Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
That’s a line from the early 70’s hit Me and Bobby McGee. It’s a bluesy-folky tune that celebrates a carefree romance on the open road. There’s hitchhiking and freight trains and coalmines in Kentucky. Salinas gets mentioned. There’s also a line about a harpoon being pulled from a dirty red bandana. A harpoon? Since the song makes no mention of whales or whaling, you gotta figure that’s 60’s slang for something else. From the lyrics you can figure out that “harpoon” means “harmonica”. Okay…
The song’s about lost love. The carefree romance was a hippie’s dream…until it wasn’t. The singer ends up with nothing. “Nothing left is all she left for me”.
You can see a video of the song here… Janis Joplin – Me and Bobby Mc Gee (youtube.com)
What’s this got to do with Buddhism you might ask.
Well, the idea of being free because you have nothing is pretty close to the Buddhist concept of non-attachment. Just to be clear, the Buddhist path doesn’t require that you give up possessions. (Although monks do). It also doesn’t mean that you don’t care or love or devote yourself to anyone or anything. The idea is not to become attached to anything…or anyone. That way, if you lose your faded jeans or dirty red bandana, or your hippie girlfriend somewhere near Salinas you can still be at peace.
In Buddhist thought, nothing is permanent. Everything comes and goes.
Funny...You Don't Look Buddhist 