Meditation Technique 9: Dissolving the Senses in the Peacock’s Tail

This highly symbolic technique is a visual contemplation that aims to dissolve the mind and the senses into the Supreme Void.

The Five Voids: Meditating on the Peacock’s Eyes

The instruction uses an ancient, specific image to represent the sensory world:

Meditate on the five voids in the form of the five colored circles on a peacock’s tail. When the circles dissolve, one will enter into the Supreme Void within. (Verse 32)

The “five voids” are a reference to the five senses—touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell. The “five colored circles on a peacock’s tail” are the visual representation of these five senses.

Practice Instructions (Visual Contemplation)

This is a “looking” technique that relies on an unwavering gaze to stop the thought process:

1. The Object: Look at a picture of a peacock’s tail, specifically focusing awareness on the five colored circles/eyes.

2. Unblinking Gaze: The most critical element of this practice, common to all “looking” techniques, is to keep staring at the circles “without moving or blinking the eyes”.

3. Rest and Resume: If the eyes feel tired or water, they should be closed briefly, then reopened to continue the practice.

4. The Dissolution: The practitioner continues until a time comes when the circles on the peacock’s tail appear to “dissolve” or disappear.

The Dissolution of the Mind

The physical disappearance of the visual object is interpreted as the mind having disappeared.

• The mind acts as a “data processor,” taking sensory input (from the eye) and constructing the final image we see. When the mind disappears, even momentarily, the forms we are looking at disappear.

• When the circles dissolve, the mind disappears, and one is liberated.

• The mind’s disappearance does not mean it is destroyed; rather, it means the mind is now under the practitioner’s control, and the “inner chatter has finally ended”.

• The Result: Supreme Void: When the mind dissolves, the practitioner “will enter into the Supreme Void within.” The Supreme Void is presented as another name for God; thus, the true nature (God) unfolds, and the practitioner becomes liberated.

The external world (the peacock’s tail) will reappear, but the practitioner will be fundamentally changed, now living in a state of freedom and control over the mind.