When you look at the nature of things with concentration, you discover that they are all impermanent. Everything is constantly changing. Nothing has a permanent identity. This impermanence is not a negative thing. If things were not impermanent, growth would be impossible, and manifestation would be impossible. If things were not impermanent, you could not have children, and your children would never grow up. When you sow corn seeds, they would never be able to grow. They would remain corn seeds forever.

Impermanence is the very heart of life. It makes life possible. Reject impermanence, and you reject life. You should not complain about impermanence. Instead, you should shout, “Long live impermanence!” It is because of impermanence that everything is possible. Our hope lies in impermanence. Take the example of a dictatorship. How would it be if that were permanent? Impermanence is what puts an end to dictatorship. It’s what puts an end to hatred and suffering, as well. We need impermanence to transform them. So do not be afraid of impermanence.

We must train ourselves to see things as they are. Take a river. There is no permanent identity in a river. We call it the Mississippi, the Rhine, or the Seine, and we think it is a single, permanent entity. But everybody knows you cannot step into the same river twice. A river is in a constant process of transformation, and so are we. We are made of elements called form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. These things are aspects of manifestation, and you should look deeply into their nature. A feeling or a perception is very real, but you cannot find anything permanent in it. You cannot detect a permanent presence in anything whatsoever. You will never find anywhere a self, or a soul, that lasts.

In popular Buddhism, mention is sometimes made of a soul that outlasts physical death and lives another life. But that is not really what the Buddha taught. Does the soul exist according to Buddhism? If you believe that the soul consists of feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness, then yes, it exists—but impermanently. All these things are impermanent, just like the body. The continuation of life after death is possible, yet nothing is permanent. There is only continuation, only manifestation, because birth and death are just ideas. Being and nonbeing are just concepts. Reality is free from all these ideas and concepts.

If nothing is permanent, someone once asked me, what is the karma that we experience in future lives based on? But is it necessary to have a permanent entity for life to continue? Look at the example of a corn seed sown in moist ground. As a result of the right conditions—water, earth, warmth—the seed sprouts and produces little leaves. That corn seed is a very beautiful thing, thanks to impermanence. “If only that seed wouldn’t die!” you might feel. But if the seed did not die, the plant could not grow.

We have to see that what is happening is not the death of the seed, but the transformation of the seed into a plant. Can we detect a permanent entity in either the seed or the plant? No. A permanent entity is not necessary to make life possible. With time, the little plant will become a big plant, which will produce flowers and then ears of corn. Is a self needed to make it possible for the corn plant to grow and then produce flowers and fruit? No, and the same is true for us.

We have no need of a separate self or a separate existence. In fact, nothing can exist by itself. We must inter-be with all things. Look at a flower. It cannot exist by itself. It can only inter-be with the whole cosmos. And that is true for you, too.

Getting rid of the concept of self is the work of all meditators, because suffering is born from this concept. If you detect in a teaching any allusion to the presence of a permanent entity or self, then you will know that this teaching is not authentically Buddhist, even if it makes use of Buddhist terminology. An authentic Buddhist teaching must bear the mark of impermanence.

2. Non-Self

Deep insight into the truth of impermanence leads to the insight of non-self. Non-self (anatman) is the second mark of an authentic Buddhist teaching.

Non-self is something miraculous. When we look deeply at a flower, we see all the non-flower elements there, such as earth, sun, minerals, the gardener, and so on. If we look deeply enough, we will see that the whole cosmos has come together to manifest as this miracle. The flower is full of all the elements of the cosmos—time, space, the sun, rain, even your consciousness—everything. But the flower is empty of one thing. It is full of all things, but it is empty of one thing: a separate existence. It is empty of any separate entity called self.

We are like the flower. Every one of us is a miraculous flower in the garden of humanity. If you look deeply into yourself, you will see that you possess everything. As the poet Walt Whitman said, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” The one contains all—that is the insight of Buddhism. If you practice deep looking, you will discover this truth, the mystery of interbeing: the one contains all.

What you are looking for is already in you. You might have an inferiority complex and think that all you have in you is suffering. That is not true. You must get beyond the thought, “I am nothing. I am made up only of suffering. I should go look for a teacher who can save me.” You must definitely get beyond this thought. You already are everything you are seeking. Do not try to become something else.

The flower does not try to become the sun; it already is the sun. It does not try to become a tulip; it already contains the qualities of a tulip within it. When you achieve this insight, you stop suffering. We suffer because we want to deny ourselves. We want to become something else, and so we never stop running.

There is a Buddhist teaching that might seem strange to you. This is the teaching of aimlessness (apranihita in Sanskrit). Aimlessness is a form of concentration, one of three practices of deep looking recommended by the Buddha. The other two are concentration on the absence of distinguishing signs (alakshana) and concentration on emptiness (sunyata). So emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness—sunyata, alakshana, and apranihita—are known as the three concentrations, the three meditations. They are the basis of Buddhist meditation, and all Buddhist schools transmit this teaching on the three concentrations, the three Dharma Seals.

Aimlessness means not setting an object or goal in front of you and running after it. That is exactly what everybody does. We want this, we want that, and as long as we haven’t got it, we think happiness will be impossible. We must bring about a revolution in our thinking: we must stop. We must do as the flower does. The flower is aware of the fact that it contains everything within it, the whole cosmos, and it does not try to become something else. The wave is already water. Does the wave have to go looking for water? No. It is the same for you. You have God within you, so you do not have to look for God.

