Exploring Emptiness and its Effects on Non-attachment, Mystical Experiences, and Psycho-spiritual Wellbeing: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of Advanced Meditators.
Explore (New York, N.Y.) January 1, 2019 William Van Gordon, Edo Shonin, Thomas J Dunn et al. 38 citations
Cultivating emptiness (śūnyatā), a wisdom-based Buddhist-derived practice, appears to reconnect advanced meditators to what they consider the innermost nature of mind and phenomena. In a study of 25 advanced Buddhist meditators, emptiness meditation produced significantly greater improvements in non-attachment to self and environment, mystical experiences, compassion, positive affect, and negative affect compared to a mindfulness meditation control. No significant relationship was found between duration of emptiness meditation and any outcome. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants combined concentrative and investigative techniques to induce emptiness, elicited spiritually meaningful insights, and retained volitional control over the meditation.