The practice
Feel the skin all the way round as a single continuous surface. Now consider that surface to be a wall enclosing nothing at all — no contents, no organs, no interior weight. Attend to the enclosed emptiness rather than to the wall.
What it works on
This is the sharpest and simplest of the body-emptiness dharanas because the skin is something you can genuinely feel as a single closed surface. The verse promises it leads somewhere past meditating.
Notes
- Feeling the whole skin at once takes a minute or two. Do not rush to the emptiness.
Practise gently
Shoonyaka offers educational and contemplative material, not medical, psychological or religious authority. Nothing here diagnoses or treats any condition. Stop any practice that leaves you dizzy, frightened or unwell, and treat a strong reaction as a reason to rest rather than to push on.