0:00:00.495,0:00:02.417 (Half-Bell) 0:00:06.456,0:00:15.299 (Bell) 0:00:26.968,0:00:33.541 (FRENCH) 0:00:42.569,0:00:47.156 (Off camera) I have often heard here[br]that reincarnation is spoken about, 0:00:47.156,0:00:51.708 what is the teaching about reincarnation? 0:00:59.821,0:01:05.279 Reincarnation, 0:01:05.279,0:01:14.921 sounds like, when people use the world reincarnation, 0:01:14.921,0:01:21.648 it looks like the body and the soul,[br]the body and the mind, 0:01:21.648,0:01:25.261 are two separate things. 0:01:25.445,0:01:35.498 The body is somehow[br]like a house for the soul, for the spirit, 0:01:36.865,0:01:39.899 so when the body disintegrates 0:01:39.899,0:01:49.162 then the soul[br]will fly out, go into another, new body, 0:01:51.250,0:01:55.428 and we understand the word "reincarnation"[br]like that. 0:01:58.625,0:02:03.431 Maybe in "popular" Buddhism[br]people can believe that, 0:02:03.431,0:02:08.693 but in deep Buddhism that is not correct. 0:02:12.685,0:02:20.168 In deep Buddhism there is no "soul" that[br]can be without a body. 0:02:20.495,0:02:24.320 That does not mean what when[br]the body is dead, 0:02:24.320,0:02:26.693 the soul is dead at the same time, 0:02:26.693,0:02:36.048 because, we heard there is no death, [br]there is only a continuation. 0:02:36.048,0:02:44.710 For the cloud there is no death,[br]it is always a continuation. 0:02:44.710,0:02:49.411 So, continuation is a good word. 0:02:52.362,0:02:56.549 It is a better word than death. 0:03:02.719,0:03:09.571 The other word, rebirth, is better than [br]reincarnation. 0:03:11.795,0:03:17.966 The cloud is reborn in the river. 0:03:18.557,0:03:25.896 You don't say that the cloud[br]has reincarnated in the river. 0:03:27.010,0:03:33.417 There is a constant continuation, 0:03:34.985,0:03:40.266 nothing can die, exactly. 0:03:41.230,0:03:47.660 In the realm of Science they[br]have discovered something like that. 0:03:52.191,0:03:56.130 The French scientist Lavoisier said that: 0:03:56.130,0:04:00.329 "nothing can be born, nothing can die" 0:04:00.329,0:04:04.140 "rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd" 0:04:04.140,0:04:10.242 He spoke about everything,[br]cloud, and everything, 0:04:11.328,0:04:18.479 so the first law of thermodynamics, 0:04:18.479,0:04:24.703 is telling us the same,[br]concerning matter and energy. 0:04:27.141,0:04:32.698 You can transform matter into energy, 0:04:32.698,0:04:36.109 energy into another kind of energy, 0:04:36.109,0:04:39.881 energy back into matter again. 0:04:39.881,0:04:45.017 But you cannot destroy matter,[br]you cannot destroy energy, 0:04:45.017,0:04:49.734 you cannot create new matter,[br]you cannot create new energy. 0:04:49.734,0:04:51.939 They are always transforming, 0:04:51.939,0:04:53.997 always on the way of transformation, 0:04:53.997,0:04:57.569 no birth and no death. 0:04:57.569,0:05:02.591 The scientists have come very close 0:05:02.624,0:05:07.771 to the Buddhist teaching of [br]no-birth and no-death. 0:05:07.911,0:05:16.347 A cloud can never die [br]and a cloud has never been born, 0:05:18.207,0:05:21.013 because in our mind to be born means, 0:05:21.013,0:05:23.214 from nothing to become something,[br] 0:05:24.451,0:05:29.785 from no one you become someone. 0:05:30.364,0:05:34.074 Before you are born from your mother, 0:05:34.074,0:05:38.688 you did not exist, at all, 0:05:38.688,0:05:44.606 you come from the realm of non-being, 0:05:44.606,0:05:48.316 never really there. 0:05:51.301,0:05:54.956 That is our way of thinking [br]about birth and death, 0:05:54.956,0:06:03.350 but we know very well that the cloud[br]has not come from "la non être", 0:06:03.350,0:06:05.861 "the non-being". 0:06:06.139,0:06:09.301 Before it expressed itself as cloud, 0:06:09.301,0:06:11.444 it had been the water in the ocean, 0:06:16.576,0:06:22.742 the water vapor, [br]the cloud has not come from nothing. 0:06:23.000,0:06:25.411 It has not been born. 0:06:25.411,0:06:27.471 Its only a continuation. 0:06:28.137,0:06:31.463 So to express itself as cloud, 0:06:31.832,0:06:35.580 it is only one way of manifestation. 0:06:35.580,0:06:40.729 So the word manifestation is better[br]than the word birth. 0:06:42.662,0:06:48.499 Next birthday, instead of singing[br]"Happy Birthday", 0:06:48.499,0:06:53.177 you may sing [br]"Happy Manifestation Day", 0:06:53.525,0:06:56.841 or "Happy Continuation Day". 0:06:57.961,0:07:01.437 When someone is dying,[br]she is not really dying, 0:07:01.437,0:07:08.995 she is transforming herself into[br]something else, 0:07:08.995,0:07:14.004 maybe more beautiful, fresher, younger. 0:07:14.004,0:07:19.530 It can be happy even, to die: 0:07:19.530,0:07:21.303 "Happy Continuation", 0:07:21.303,0:07:26.086 "Happy Transformation". 0:07:26.355,0:07:30.287 This is the way that Buddhism[br]should look: 0:07:30.287,0:07:34.161 there is no birth and no death. 0:07:35.287,0:07:40.826 We know that the idea of reincarnation, 0:07:41.136,0:07:44.774 had been there before the Buddha. 0:07:44.774,0:07:50.842 In the Upanishads there was also the idea[br]of reincarnation, 0:07:50.842,0:07:59.778 even the notion of retribution, 0:08:00.928,0:08:06.555 But retribution, reincarnation, are not[br]at the heart of the Buddhist teaching. 0:08:07.449,0:08:16.546 At the heart of the Buddhist teaching are[br]impermanence, no-self, inter-being, 0:08:16.546,0:08:20.431 the Four Noble Truths, [br]the Noble Eight-fold path. 0:08:22.136,0:08:33.295 The Buddha has accepted the[br]teaching of retribution, reincarnation, 0:08:33.295,0:08:42.180 but reincarnation should be understood[br]in the light of no-self, 0:08:42.180,0:08:44.535 in the light of impermanence, 0:08:44.535,0:08:49.208 in the light of inter-being. 0:08:51.668,0:08:55.915 In the Dharma talk tomorrow hopefully, 0:08:56.670,0:09:02.741 we can discuss this matter of [br]birth and death. 0:09:04.720,0:09:08.797 So there is no birth and no death, 0:09:08.797,0:09:17.480 when this body disintegrates,[br]you continue, always. 0:09:17.480,0:09:22.480 It is like when you don't see[br]the cloud in the sky anymore, 0:09:22.480,0:09:25.100 she continues, 0:09:25.100,0:09:29.531 the problem is how to recognize her[br]in her new form. 0:09:32.068,0:09:35.495 That kind of understanding[br]can remove fear. 0:09:35.495,0:09:37.289 The fear of non-being, 0:09:37.289,0:09:40.982 the fear of death. 0:09:41.498,0:09:44.102 (Half-Bell) 0:09:45.925,0:09:53.198 (Bell)