Can we truthfully say we did not exist before our birth? What will become of us after death? Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh addresses our ideas about life and death and how we can release these debilitating notions and get in touch with our true nature, the nature of no birth and no death.

We have the tendency to think dualistically: coming and going, birth and death, same and different, being and non-being. Such opposing ideas are merely mental constructions that do not reflect the true nature of reality. Life arises when conditions are sufficient and fades when conditions are no longer sufficient. But we cannot say life and death oppose one another—they “inter-are.” “The teaching of no birth, no death,” says Thich Nhat Hanh, “is the cream of the Buddha’s teachings.”