The thirtyninth morning.
Sunlight fell like golden threads onto the earth.

The young man sat beneath the bodhi tree,
breath soft as wind over a lake.

But something was different.

He no longer felt “someone is meditating.”
No “mind observing.”
No “world outside.”

Everything felt… empty.
But not empty like a void—
empty like a luminous, living spaciousness.

The teacher approached.

“What are you seeing this morning?”

The young man opened his eyes:

“I… see everything is empty.

Nothing has inherent nature.
Nothing stands alone.
Nothing truly ‘is itself.’

But I don’t feel sad or hollow.

I feel light… and bright.”

The teacher smiled.

“Good.

Today you’ve touched Emptiness.”

He picked up a leaf.

“It has shape, color, fragrance.

But if you look for the ‘real leaf,’
you won’t find it.”

He separated the leaf:

“In this leaf is the sun,
the earth,
the rain,
the clouds,
time,
the universe.

No part is ‘leaf.’

‘Leaf’ is only a temporary name for a collection of conditions.

Therefore, it has no inherent nature.

It is empty.”

The young man saw clearly:

the leaf was not an independent object—
but a network,
a movement,
a moment of dependent origination.

Nothing to cling to.
Nothing to own.
Nothing to call “mine.”

The teacher continued:

“But emptiness is not void.

Not nihilism.
Not denial.

Emptiness means:

not fixed,
not independent,
not selfexisting.

Because it is not fixed → it can change.
Because it is not independent → it connects to all.
Because it is not selfexisting → it is alive, flexible, free.”

The young man closed his eyes.

Thoughts arose—
but he no longer saw them as “mine.”

They were movements of conditions.

No “I.”
No “mine.”
No “I am thinking.”

Only the movement of emptiness.

Inside him, Jiddu Krishnamurti’s words rang:

“When the self ends, only life remains.”

The teacher stood up.

“Come.

Today, as you walk, feel this:

everything is empty—
and because it is empty,
everything is alive,
changing,
interbeing,
free.”

The young man followed him.

His first step touched the earth—
and he felt as if he were walking in a transparent world
where everything was empty,
yet in that emptiness,
everything was clear.

This morning, emptiness was no longer a philosophy.
It became an experience—
light, vast, free.