Teaching Meditation Misses the Point

Meditation teachers and students alike often miss the whole point of meditation. Meditation cannot be learned — it cannot be taught. It is not a skill to be acquired, and it is not something to be “done.”

Sitting quietly, focusing on breath, repeating a mantra — these are useful practices, yet calling them meditation creates the illusion that something has been attained. The very act of teaching reduces it to an object, a method and a goal.

There is a subtle foolishness in this: presenting concentration as meditation, repeating instructions as meditation, promising transformation as if it can be handed over. A structure is created, a framework, but the restless and clever mind, latches onto the form, believing the journey has begun. It has not. Meditation is not in the doing. It is not a class, a certificate, or a practice schedule.

Dharana Is Not Meditation

What is widely taught today as “meditation techniques” is actually Dharana — concentration — the preparatory step in Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga. Dharana is not Dhyana. Stabilizing attention, narrowing awareness, creating objects of focus — these are useful exercises, but they are not meditation. 

Useful? Yes. Meditation? No.

Meditation: The Nothing That Happens

Meditation is nothing. It is the absence of action. Meditation is the state that arises when doing is no longer needed. Thoughts arise, emotions surface, yet none capture attention. They come, they pass, presence remains untouched. Controlling, focusing, forcing — these are all distractions masquerading as meditation. 

The Movement from Thought to Thoughtlessness

Meditation begins to reveal itself in the movement from thought to thoughtlessness. At first, this movement is subtle and almost unnoticed. With practice, it becomes immediate. Thoughts arise and dissolve; the next thought appears, then dissolves in turn. The transition from thought to thoughtlessness to thought occurs so quickly, so fluidly, that it feels like a thoughtless state. There is no suppression of thought, no pursuit of emptiness. Meditation is the state of moving within the arising and dissolving of thoughts.

Over time, the gap between awareness and thought widens. The still space between thinking becomes more accessible. In that space meditation emerges. It is not about stopping thought, it is about being in the movement itself.

Facing What Arises

It comes through years of sitting. Years of simply sitting. Facing discomfort, chaos, boredom, hurt, and restlessness — without turning away. Until the chaos itself grows tired of trying to distract. Meditation is not always graceful. Fear, grief, shame, distraction — all appear, and still, presence remains. Nothing is chased away. Nothing is resisted. Everything is witnessed. Eventually, all dissolves, simply because it is allowed to be.

The Truth About Mastery

Meditation is not something to master. It is not a technique perfected through effort. It is a state that arises naturally when nothing remains to be done. And those who continue to “teach meditation” are only guiding minds toward doing, toward effort, toward following. True meditation eludes the classroom, the schedule, the instruction — it is alive only in the space beyond teaching.