The Empty Room— A Zen Story
What is full is empty, what is empty is full
This is a story I learned in the third standard, one of those few stories that I always keep remembering because it is this sort of a template, a koan that you can use to analyse many experiences and situations and make a decision. The story goes like this.
There was this Guru, sort of like a teacher in the older Indian context, but something more, a spiritual guide as well. He gave 10 rupees each to his students and asked them to use that money to fill the rooms they stay.
He said will come and visit after a day and the student whose room is most full will get a prize. Now ten rupees is very less money and you can hardly get anything with that.
The first student thought a lot about what to get the most with that much money and he got the idea to go to a scrap dealer and get all the junk and old newspapers for the money and fill his room to the maximum with it.
The second student went to his room and cleaned it thoroughly and discarded all rubbish and unwanted items from the room. The room was clean and clear and almost empty except for the few books and minimum furniture. Then as per the story he went and bought since incense sticks for ten ruppes and when his teacher came to visit, he lit it.
You may have guessed whom the teacher is going to declare the winner. The empty room is full and the full room is empty.
Now which room is really full? Which is really empty?
The answer would be obvious. The clean but empty room is full. If I remember the story right, the teacher said that the empty room was clean and cleanliness is godliness and thereby more full or something of the like.
But this story can be applied to a lot of different contexts. In the first level thinking we instinctively go for the full room model in many things, friends, love,money what not. In the second level thinking we may appreciate that the empty but true room is better than a room that looks full, but is mostly fake and shallow.
Most of us are like the disciple trying to fill the most. Quantity over quality over everything.
Less is more; the old Japanese concept of MA or emptiness can be a direct application of this empty room.
Man’s search for belonging, if you can find happiness in the empty room, that is in yourself, you have a solid base to grow from. The fear of emptiness drives so many to fill their rooms with junk.
