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Seeing Manifestations: No Birth, No Death, and the Threefold Path to Transforming Suffering
When you look deeply into a flower, you see it not as a creation that appears and disappears, but as a manifestation arising and ceasing according to conditions—“no birth, no death, no coming, no going.” This insight applies to everything we perceive, including our suffering, which likewise is neither fixed being nor non-being.
To transform suffering, we practice looking deeply—uniting body and mind in the present moment through:
- Mindful breathing and mindful walking to generate the energy of mindfulness
- Concentration, which naturally arises from mindfulness
- Insight, born of concentration, that reveals the roots and nature of our suffering
With understanding and compassion, our suffering is reduced and joy can flourish. We learn to embrace whatever arises—anger, desire, irritation, joy—without judgment, recognizing each as a manifestation to be held by the Buddha’s energy within us. Only by changing our way of looking, not waiting for external conditions to change, can we cease suffering and help others do the same.
