Within Mahamudra, shamatha and vipashyana are not two unrelated techniques but two aspects of a single process of recognizing the nature of mind. Shamatha, or calm abiding, serves as the foundational discipline that tames distraction and emotional turbulence, allowing the mind to rest with stability and clarity. By cultivating one-pointed attention on a chosen support, or eventually resting without a specific object, the mind becomes more pliant and less prone to being swept away by thoughts. This calm abiding is not an end in itself; it creates the inner environment in which the mind can simply remain present, neither agitated nor dull. In this way, shamatha functions as the ground upon which deeper realization can unfold.

Vipashyana, or insight, then makes use of that stabilized attention to investigate directly the nature of mind and phenomena. Rather than merely enjoying tranquility, the practitioner turns the clarified awareness back upon itself, examining where the mind is, what it is like, and whether any solid, independent entity can be found. Through such inquiry, appearances, thoughts, and the sense of a separate experiencer are seen as lacking inherent existence, while awareness itself is recognized as empty yet cognizant, luminous, and non-dual. This recognition of the mind’s essential nature is what Mahamudra points toward, and sustained familiarity with it gradually erodes clinging to a truly existing self and world.

The relationship between shamatha and vipashyana in this context is both sequential and simultaneous. Initially, shamatha is emphasized to establish basic meditative competence, because without some degree of calm abiding, insight practice tends to be unstable and easily derailed by distraction. As insight develops, however, it naturally reinforces calm, since seeing through mental fabrications loosens the grip of agitation and emotional reactivity. Over time, the two come to support one another in a dynamic way: stability makes insight clearer and more continuous, while genuine insight prevents meditation from degenerating into mere blankness or passive serenity.

In more mature Mahamudra practice, this mutual support ripens into a unified experience sometimes described as the union of shamatha and vipashyana. Resting in the direct recognition of mind’s nature, there is both unshakable stability and vivid, discriminating awareness that clearly distinguishes between conceptual mind and awareness itself. Calm and insight are no longer cultivated as separate stages but arise together as a single, effortless, non-conceptual awareness. This unified presence, stable yet knowing its own empty and luminous nature, is the living expression of what Mahamudra calls the Great Seal.