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No Birth, No Death (Teaching for Children)
The flame is already present in a matchbox before it manifests. When conditions are sufficient, something manifests, and when they are no longer sufficient, it hides. Our true nature is that of no-birth and no-death. Before our birth and even our conception, we already existed in our parents. This deep meditation allows us to dispel the fear of non-being, because death cannot touch us: we simply continue to exist in other forms.
Buddhism favors the term manifestation over creation, because nothing can be born from nothingness. A bamboo leaf or a sheet of paper contains the whole cosmos: the sun, the clouds, the forest, and the earth. Burning a piece of paper does not reduce it to zero, but transforms it into heat, smoke, and ashes that will continue to exist in the air, the sky, and the soil. In the same way, a loved one who has passed away or a cloud transformed into rain do not cease to exist; they continue their manifestation in a different form.
Nirvana is the extinction of all notions and concepts that prevent us from touching reality. To attain non-fear and true happiness, it is necessary to transcend three pairs of opposite notions:
- Being and non-being
- Coming and going
- Same and different
Since everything changes at every moment due to impermanence, we never remain the same from one moment to the next, without however becoming a different person.
Part of the following collection
Alaya Consciousness and the Ripening of Seeds