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Dharma Talk, Walking Mediatation & travel clips of 1995 China trip
A ninety-year-old gentleman asks where he will go after he dies, and the answer is that he is not going anywhere. While popular Buddhism teaches of birth, death, coming, and going, deep Buddhism reveals there is no birth, no death, no coming, and no going. It is impossible for something to come from nothing. Looking deeply into a sheet of paper reveals that before it was born, it was a tree or paper paste. It is impossible to reduce the paper to nothingness, just as a cloud does not die but transforms into rain.
The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara offers the gift of non-fear through the Heart Sutra, which teaches that reality is beyond birth and death. This insight is crucial when supporting a dying person. When a man named Albert was in a coma, he was reminded of his life’s happy events and his work for peace and reconciliation, including his efforts in Rome with Catholic priests supporting Buddhist monks in Vietnam. Upon hearing these memories, he briefly awoke to say “Wonderful, Wonderful” before passing away peacefully.
Everything has the nature of no birth and no death; there is only manifestation. When something manifests, it does not mean it suddenly exists, and when it does not manifest, it does not mean it has ceased to exist. This is explained through the concept of hiện hành (manifestation). Like a radio set that allows music to manifest, the music exists even when the radio is not turned on. When conditions are sufficient, seeds manifest. This teaching on the nature of no coming and no going is available in the Majjhima Nikāya sutra number 143.