Thầy opens by re-examining the Three Dharma Seals, challenging the traditional scriptural inclusion of suffering by highlighting that suffering (duḥkha) is not the inherent nature of reality, but rather the outcome of our wrong perceptions about the impermanent and nonself nature of all dharmas. Pointing to Confucius and Heraclitus to show that impermanence has long been recognized globally, he emphasizes that in Buddhism it must become a daily practice (anitya samādhi) rather than just a concept. He cautions against worshiping terms like emptiness or non-self as dogmas, drawing on the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra to warn that getting caught in the idea of emptiness is an inescapable trap.

Shifting impermanence from an intellectual idea into a daily practice (anitya samādhi), Thầy explores how seeing reality through the angles of time and space opens the door to the ultimate dimension—a state of no-birth and no-death. Drawing on the insight of Nāgārjuna and the scientific observations of Antoine Lavoisier, he demonstrates that nothing comes from nothing and nothing is ever destroyed. This truth is made concrete through guided meditations on a sheet of paper containing the forest, rain, and sun, as well as the shifting imagery of a kaleidoscope, a cloud becoming rain, and a wave realizing it is water.

To ground these insights in the tradition, Thầy highlights scriptural moments including Venerable Aniruddha’s refusal to trap the Buddha in conceptual boxes, and the deathbed meditation where Venerable Śāriputra guides the lay disciple Anāthapiṇḍika to dissociate his true nature from his physical body and senses.

The heart of the talk turns deeply personal as Thầy shares an epic dream set in a marketplace. Confronted by his own Māra—the seed of fear—and presented with all his past experiences of war, hunger, and oppression, Thầy points two fingers at his fear and declares with non-fear that he is ready to repeat it all thousands of times to help others.

The talk concludes with a touching story from Sister Chân Không about comforting a grieving family at a cremation, followed by her singing a chant based on the Saṃyutta Nikāya on the freedom of no-coming and no-going.

This the final talk in a series of five given during the Peace is Every Step retreat in the year 1992. Thầy offered this talk at Haus Tao, Wolfhalden, Switzerland.