Four Foundations of Mindfulness Contemplative Practice Questions and Answers 14

Question: Recently, whenever I sit on the cushion, I quickly enter the state, and my body seems to merge completely with empty space. I deliberately tried to feel it, and I could hardly sense my back, shoulders, head, and other parts; as for my legs and lower dantian area, when I deliberately tried to feel them, they seemed to be there and yet not there. When I contemplated and observed my breathing, the breath also felt transparent, merging with empty space. Is this kind of realization correct? 

Answer: This is a rather good meditative state for you; you have entered the desire-realm concentration (kāma-dhātu-samādhi), and your physical body is like the body of a desire-realm deva. Your breath circulates well, your physical constitution is quite good, and your whole body is clear and unobstructed, so the heavy, coarse sensation of the body has disappeared. It is right that you cannot feel your body in meditation, because the body is empty to begin with; the sensation of the body only arises when the body's material form is coarse and heavy—the coarser and heavier it is, the more obvious the sensation; the more subtle the body's material form becomes, the less sensation there is. This shows that material form is an obstruction to the mind. Therefore, in meditation there is no need to pay attention to the physical body; just focus on contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā).