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(Half-bell)

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(Bell)

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If our true nature is 
no birth and no death

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it means that we are condemned
to live forever,

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life after life.

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So to me the teaching
of no birth and no death

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is not a solution, it is a problem.

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(Laughter)

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I don't understand how is it possible

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not to feel desperate and lost
with this teaching,

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because this is
not only thinking but also feeling.

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It does not help me and
it only creates more despair.

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I prefer to die at the end of this life,

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rather than to live again.

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(Sister)
Dear Thay, dear Sangha,

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Our friend is saying

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that the teaching about our true nature
of no birth, and no death,

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would appear to condemn us
to live forever.

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This teaching has, for him,
not been a solution,

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but a source of suffering,


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not only intellectual suffering,

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but a real feeling of fear and despair.

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To him it seems much more appealing,

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If he could die and be born again

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if he could die.

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(Laughter)

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Because if we die,
life is short and really intense,

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so we can enjoy it as much as possible.

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But if we continue to live,

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sooner or later we will be really bored.

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(Laughter)

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There are two types of people.

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(Laughter)

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Many of us want to live forever,

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they are really afraid of dying.

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And that is why in the history of mankind,

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many people are seeking immortality.

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In Taoism, they try to find all kinds
of herbs, medicines and chemicals,

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in order to be immortal.

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Immortality is what they seek,

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and underneath
that kind of wish, of desire,

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there is the fear of annihilation,

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the fear of non-being.

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We don't want to pass
from the realm of being,

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into the realm of non-being,
it is very frightening.

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You have to understand the mentality
of those who are seeking immortality,

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who are afraid of dying.

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They are suffering
with that kind of view.

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They are seeking for immortality,

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afraid of non-being.

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On the other hand,

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there are those
who are tired of life.

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They get bored after 50, 70, 
or maybe after 30 years.

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They find that life is unbearable.

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They are seeking non-being.

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Some of them think
that to commit suicide,

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is a way to end the suffering

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and to pass from the realm
of being into non-being.

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That kind of wish
is also based on a wrong view,

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that there is something
you call non-being,

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non-existence,

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annihilation,

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and you'd like to go there,
it is better if you don't suffer anymore,

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it is no longer boring.

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So you aspire to non-being,

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to annihilation,

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and that kind of desire is based
on all sorts of wrong views.

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But the right view is

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that birth and death,
life and death,


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they always go together.

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You cannot take one out of the other.

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You are looking for death,

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you try to leave life behind.

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That is something impossible.

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Because they always want to be together,
like the left and the right.

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You cannot take the left out of the right,

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and the right out of the left,

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That is the law we discover
when looking deeply.

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We see that this is a manifestation only.

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The notion of left and right
is more in our heads,

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in our thinking,

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than in reality.

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So all the notions like boring, not boring,

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suffering and happiness,
being and non-being,

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come more from
our mind of discrimination,

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from our mind of mental constructions,
other than from reality.

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We behave as if we know
what reality is.

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We only have to deal with reality.

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But the reality we think we know,

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is only a construction of our mind.

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Birth and death are also
a construction of your mind.

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It is not reality.

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We have learnt in this retreat

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that birth, life and death,
birth and death,

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they are notions more than reality.

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Being and non-being
is a pair of opposites

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that is there as the foundation
of the notions of birth and death.

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Your question reveals

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that you still believe

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in a self, in a soul,

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that remains the same always.

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But in reality there is nothing like that.

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There is nothing
that can remain the same


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in two consecutive moments.

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So who is bored?

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Because the you of this moment

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is no longer the same you
from the previous moment.

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Because you haven't gone deep enough,

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and touched the true nature of 
no birth and no death,

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no self and no other,
no being and no non-being.

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Those who seek Nirvana,

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they may think
that when you touch Nirvana,

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you don't have to be reborn any more,

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that you belong [now] 
to the realm of non-being.

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That is the most misleading
view about Nirvana,

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that Nirvana is an eternal death.

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For some people
eternal death is salvation.

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Because then you don't have
to be reborn and to suffer.

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That is a wrong view.

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Many people - including some
Western scholars of Buddhism -

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they believe that the aim of Buddhism
is to get eternal death:

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complete eternal non-being.

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But the Buddha
has many times denied that:

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"Our aim is not to reach nothingness,

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to reach annihilation."

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He has said so many times that:

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"I am not teaching annihilation.

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My view is the kind of insight

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that transcends both notions - 
annihilation and permanence."

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That is a pair of opposites.

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Immortality is one extreme.

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The immortal soul that can never die,

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that is one extreme.

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Annihilation is another extreme.

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So right view is the kind of insight
that transcends both notions,

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immortality

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and non-being, annihilation.

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Meditation is for removing
these kinds of notions.

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There are many pairs of notions
we have to remove.

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And when you are able
to remove these notions,

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you have peace.

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You don't worry anymore.

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Especially you don't believe in a self,

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that has to go through Samsara's
birth and death.

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There is no birth and death.

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There is no self
going through birth and death.

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All of that are only notions.

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When you get that kind of insight,
you are light,

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you are no longer afraid.

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You see that everything renews itself,
all the time.

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Joy and happiness are possible,

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the transformation
of suffering is possible.

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You can help so many people
to suffer less.

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Life has a meaning.

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You don't tire yourself out.
You don't get bored.

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Because know your life has a meaning,

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your life is useful.

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You can generate
the energy of compassion and joy,

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in order to help heal the world.

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There is no need
for a permanent self, a soul,

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ot the view of impermanence, 
the view of immortality,

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or the view of annihilation,

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because you are free
of all of these.

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Nirvana is possible,

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the extinction of that kind
of suffering and afflictions.

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Like fear, anger and despair.

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The extinction of these afflictions
is possible only,

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when you can extinguish notions
like birth and death,

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being and non-being,

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So we can define Nirvana
in very clear terms:

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the absence of notions,

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and the absence of suffering born
on the basis of these notions.

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(Laughter)

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Very good! Good smile!

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(Laughter)

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Very good smile.

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(Half-Bell)

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(Bell)