Emptiness in a Christmas bauble

What's in a Christmas bauble?

Probably not much!

Christmas tree baubles are usually empty (unless you've got one of those edible ones filled with chocolately niceness!). But what does "empty" mean? It's not really completely empty – it's filled with vibrating air molecules zipping about bouncing off the walls of the bauble. But even if we were to empty it of air (assuming the bauble would be strong enough to stay up against the vacuum), would it really be empty? No, the vacuum would still be full of electromagnetic radiation (granted there would be no visible light, but there would be plenty of radio waves). The emptiness is really a living, vibrant emptiness full of change and potential. What it's truly empty of is anything fixed or permanent.

Now being, going to nothing

If you've got an old metal bauble, then you might begin to notice some rusting or discolouration from age. If it's glass then it might be a little more hardy, but (sorry to be pessimistic) chances are one day it's going to get smashed... Plastic ones are perhaps the hardiest of all, but even those will be slowly changing and degrading (due to heat, light, or chemicals such as acids or alkalis from your skin).

The point is no matter how strong or well-made it is, it's always going to be changing. As a Zen teacher of mine likes to say "now being, going to nothing" – given a long enough time, there will be absolutely nothing left of the thing we now call the "bauble". Really, the bauble is better thought of as a process rather than a thing.

Your bauble contains the entire Universe

If you've got one of those shiny baubles, then it'll reflect everything around it. And if your tree is covered in shiny baubles, then they'll all be reflecting each other. The whole of your living room will be there in each bauble, and each bauble in each other bauble! This is kind of how reality is. The whole is present in even the tiniest little part.

In a single grain of salt you might rub into your Christmas turkey there are millions of sodium and chlorine atoms bonded together, each atom made of energy in the form of protons, neutrons and electrons – just like every other atom in the entire Universe. And those sodium and chlorine atoms were most likely formed inside a star aeons ago, and wouldn't ever have come into existence if it wasn't for the precise conditions of the early Universe.

So the Universe is made up of a vast interconnected web, or, in the words of the great physicist Heisenberg, "a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine." William Blake knew this when he wrote:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Which is very similar to a verse from the Avatamsaka Sutra (pointed out by Mattieu Riccard in his book The Quantum and the Lotus)

As in one atom,
So in all atoms,
All worlds enter therein—
So inconceivable is it.

Enso - the symbol of Zen

Hanging up in the ZenYoga studio in Camberwell where I teach is a large painting of a circle. In Japanese it's called an enso, and is one of the most distinct symbols of Zen. In a way, it's very much like our bauble: vibrantly empty, slowly disintegrating, and containing the entire Universe.

The enso hanging in the ZenYoga studio in Camberwell

Śūnyatā is the Sanskrit/Buddhist word for emptiness (śūnya means zero or nothing), and is studied at great length in the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy, which was developed around a few hundred CE. To them, sunyata represents the flow of dynamic processes in the Universe, ordered by the laws of nature and by past actions (karma), where everything is interconnected, interrelated, and interpenetrating.

I am a member of the Zenways sangha led by Zen master Daizan Roshi, and I teach meditation, mindfulness and yoga at the ZenYoga studio in Camberwell, London. See my website for further details.

I'd love to hear from you

How many more nuggets of wisdom can you find on your Christmas tree? I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment below, join the discussion.

Pass it on

Enjoyed this post? Then please tweet it, share it on Facebook or send it to friends via e-mail using the buttons below.

Christmas practice

Christmas is a funny time isn't it? A season of mixed messages, confused intentions, and contrasts. The shops and adverts bill it as a period of overwhelming happiness, good will, festive fun, and good food, but we all know that isn't the whole story. For many people it's one of the most difficult times of the year – and I'm not just talking about people on the bread line or homeless.

Like living in a big city, Christmas can often act to magnify loneliness. If we've got no one obvious to be with, what do we do? If family life is difficult, then spending concentrated time with family can seem like a nightmare. If we're a bit low on money, then how can we fulfil people's gift expectations?

For most of us with family, that's where we end up at this time of year (at one point or another). Maybe we end up seeing more family over Christmas than we do in the rest of the year combined! And no matter how lovely your family is, they do have this amazing ability to push (whether intentionally or not) your most sensitive buttons. The way your parents always bicker, the way your sister says things in a way that annoys you, the way your auntie and uncle are always late, etc, etc. All those decades of history… Old behaviour patterns pop up like a rash. Emotions like frustration, annoyance, aversion, even apathy or anger might bubble up and find ways of expressing themselves in ways you didn't expect (or that you did!).

By virtue of sharing your DNA, family members can often reflect your own traits, behaviours, or views. If it's a generous spirit, an enlightened political perspective, or great cooking skills, then fantastic! Appreciate what they've passed on to you via your genes and what you share. Sometimes, however, it can be traits or behaviours that you're not happy with, sides of yourself you're uncomfortable with. Perhaps even things in yourself that you've worked on changing because you recognised they're not healthy or wholesome ways of acting or thinking. And that can really get your back up!

This is where your daily yoga or meditation practice comes into it's own. On a basic level it provides you with that oasis of calm and quiet – giving you time out from the Christmas craziness. But it also provides an opportunity for you to see things for what they really are, to get some perspective on things.  Was what I said just an old way of reacting to mum fussing over the right way of preparing the sprouts? Am I disengaging from the conversation because I don't like how disrespectful everyone's being to each other? Did I really need to eat that 3rd helping of Christmas pudding or was I giving in to greed and the attraction of the delicious flavour?

If you notice something like this happening, remember, don't be hard on yourself. Just notice, be aware, be still with it. Allow yourself to feel and 100% be with that Christmas pudding bulge as you lie in child's pose. Notice that tightness in the belly as you sit in meditation arising from your annoyance with your granddad's storing in front of the TV, and allow it to be there. Acknowledge and allow yourself to feel lonely if that's what's coming up.

Your practice is more important than ever over a period like Christmas, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. But circumstances often conspire against you. Even if you stay at home, a holiday and time off work means a change in routine which can easily put things out of kilter. Visiting family or having family visit can mean no quiet time by yourself, or having no suitable quiet, undisturbed space to go to. You can feel self-conscious of doing your practice in front of family or in someone else's house. Maybe you haven't got the right equipment (yoga mat, tracksuit, meditation cushion).

But in the end these are all excuses. Go and do some walking meditation in the park. Tell everyone not to interrupt you (or just don't respond to any interruptions). Be flexible about when you do your practice – try 3x10 mins instead of your usual 1x30mins. Make it an opportunity to experiment.

Above all, enjoy the opportunities this period brings for leaning and understanding more about yourself, for letting go, and being present with everyone, every feeling, and every event.

I wish you a contented, mindful and loving Christmas, and a happy new year.