Neither perception nor non perception
Neither Perception nor Non-perception; Now there will come a time in our meditative life when we will understand the realization of emptiness as a limitation. By abandoning or letting go of the realization of emptiness we come to the realization consisting of neither perception nor non-perception. Because we have abstained from the perception of emptiness everything appears as neither truly existent nor nonexistent. This is a deeper realization of emptiness. If we cling to the pure perception of emptiness or nothingness we may fall into a state of nihilism. Instead, if we use our effort to become aware of emptiness as all pervasive, then we cannot say that it is separate from form. Because we use patient mindfulness to restrain our mind from the perception of emptiness we realize all forms as inseparable from emptiness. The first realization of emptiness is an absence, but it is extraordinary in the sense that we are freed from all our perceptions. The second realization is to perceive the extraordinary emptiness in the ordinary perceptions. We use our wisdom and determination to go beyond previous limitations, and we come to the direct realization of form and emptiness as neither perception nor non-perception.
