Contemplative practices can trigger experiences often labeled 'nothingness,' but these encounters are frequently conflated. This work clarifies two distinct phenomena: emptiness—the lack of inherent existence in experience (no-thingness)—and cessation—an absence or 'cut' in the stream of consciousness (nothingness). Synthesizing Buddhist literature and empirical research, the authors examine the relationship between these experiences, their transformative effects, and neural correlates. They explore pathways leading to cessation and propose cognitive models using active inference. The analysis juxtaposes experiences of void, oneness, non-dual awareness, and pure consciousness with insights into emptiness and cessation, discussing their potential for alleviating suffering.
Meditation reduces suffering not by targeting specific types of distress but by dismantling the underlying mechanisms that generate suffering. The authors examine suffering through three frameworks: well-being (hedonia/eudaimonia), contemporary mindfulness (non-reactivity), and traditional Buddhist practice (ignorance). Although these approaches may produce similar states of reduced suffering, they reinforce different habits, affecting the likelihood of future suffering. Using the action-perception cycle as an analytical tool, suffering is cast as self-reinforcing cycles, with reliable reduction as stable equilibrium. Meditation progressively reveals that suffering, typically perceived as passive, is actually a pattern of action we engage in, providing a reliable way to reduce enacted suffering.