The next meditation in this series is the one that all the previous meditations in our ongoing Wednesday series on the Stages of the Path have been leading up to: the meditation on emptiness.

According to Buddha, the root cause of our suffering is our ignorance of, and subsequent misapprehension of, how things actually exist. We perceive phenomena as existing entirely independently of the mind, and it is this mistaken apprehension that gives rise to all attachments and aversions that generate our unhappiness.

In reality things are empty of being independent of the mind. It is through understanding this emptiness that we begin to undermine all the unhappiness in our minds and lives. Gradually, through gaining deep experience of emptiness in meditation, we can actually purify our minds completely and eventually eradicate even the root cause of our suffering.

What could be more exciting than coming to understand the true nature of all things? And then to discover that this insight will actually remove all our unhappiness and make our lives inexpressibly joyful, creative and meaningful?