Expert: Alex Wilding - 3/19/2008

Question
Hello and thanks in advance. My question is that i dont understand that a self or soul force can be truly empty.  Dose materialism occur or gather around a grasping force like  water flows over a cliff.  Does their not need to be a being type force for matter to collect and reincarnate?  If the body and self is destroyed upon death- What force sings the matter together again over and over.  My thought was that any compound can give rise to consciousness on any level but that this consciousness does not contain a self just aggregates of desire.  Not to infinite regress but if this is the case then are the desires just kind of floating around in this infinite soup of potential- And what would desire be doing in this soup of bliss in the first place?--

Answer
Dear Mikey,
I think it might help to remember two things: Buddhism does not say that you have a self that is destroyed at death - it says you haven't got one even now! At least, you haven't got a permanent, unchanging self that is totally independent of everything else.
The other thing is that "empty" does not mean "non-existent". Your computer is empty and has no self. It's a collection of various bits and pieces that functions in a certain way - the Buddhist shorthand for that is "empty". But it is real enough in another sense, or you wouldn't be exchanging these messages!
So if you look for the hard little essence of your mind that never changes - you won't find it. But the flow of consciousness goes on - death is of course a big juncture, but it does not have to be extinction. In fact, if it was, there would be no great problem - we would just try to be as happy as we can until we die.
Does that help at all?
All the best
Alex Wilding