Are You An Empty Bottle?

Or Do You Make A Lot of Noise When Shaken

I’m sharing the text of the essay “Selflessness” from Episode 7 of the podcast. I think the metaphor of water in a bottle is a great image to reflect on.

Here is the essay:

The purpose in Buddhism is to overcome the self, overcome the duality of things, overcome multiplicity and become one's true self. A stronger way of stating this is, one should become totally selfless.

We have trouble because we cannot become ourselves. That is, we cannot become selfless.

Selflessness is something like putting water into a bottle. If you fill the bottle half full, cork it, and shake it, you can hear the noise of the water.

However, if you fill the bottle completely, leaving no air space, then there is no sound when you shake it. No matter how you toss it, there is no noise.

Of course, when the bottle is completely empty, there is no noise, but there is no water either.

The self can be compared to those three conditions. No water in a bottle, partially filled, or completely filled.

Which are you?

No water in the bottle, half filled, or completely filled, which is emptiness. Yes, this kind of emptiness is when the water goes completely to the top. Then, the bottle has weight but there is no noise.

Selflessness is when you are filled to the top. It is when you are fulfilled. There is no noise, no self.

You must be all empty, or in other words, you must be fully, wholly fulfilled to the top. You become selfless.

All the small petty things in you make up your small self. They are sensations, perceptions, and ideas that come from the outside and make noise in you. You should not be empty in the ordinary sense of the word, but you should attain complete fullness.

This is Buddhist emptiness or Buddhist selflessness. You are the one who occupies the whole world. So no one can crush you.

There is no small, petty self to be disturbed. Even if you are shaken, there is no noise.

When you are completely fulfilled, then you must even forget that fulfillment. Forget enlightenment. Forget Buddha.

Then you are like a bottle filled with water, so settled down, so heavy. You become one with this whole universe. This is enlightenment. This is selflessness.