Objectless Meditation

The texts do teach about objectless or non-referential meditation, and having the mind naturally settled, but this meditation is taught only for those who are advanced, who have high levels of meditation.

We are simply not able to do that yet because we are not clear about the mind, and that being the case, we are not clear about what we are actually able to do, and what’s beyond us. Our so called objectless meditation amounts to us trying to relax without bringing anything specific to mind, but now the idea of being relaxed becomes the object; otherwise we turn the idea of ‘objectless’ itself into the object and try to meditate on that. So while we think we are meditating without an object, it ends up becoming meditation with an object. And if we are sitting there thinking that we are doing something that in reality is beyond us, we are wasting our time.

Why is objectless meditation the practice of someone who is more advanced? Well, if we think about the stages of practice of Sadhanas; first we generate and meditate on the deity, and only at the very end of the practice do we rest without an object, non-referentially. But that final step is to be done only once we are able to do the prior steps. If one can’t do what comes earlier, then one certainly can’t do what comes later, and that is 100% sure.

So we should begin by meditating with a focus, and through that we will naturally come to know how to meditate without a focus, or reference point. But to just jump in at the more advanced stages of the practice would only be a fabrication and waste of time. That‘s the way we should go about our meditation practice.

Drupon Khen Rinpoche, Calm Abiding Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery, 15 October 2016