Emptiness

When I take a close look at anything, it seems to dissolve and eventually disappear. Behind everything, there is just emptiness. There is no solid stuff. It’s all empty.

I understand that this can be a lot to take all at once. Let’s unpack it gently.

What does ’empty’ mean?

The word “empty” means exactly what you think it means. If a tumbler is empty, it means that there is no water, milk, or anything in the tumbler. Therefore—empty!

That’s precicely what I mean when I say that all of reality is empty. If you actually look close enough, they really are empty. They contain nothing, are made up of nothing, and are, in fact, nothing.

But it’s impossible to see that at first glance. So, let’s take an alternative approach.

Dependent vs Independent Reality

If we define independent reality as something that exists all by itself, then dependent reality is that which exists only because of all the things it depends on.

Let’s take a concrete example.

When you look closely enough at a clay-pot, you will notice that there is only clay and that there is no pot. Look at it this way,

• if you took the clay out of clay pot, there would be nothing there, isn’t it?
• If you hold a clay pot, what you are touching is the clay. You will never ever get to touch the pot.
• Pot is simply a name given to the form and function of clay, and as such, there is no pot. If you take clay out of the picture, there is no pot.

Therefore, pot is a dependent reality and clay is an independent reality – relatively speaking.

Similarly, if you look at the steel tumbler in your kitchen, you only get to see or touch the steel. There is no tumbler by itself. There is only steel! The reality (or existence) of tumbler is dependent on steel, which in this case seems to exist all by itself, but we will later debunk that as well.

Take a look at objects around you. None of them are what they seem. There is no laptop, no pen, no desk, no chair, no shirt, no trouser, no carpet and so on. What’s on you is not a shirt; its cotton. Take the cotton away; there is no shirt independent of it.

Most of what we take as real is all dependent on something else for its existence. That means there is no “thing” called shirt, no “thing” called cup. There can in fact never be a cup that exists all by itself. Only when a material is moulded into that shape is there an appearance of the cup, but there is no cup by itself.

When looked at this way, all dependent realities are simply appearances and not actual existence. Dependent reality is therefore empty of actual existence, which means they don’t exist unless they appear to a sentient observer who can grant it its existence.

Is there any independent reality?

If we look long and hard enough, everything around us that we took as real are just appearances. At first it can freak us out, but then we will slowly reach a point where we will begin to wonder if there is any existence at all.

Is there any reality that exists entirely by itself?

Go to the kitchen and pick up a steel tumbler. Hold it in your hand. Notice that what you are touching is steel, and that there is no tumbler. Get clear for yourself that there is no tumbler in reality—and that it is only steel that is appearing as a tumbler right now. To a baby, it will not appear as a tumbler but as something to play with. So, there is no tumbler-in-itself.

Now, let’s look at the question: is that even steel you are looking at?

If you look at it long and hard, you will see that what you are holding is actually a whole bunch of actively moving tiny atomic particles that seemingly construct the appearance of steel.

Let’s look at something even more fundamental.

To whom is this moving bunch of tiny atomic particles appearing as steel?

They appear to consciousness.

Wave-particle duality in quantum physics has shown that the stuff that makes up atoms (photons and electrons) shows up as matter (or particles) only to a conscious observer; otherwise, they are just waves.

Only a conscious being will be able to notice the appearance. In the absence of consciousness, there is no appearance, and therefore, in the absence of consciousness, there are no particles, no atoms, and no steel!

When looked at that way, just about everything real is dependent on consciousness. Without consciousness, there is just moving stuff, devoid of substance, meaning, and of purpose.

Nature of reality

If you look at anything long and hard, you will see that there is only movement and that there is nothing solid. Consciousness snapshots movements and constructs the appearance of solidity, but outside of that, there is nothing there.

All of reality has three characteristics: impermanence, dukha, and emptiness.

• The fundamental nature of reality is that all of it is just movement (nothing is solid or permanent).
• The nature of consciousness is that it snapshots movement and foments the appearance of solid material.
• Snapshots feel like dukha (or suffering) because by the time you can take a closer look at the snapshot, it no longer exists. So you are left craving for something that doesn’t exist.
• As such, everything is empty.

This is the core teaching of the Buddha and the Mandukya Upanishad.

The only reality

What then is real?

If everything depends on consciousness, then the only independent reality is consciousness itself.

Gently let go of all concepts you hold dear, and watch.

You are consciousness.

What’s here, there, and everywhere is just consciousness.

What’s here, there, and everywhere is just YOU.

YOU are all of it!