By Thich Nhat Hanh

Transcending Birth and Death

We often think that birth is that which does not exist coming into existence, and that death is that which does exist ceasing to exist. When we look deeply at things, we see that this idea about birth and death is mistaken in many respects. No phenomenon whatsoever can come into existence out of nothing and no phenomenon which exists can become nothing. Things are ceaselessly transforming. The cloud does not die; it only becomes rain. The rain is not born; it is only the transformation and continuation of the cloud. Leaves, a pair of shoes, joy and sorrow all conform to this principle of no-birth and no-death...

By Thich Nhat Hanh

Excerpted from Our Appointment with Life: The Buddha's Teaching on Living in the Present