You are stuck with the outside things. But when there is nothing outside to pull you, then it’s easy to go inside.
“Dhamma in English, Feb 1, 2022.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com
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