Do nothing

“Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.”
– Avalokiteśvara (प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदयसूत्र)

And so I see Śūnyatā, in the form of this langur. He stands guard outside the 5th century Ellora caves, as Wu Ch’eng-en’s Monkey King guarded Xuan Zang on his south-western journey to India to find Sakyamuni’s sutras – as Maudgalyayana in the form of the monkey may accompany friend Śāriputra. The same is true for perceptions. The void is me.

“Just think of Sakyamuni in the desert. He remained there for years on end, squatting motionless with his eyes on heaven. The very Gods envied him that wisdom and that stonelike density. In his outstretched hands the swallows had made their nest. But one day they flew away, answering the call of distant lands. And he who has stifled in himself desire and will, fame and suffering began to cry. It happens thus that flowers grow on rocks…

‘Oh, to be nothing!’ For thousands of years this great cry has roused millions of men to revolt against desire and pain. Its dying echoes have reached this far, across centuries and oceans, to the oldest sea in the world…. Of course it is almost futile. Nothingness cannot be achieved any more than the absolute can. But since we receive as favours the eternal signs brought us by roses or by human suffering, let us not refuse either the rare invitations to sleep that the earth addresses to us. Each has as much truth as the other.”
– Camus

One whole day. Stayed in my room all day. Haven’t spoken for the last three days. Ate nothing but one bowl of curd. I could get used to this.

‘Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose’
- Janis Joplin

...so far, I’m on target, and the plan is sticking together somehow. I hope it lasts longer than my will to do nothing, which is unquestionably eternal. It’s all chalked out on a Delhi University McDonald’s napkin. It’s taking a little longer than we thought, but the good part is we’re still working on it. Kind of ironical, to have been working at doing nothing for almost five years now, but ours not to reason why… ours but to do our die.

Peter Gibbons: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I’ll tell you what I’d do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.
Lawrence: Well what about you now? what would you do?
Peter Gibbons: Besides two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Well yeah.
Peter Gibbons: Nothing.
Lawrence: Nothing, huh?
Peter Gibbons: I’d relax, I would sit on my ass all day, I would do nothing.
Lawrence: Well you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Just take a look at my cousin, he’s broke, don’t do shit.
- Office Space

For me, it’s almost become an occupational hazard now. The ultimate trade-off – If I do a little less of nothing now, I could do a little more of nothing in the future. But then, look at the broader picture. What’s in it for me – Nothing!

“If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I’m self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day

And I’ll be…
’Taking care of business and working overtime”
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive

For someone who’s working at doing nothing though, it’s funny how involved I am in doing 43 things. Then again, it’s not as easy as it sounds… it takes a lot to do nothing. Most people I know can’t sustain it for a weekend. Who knows? I might win a Nobel in the process. Or at least stop prostituting my writing. As Cohen did in 1964, stand testament to his opening chapter of his second book, Beautiful Losers, (and also perhaps in a swirl of barbiturates and acid) be “an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face.”