Letting the mind to become peaceful and staying in meditation state of stillness free from many thoughts is called shamata or sustained calm. Recognizing the empty nature of the mind within that state of calm is called vipashyana or profound insight. Uniting shamata and vipashyana is the essence of meditation practice. It is said:
Look at the mind,
There is nothing to see.
Seeing nothing, we see the dharma,
The source of all buddhas.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva
translated by Padmakara Translation Group
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Further quotes from the book The Heart of Compassion:
- Phenomena adorn emptiness
- Nothing to be grasped
- A practice based on your mind
- Protecting ourselves from future suffering
- Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it
- Just projections of the mind
- The only thing that is really worth doing
- The three aspects of diligence
- The magnifying glass of your faith and devotion
- Accepting short-term sufferings
- Cutting through subtler misconceptions
- I like suffering
- Practice day and night
- No greater obstacle to Dharma practice
- No more than an empty echo
- Before it is too late
- Never stop thinking about how to gain liberation
- The importance of relative bodhicitta
- The children of the buddhas
- Giving and taking