Q. Is there anyone who doesn’t die in the world?
A. Yes, there is, but there are few who know him. Those who know him don’t die as well. The truth is that we all die, not because we really die, but because we don’t know that we never die. In other words, we die because we think and believe that we die.
Who doesn’t die? No one never dies. When you become ‘no one’, you don’t die. In order to be ‘no one’, you should know what you are now. To know what you are, remove all the labels attached to you because they are not you. When no label remains attached to you, you become ‘no one’. For example, let’s suppose that you are a man named Tom who was born 50 years ago. Here ‘man’, ‘named’, ‘Tom’, ‘was born’, ’50’, ‘years’, and ‘ago’ are all imaginary labels used to describe your entity, not you. Your problem is to take them for yourself.
First of all, remove the labels ’50 years ago’. What happens? Then the labels, ‘was born’ lose their meaning naturally because ‘was born’ necessarily requires time and place. ‘Was born’ is impossible without time and place. When there is no birth, there is no gender, either. So, the label, ‘man’ also becomes meaningless with ‘Tom’. Then, who or what are you?
When you are perfectly free of the labels, you become ‘no one’. When you become ‘no one’, you will not die because you were not born. Above all, there is no one to die when you are ‘no one’.
Were you alive or dead before birth?
A dead thing never becomes a living thing like you.
Were you nothing or something before birth?
Nothing never becomes something like you.
Student: “Is there anyone who doesn’t die?”
Master: “Yes, there is.”
Student: “Who is it?”
Master: “No body.”
Student: “Who is no body?”
Master: “One who is free of labels.”
Student: “Who is he?”
Master: “Have a cup of tea.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/zd8gW