The Truth of No Birth and No Death

Thầy introduces the practice of meditating on a flame using a match as an example. The flame is latent in the match, and it needs the right conditions to manifest. In the same way, someone who appears to have gone from this world manifests in a different form given the right conditions. There is no coming or no going.

Thầy then defines the Four Noble Truths. He reminds us that the Five Mindfulness Trainings are the path to well-being and the end of suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to well-being and healing. It comprises Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. We can choose to concentrate on the opposite of all these qualities, which causes suffering for ourselves and others.

The Second and Fourth Noble Truths are sometimes described in terms of consumption—what we choose to consume. What we feed—be it love or suffering—is what we’ll experience. We must know what nutriments we are consuming. The first kind of nutriment is edible food. The second nutriment is sense impressions—what we consume with our senses and bring into our mind. The third nutriment is volition—what we pursue as our life’s purpose. The fourth nutriment is consciousness, which is both individual and collective.

We can water the positive seeds in us that will allow our Buddha nature to flourish. With Right View, there is no discrimination. We realize we inter-are with all beings. This is something we must experience to truly understand.

Our karma (actions of body, speech and mind) survives the death of our physical body. There is no birth, no death; no coming, no going. There’s no way to happiness because happiness IS the way.

This is the sixth of thirteen talks given during the Summer Opening retreat in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.