There is the word Nirvana. Nirvana means extinction. And it means more or less the same thing—emptiness. The extinction of ideas, of notions. Even the notion of emptiness, even the notion of impermanence.

Impermanence is offered to you so that you may have a chance to overcome the notion of permanence. The notion of impermanence can be useful to you, but if you get caught in the notion of impermanence, it does not help you. That is because you only have the notion of impermanence; you do not yet have the insight of impermanence. And you can be imprisoned by a notion, the notion of impermanence.

Impermanence is the Dharma. But we have to use the Dharma to be able to liberate ourselves. We should not be imprisoned by the Dharma. In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha said: the Dharma is something to let go of. And if the Dharma is like that, the non-Dharma, the counter-Dharma, must also be let go of. The Dharma, phap, and the counter-Dharma, phi phap, both must be let go of.

So Nirvana is extinction, it is emptiness; and we can say it is the emptiness of notions. Like the notion of birth and the notion of death. Notions like that make us afraid. Notions like that make us suffer.

Before the sheet of paper was born, did it already exist? Does the sheet of paper come from nothing? No, I do not think so. From nothing, you cannot become something. The sheet of paper came from something: the tree in the forest. And the tree is nourished, has been nourished by the rain, by the sunshine, by the earth. So the appearance of the sheet of paper is not really a birth, it is a continuation.

We can contemplate, we can perceive, we can conceive of the former lives of the sheet of paper: Dear sheet of paper, I know that you have been there in the world, in your former lives. You have been the forest, you have been the sunshine, you have been the tree and the rain. And now, you manifest in the form of paper. So the moment you manifest in this form is a moment of continuation. That is because from non-being, we cannot pass into being.

Non-being and being are also notions. And our way of thinking is like this. Suppose I draw a line representing time. And I mark a point here called B, birth. And I think that before point B, there was nothing, there was non-being. And starting from B, there is being. And being continues until point D, death. And starting from point D, it is non-being again.

Our notion of birth and death is based on that. From non-being we pass into being, and from being, we pass into non-being again. This is an error. So before manifesting as a sheet of paper, this piece of paper did not come from non-being. It has already had its former lives. So this moment is not the moment of beginning. It is not the moment of birth; it is a moment of continuation.

And we have suggested to our friends that instead of singing "Happy Birthday to you," we should sing "Happy Continuation Day to you." Happy continuation to you. An anniversary of continuation, not of birth.

And if B is a moment of continuation, then D is also a moment of continuation. When the cloud transforms into rain, it is a beginning. It is not really an end, and it is not really a beginning; it is a continuation. So the moment when the cloud transforms into rain is also a moment of continuation.

So the notion of birth cannot really be applied to reality. Because in our minds, to be born means from no one, you become someone. From nothing, you become something. But this is not true. From nothingness, from non-being, we cannot pass into being. And from being, we cannot pass into non-being. So we have to transcend these pairs of opposite notions.

Nirvana, emptiness, is first of all the absence of this notion of birth, the absence of this notion of death. The scientist Lavoisier said it well: "Nothing is created"—that means there is no birth. "Nothing is lost"—there is no death. This applies to the cloud, and to the sheet of paper. It applies to your beloved, and it applies to you. Our nature is the nature of no-birth and no-death.

And if you touch this vision of emptiness, then you will no longer be afraid. It is impossible for you to pass from being into non-being. It is impossible for your beloved to die. There is always a continuation in terms of karma, of energy—in terms of thought, speech, and action.

So it would not be scientific at all to think that after the dissolution of our body, there is nothing left—no. We continue always; and we can continue beautifully.

With the silencing of these two notions—birth and death—we can also remove the notions of being and non-being. When a thing has not yet manifested, we have a tendency to describe it as non-being. But the flame that manifested a few moments ago, can we qualify it as non-being? No. That flame which has ceased to manifest does not belong to the realm of non-being.

My dear little flame, I know you are still there, somewhere. You do not belong to the realm of non-being. You are there in the conditions that can help you to manifest. You are in the matchbox. You are hiding inside the box, but you are also hiding outside the box. I know that in the air, there is oxygen. And I know that without oxygen, you cannot manifest yourself. So you are also in the oxygen outside the box. And you can be found in Thay’s fingers, because Thay can provide another condition for you to manifest. So, please manifest yourself one more time.

And the flame has listened to us. "Okay." And the flame manifests.

My little flame, where are you now? You have manifested, you have come, and now you are gone. Where are you? I miss you. And if we listen with concentration, we can hear the answer of the flame: "Dear Thay, dear Sangha, I have come from nowhere. I have not come from the east, the west, the north, or the south. When things, when conditions are sufficient, I manifest, that is all."

And we know that the flame is right, that it has told the truth. It has not come from the south, nor from the north. Its nature is non-local. When conditions are sufficient, it manifests. And when conditions are no longer sufficient, it hides; but it is always there. So to describe it as being or non-being is wrong.

Before its manifestation, we have a tendency to describe it as non-being, non-existent. And when it manifests, we have a tendency to describe it as existing, as being. And after the manifestation, when it hides, we still have this tendency to describe it as non-existent, as non-being. And that is why we must look deeply and see that the nature of the flame is not characterized by being—neither by being nor by non-being.

Someone has said that God is the ground of being, the foundation of being. I ask this question: if God is the ground of being, who will be the ground of non-being?

When we look deeply, we see that being and non-being are only ideas, only notions. Reality transcends the notions of being and non-being. Not only is the flame like that, the cloud is like that, and the sheet of paper is like that, but we are like that, and our beloved is like that. Our nature is the nature of no being and no non-being.

The notions of non-being and being cannot describe reality. We should not describe God as the ground of being. Because if God is the ground of being, who will be the ground of non-being? We should not describe God in terms of being and non-being.

Because these are merely ideas. And God is the absolute, transcending all ideas, all notions. To be or not to be, that is not the question.

And when we listen to the flame, we also discover another truth: there is the notion of coming and the notion of going. You have heard the flame: "I have not come from the north, nor from the south, nor from the east, nor from the west. My nature is non-local. When conditions are sufficient, I manifest for you to perceive. I am free from being and non-being. And when conditions are no longer sufficient, I cease to manifest in order to manifest in another way. I have not gone anywhere. My nature is the nature of no coming and no going."

The notions of coming and going do not apply to reality. We cannot describe a cloud in terms of being and non-being, birth and death. We cannot describe Jesus, the Buddha, yourself, or your beloved in these terms.

And this is a basic meditation in Buddhism. We must have the time to live deeply. And living in this way, we will be able to touch our own nature, the nature of no birth and no death.

So the teaching on emptiness is to offer us instruments for our practice. With the energy of mindfulness and concentration, not only can we live deeply every moment of our daily life, but we can have access to the true nature of reality, and of ourselves. And this will dissipate all kinds of fear and anxiety.