Can nothing become something?

Summary

This talk presents a meditation on the birth of a flame as an entry point into a broader Buddhist teaching on reality, impermanence, and liberation from fear. Delivered at the Full Moon Meditation Hall of the New Hamlet on August 2, 2012, the teaching invites children, adults, and monastics to contemplate the words nothing, something, somebody, and nobody. Through simple examples such as a piece of paper, a bird, a cloud, a seed of corn, and a matchbox, the speaker argues that things do not arise from absolute nothingness and do not vanish into absolute nothingness. Instead, they continue in new forms when conditions are sufficient for manifestation. The flame becomes the central illustration. The speaker explains that a flame is already present in hidden form within the matchbox and in the oxygen outside it, and that it appears when the right causes and conditions come together, including the movement of the fingers striking the match. Once lit, the flame produces smoke, heat, and an image, all of which are described as its continuation. When the flame goes out, it is not truly dead; it continues as smoke, heat, and image, just as a cloud continues as rain, hail, snow, or river water. This leads to the larger claim that birth and death are notions rather than ultimate realities. The same logic is applied to clouds, birds, human beings, and even the self. The talk then expands into a philosophical and spiritual analysis of pairs of opposites: being and non-being, coming and going, birth and death, sameness and otherness, self and not-self, and mortal and immortal. These dualistic notions are presented as traps that generate fear, anxiety, despair, and discrimination. The speaker emphasizes that Buddhist practice aims to transcend these notions through right view, right thinking, right speech, and right action. Right view is defined as insight free from discrimination and duality, aligned with the Middle Way. Right thinking, speech, and action are described as healing forces that can transform both the practitioner and the world. The talk also connects Buddhist insight with science. The first law of thermodynamics and the work of Lavoisier are cited to support the principle that nothing is created or destroyed, only transformed. Quantum physics is referenced through the idea of non-locality, and the speaker uses this to explain that a person’s true nature is not confined to a single body or location. The teaching of interbeing is central: one’s thoughts, words, and actions continue into the future and shape both the person and the environment. Karma is explained as threefold action—thinking, speaking, and bodily action—and as producing twofold retribution: in the person and in the environment. The speaker warns that wrong view can lead to destructive thinking, including hatred, violence, and terrorism, while right view leads to compassion, understanding, and peace. The Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths are presented as the practical framework for cultivating well-being and ending suffering. The third noble truth, cessation of suffering, is identified with nirvana, the ultimate reality beyond birth and death. The wave-and-water metaphor is used to show that one can live as a wave while recognizing one’s true nature as water, thereby becoming free from fear of beginning and end. The talk concludes with a moving story about Anathapindika, a lay disciple of the Buddha, who receives a deathbed teaching from Shariputra and Ananda. Through recollection of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, he finds peace and dies without fear. This story reinforces the central message that deep practice can bring liberation even at the end of life. The session ends by inviting the children to sing a song about no coming and no going, closing the retreat with a communal affirmation of continuation, mindfulness, and non-fear.