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:
- Meaningless activities without end
- The best opportunity to put the teachings into practice
- Nothing to be grasped
- No greater obstacle to Dharma practice
- Start observing your mind
- Before it is too late
- Sealing your merit with authentic dedication
- Never stop thinking about how to gain liberation
- No more than an empty echo
- Giving and taking
- Phenomena adorn emptiness, but never corrupt it
- Conduct
- The only thing that is really worth doing
- Neither discouragement nor pride
- The reason you are wandering in samsara
- The importance of relative bodhicitta
- Powerful sources of help
- Accepting short-term sufferings
- Phenomena adorn emptiness
- Two types of friends