In this paper I try to show how Bion's sense of ‘O’ may usefully be seen as similar to the Buddhist notion of emptiness. I try to instantiate some of his ideas and I hope that by doing so I might contribute to the realization in the consulting room of his injunctions. I try to explore a possible difference in interpretation between the terms identity and identification and to use the distinction to suggest how emptiness can clarify the real nature of the ego as Freud accounted of it and how its realization can instantiate ego strength.