Like a deep lake, calm and clear, so the wise settle having heard the truths of the Dhamma.

Rahado gambhīro — a deep lake: gambhīra is deep both physically and spiritually. The depth of the lake means that surface perturbations do not reach the bottom.

Vippasanno anāvilo — calm and clear: the deep lake may have small waves on the surface but its depth remains clear. Thus the mind of the wise can perceive fluctuations without being disturbed in its depths.

Dhammāni sutvāna vippasīdanti — the wise settle having heard: vippasīdanti is to be calm, serene, clear. Deep listening to the Dhamma produces pasāda, luminous serenity. Not the effect of intellectual understanding but of experiential resonance.

The profound samādhi has this lacustrine quality: clarity without agitation, depth without darkness, extension without visible limits. The lake is one of the most appropriate symbols for the mind in deep meditation.