in an actual meditation session, this involves, first of all, analyzing whether the meditator who has achieved tranquil equipoise actually can be found in an ultimate sense. seeking the meditator both within and apart from the various elements, one encounters the meditator nowhere; seeking ultimacy in phenomena (dharmas), one encounters it nowhere. thus, one comes to abide in a space-like awareness of the void nature of both the person and dharmas. next (or, alternatively) one examines more carefully whether the mind itself can be found in an ultimate sense: it is discovered to have the conventional nature of a flow of awareness and clarity, but no ultimacy, no true existence. in short, one should recognize that any existent that arises, whether an object of the mind or the mind itself, is merely conceptual, is void and—as chos rgyan quotes his guru, sangs rgyas ye shes, as saying—”when . . . you are equipoised one-pointedly on that, marvelous!” (gbzl: 4a; trans. dalai lama and berzin: 100; ysgm: 30b). in the period between meditation sessions (rjes thob), one should see all appearances as deceptive (sgyu ma), as existing differently than they appear, but one must at the same time recognize that their ultimate voidness does not preclude their conventional functioning, any more than conventional functioning gives them true existence.