Is there life after death?

Thay answers questions on 21 June 2014. Question 6

(Bell)

(In French)
So our question is:
Is there life after death?

(In English)
Our question is:
Is there life after death?

Two persons, one question?

(Laughter)

Life is always with death
at the same time,

not only before!

And...

It cannot be separated from death.

Where there is life, there is death.
And where there is death, there is life.

And this needs a little bit of meditation.

In Buddhism we speak of 'interbeing'.

'Interbeing'.

It means that you cannot
be by yourself alone.

You have to inter-be with the other side.

It is like the left and the right.

If the right is not there,
the left cannot be.

If the left is not there,
the right cannot be.

It is not possible to take
the left away from the right.

It is not possible to take
the right away from the left.

Suppose I ask one of you to come
and bring the left to the Lower Hamlet

and one of you to bring
the right to the New Hamlet.

It is impossible!

The right and the left,
they want to be together.

Because without the other, you cannot be.

It is very clear.

Like the above and the below.

The above cannot be there
if there is no below.

And that is what we call in Buddhism:
'interbeing', 'interêtre'.

They have to be there at the same time.

So when God said:

"Let the light be,"

the light said:

"Well I have to wait,
my God, I have to wait."

God: "What are you waiting for?"

Light: "I am waiting for darkness
to manifest together."

Because light and darkness,
they inter-are.

And God said:
"Darkness is already there."

And the light said:
"In that case, I am already there."

So that is true with good and evil,

before and after,

here and there,
you and I.

I cannot be there without you.

The lotus flower cannot
be there without the mud.

Without the mud,
there is no lotus possible.

There is no happiness without suffering.

There is no life without death.

And when a biologist observes...

the body of a human being,

he sees that life and death happen
at the same time in the body.

In this very moment,

thousands and thousands
of cells are dying.

When you scratch yourself like this,
many dry cells fall down.

They have died.

And many cells die
every moment of our daily life.

And because you are so busy,
you do not notice that you are dying.

If they die, you are dying!

You think that you are not dying yet,

that you have to wait
50 or 70 years in order to die.

That is not true!

Death is not down the road,
death is right here and right now.

So 'la mort', death, is happening
right in the here and now, at each moment.

And because of the death
of a number of cells,

the birth of other cells is possible.

So many cells are being born
in the present moment.

And we do not have the time
to organize a happy birthday for them.

So the fact is that,
scientifically speaking,

you can already see birth and death
happening in the present moment.

And because of the dying of cells,
the birth of cells is possible.

Because the birth of cells is possible,
the dying of cells is possible.

They lean on each other to be.

So you are experiencing
dying and being born

in every moment.

Do not think you were only born
on that moment.

That moment written
on your birth certificate

is just one moment.

And that is not the first moment.

Before that moment, there were moments
you were already there.

Before you were conceived
in the womb of your mother,

you had already been there
in your father and your mother

in another form.

So there is no birth, no real beginning
and there is no ending.

So when we know that
birth and death are always together,

we are no longer afraid of dying,

because at the moment of dying,
there is birth also.

(French) Birth comes with death.

They cannot be separated.

This is a very deep meditation.

And you should not meditate
with your brain alone on this.

You have to observe life...

during your daily life.

And you see birth and death
inter-are in everything:

trees, animals, the weather,
matter, energy...

And scientists have already said,

there is no birth and no death.

(French)
Nothing is created, nothing is lost.

There is only transformation.

So transformation is possible, is real.

And birth and death are not real.

What you call birth and death
are only transformation.

When you form a chemical reaction,

you bring a number of substances together.

And when the substances meet each other
there is a transformation.

And sometimes you think
a substance is no longer there,

it has vanished.

But in fact, looking deeply,
you see the substance is still there

under another form.

When you look at the blue sky
you do not see your cloud anymore.

You think your cloud has died,

but in fact your cloud continues always
in the form of the rain and so on.

So birth and death are seen
only on the surface.

If you go down, deep down,
there is no birth and no death.

There is only continuation.

And when you touch the continuation,
the nature of no birth and no death,

you are no longer afraid of dying.

And not only the Buddhists
speak of no birth and no death,

but science also speaks
of no birth and no death.

They can exchange their findings.
It is very interesting.

This is an invitation for us
to live our lives more deeply.

So that we can touch
our true nature of no birth and no death.

And, I know, Thây's answer...

is only an invitation to practice.

We have to live our lives
more mindfully, with concentration

so that we can be deeply in touch
with what is happening.

Then we have a chance to touch
the true nature of reality:

no birth and no death.

And that is described in Buddhism
with the term 'Nirvana'.

'Nirvana' is no birth and no death.

And in Christianity you may call it:

'The Ultimate', 'God'.

God is our true nature
of no birth and no death.

And we do not have to go and find God.

God is our true nature.

It is like a wave.

A wave believes that she is
subjected to birth and death.

And every time she comes up
and begins to go down,

she is afraid of dying.

A wave is afraid of dying.

But if the wave realizes
that she is water,

she is no longer afraid.

Before going up, she is water.
Going down, she is water.

And after going down,
she continues to be water.

There is no death.

So it is very important that
the wave does some meditation,

and realizes that she is wave,
but at the same time she is water.

And when she knows she is water,
she is no longer afraid of dying.

She feels wonderful going up,
she feels wonderful going down.

She is free from fear.

And our cloud is also like that,
they are not afraid of dying.

They know that, if they are not a cloud,
they can be something else,

equally beautiful, like
the rain or the snow.

So the wave does not
go and look for water.

She does not have to go
and search for water,

because she is water in the here and now.

The same thing is true with God.

We do not have to...

look for God.

We are God,
God is our true nature.

You do not have to go
and look for Nirvana.

Nirvana is our ground.

That is the teaching of the Buddha.

And a number of us
have been able to realize that.

We enjoy the present moment.

We know that it is
impossible for us to die.

(Bell)