DRASHTA
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samatha vipassana · Drupön Lama Karma, transmitting instructions from his root guru Lama Naljorpa Sönam Druktop (Nyingma/Kagyü), as translated/compiled by B. Alan Wallace in Samatha and Vipasyana

Śamatha Without a Sign: Resting in Empty, Luminous Awareness

A more advanced śamatha method that drops the breath as an object entirely: settling the body, briefly invoking guidance, then letting attention rest in bare present awareness — releasing thoughts of past and future without following, blocking, or analyzing them.

The theory, briefly

Where breath-counting is 'śamatha with a sign' (a chosen object to focus on), this method is 'śamatha without a sign' — attention rests in awareness itself rather than on any object. The text frames this as building on a foundation already laid by practices like breath-counting, not as a starting point.

The instruction is precise about what to do with thought: view thoughts of the past as things to simply not let in, and don't usher in thoughts of the future either — this alone brings attention into the present moment. From there, the practice is not to investigate or analyze this present awareness, but to notice directly that it has no findable location you could point to. Seeing this, the text says, is to see it as empty — yet at the same time, ordinary sensory experience (sight, sound, and so on) continues, vivid and unimpeded. The mind is described as having these two inseparable qualities together: emptiness (free of dullness) and luminosity (free of laxity).

Whatever thoughts do arise are met the same way throughout: not blocked, and not followed. They are 'released into their ground' — the same open, unborn awareness they arose from — trusting that thoughts settle on their own once they stop being fed by either suppression or pursuit.

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The practice

Resting Without a Sign

15–25 minutes · The seven-point posture of Vairocana (an upright cross-legged seated posture), or a simple straight-backed seated posture if that isn't accessible; body and mind relaxed throughout

  1. 1Settle into your seated posture, let go of any held breath gently, and relax your body and mind completely.
  2. 2Briefly bring to mind a wish for the wellbeing and awakening of all beings, and a felt sense of connection to whatever guidance or lineage you draw on, letting that settle quietly into your heart before continuing.
  3. 3As you begin, let go of any thought of the past the moment you notice it arising, and don't invite in thoughts of the future — this alone brings your attention into the present.
  4. 4One of the tradition's own students put this simply: thoughts of the past have already ceased and disappeared. Thoughts of the future haven't yet arisen. And thoughts of the present, if you actually look, can't quite be pinned down or identified either.
  5. 5Without investigating, analyzing, or asking 'what is this,' simply notice that this present awareness has no location you could point to.
  6. 6Rest in that open, empty awareness — noticing that even though it has no findable location, ordinary sensory experience remains vivid and unobstructed within it.
  7. 7This isn't a state you finally arrive at and hold onto — even accomplished practitioners describe simply returning to it, again and again, for as long as they can each time. That returning is itself the practice.
  8. 8When a thought arises, don't block it and don't follow it — let it release back into the same open, unborn ground it came from, and continue resting.

The source frames this as more advanced material, traditionally given directly by a teacher only after a student has shown stability in preliminary practices such as breath-counting — approach it as a natural next step from that foundation, not a starting point.

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