"So try to understand: contemplation is meditating upon something; meditation is not meditating upon something – just being oneself, no movement away from the center, no movement at all – just being yourself so totally that there is not even a flickering, the inner flame remains unmoving. The other has disappeared; only you are. There is not a single thought. The whole world has disappeared. The mind is no longer there; only you are, in your absolute purity. Contemplation is like a mirror mirroring something; meditation is simply mirroring, not mirroring anything – just a pure capacity to mirror, but not actually mirroring anything.

"With contemplation you can attain up to nirvichara samadhi – samadhi with no-thought – but in nirvichara one thought still remains, and that is the thought of no-thought. That too is a thought, the last, the very last, but it remains. One is aware that there is no-thought, one knows that there is no-thought. But what is this knowing of no-thought? Vast change has happened, thoughts have disappeared, but now no-thought itself has become an object. If you say 'I know emptiness,' then it is not enough emptiness; the thought of emptiness is there. The mind is still functioning – functioning in a very, very passive, negative way, but still functioning. You are aware that there is emptiness. Now what is this emptiness you are aware of? It is very subtle thought, the most subtle, the last beyond which the object completely disappears.

"So, whenever a disciple comes to a Zen master very happy with his attainment and says, 'I have attained emptiness,' the master says, 'Go and throw this emptiness away. Don't bring it to me again. If you are really empty then there is also no thought of emptiness.'

"This is what happened in the famous story of Subhuti. He was sitting under a tree with no thought, not even the thought of no-thought. Suddenly, flowers showered. He was amazed – 'What is happening?' He looked all around: flowers and flowers from the sky.

"Seeing that he was amazed, the gods told him, 'Don't be amazed. We have heard the greatest sermon on emptiness today. You have delivered it."