André Gide said something like the following: “Happiness is God, and God is accessible twenty-four hours a day.” Water is accessible to the wave twenty-four hours a day. Peace, solidity, and the light of God inhabit you and are accessible at any time. And yet you keep running. Year after year, lifetime after lifetime, you keep looking. You must come back to yourself to touch the ground of your being, the ultimate dimension of reality, nirvana.

Nirvana has the nature of no-birth and no-death, and so there is no need at all for you to be afraid. Have you ever played with a kaleidoscope? Just a small movement is enough to make something miraculous appear. A tableau of colors and forms is presented to you, a manifestation. You keep this view for a few seconds, then you turn the kaleidoscope and another manifestation appears. Should we cry every time one of these manifestations comes to an end? A flower manifests, then disappears, then manifests, then disappears—thousands upon thousands of times. If you look deeply at things, you will see this reality. We manifest, then disappear. It is a game of hide and seek.

The person you have lost is still here. If you have the Buddha eye, you will see him. He is in the dimension known as the ultimate—he is smiling at you, and you should return his smile. Birth and death are only ideas, and reality is free from all concepts. Ideas have caused you to suffer, so be suspicious of your ideas.

You are a manifestation. You are impermanent. Yet you are full of all the elements of the cosmos. You are a miracle. You are already what you are seeking to become. When you have this insight, you can stop. Stopping is peace. Stopping is happiness. Buddhist meditation consists of stopping and looking deeply, samatha and vipasyana. Deep looking helps you to stop, and stopping helps you to look deeply. Those two help each other. In order to look, you have to stop, and when you are looking deeply, you are stoping.

3. Nirvana

The third mark of an authentic Buddhist teaching is nirvana. Nirvana is the basis of everything, as water is the basis of any wave. If the wave meditates, if it takes a moment to look at its own nature, it recognizes that it contains all the other waves. It is like the flower—it contains the whole cosmos.

Look into yourself and you will see that you are not a separate entity. Your ancestors are present in you, as well as your children and grandchildren. Not only is the past here in the form of the present; the future is here, too. When you look at orange blossoms, you do not see oranges. But if you are a meditator, you see the oranges right away. You do not have to wait for them to manifest, because you see that the orange blossoms contain the oranges.

The same goes for you. If you are not yet old enough to be a mother, you nevertheless have your children and grandchildren in you. These children and grandchildren are just waiting for their moment to manifest. You contain them all—your father, your mother, and your children. You carry in you the whole of the cosmos. Modern scientists are also beginning to speak this language. They say that one electron is made up of all other electrons, and that an electron may be both here and there at the same time. The language of science is starting to resemble the language of Buddhism.

There is a specific term for the nature that is the true basis of everything. That term is nirvana, which means extinction. Nirvana is the extinction of all concepts, and the extinction of the pain that concepts cause. The idea of birth and the idea of death can make you suffer a lot. We find the idea of nonbeing terrifying, so please jut get rid of this concept. You aren’t afraid of the kaleidoscope—you don’t cry every time an appearance in the kaleidoscope disappears. The same thing is true of life. You don’t need to be afraid, because there is neither birth nor death, only successive manifestations. The earth, our mother, has given birth to us thousands and thousands of times. We manifest and then we return to the elements that compose us, only to manifest once again. Nothing is lost. This insight has the ability to get us out of our prison.

Let us come back to the flower. The flower is full of all the elements of the cosmos. It has everything in it, and it is devoid of only one thing: separate existence. Actually, separate existence is something we should not wish for. Isolation is suffering, like being the object of discrimination. A separate existence is something I would never want.

“Interbeing” is a much better verb to use than “being,” because I am in you and you are in me. This is the teaching of the Christian Gospels as well. The Father is in the Son, the Son is in you, and you are in the Son. You are in the Father, I am in you, and you are in me. That is interbeing.

We can attain this insight through the practice of deep looking. Using the keys of impermanence and non-self, we open the door of reality. This is the work of the meditator. Opening the door of reality and looking at it brings us a great joy because our fear and suffering evaporate. That is worth the effort, isn’t it?

How do you use your time? You have to make a living, certainly, and you have to support your loved ones. But do you make the effort to arrange your life so you can do some deep looking? That will bring you joy, freedom from fear, and great well-being. You must not let yourself drown in an ocean of fear and suffering.

There are among us people who have practiced deep looking and shared their insight with us. Take advantage of that. Walk on the spiritual path that lets you touch the depths of your being so that you can free yourself from fear, worries, and despair.

I have my own version of a famous phrase of Shakespeare’s: “To be or not to be—that is not the question.” The real question is whether you can touch the nature of no-birth and no-death. There exist many pairs of conceptual opposites, such as being and nonbeing, birth and death, arriving and departing, one and all. We should get rid of these pairs of opposites. Doing that is realizing the Middle Way, which is what Buddhism teaches. The Middle Way means going beyond all these pairs of opposites.

It’s important to understand, though, that after using the keys of impermanence and non-self to open the door of reality, we don’t need the keys anymore. If you have used the key of impermanence intelligently to open the door of reality, you do not need that key anymore. The key is not your goal, nor is it an idol to be worshiped.

The Dharma gives you tools, but please do not cling to the Dharma. Liberate yourself from it! You were provided with a raft to cross the river of suffering, but you should not worship it. It is necessary to use the raft with a great deal of intelligence to get to the other side, but once you’ve arrived there, you don’t need it anymore. You shouldn’t put the raft on your back and carry it around with you on land.

The teachings of impermanence and non-self are tools you need to work with, but you should not get caught in them. If you do, impermanence becomes just another concept, and so does non-self. These kinds of concepts are exactly what the Buddha said we should get rid of. He said that nirvana is the complete extinction of concepts, including the concepts of impermanence and non-self.

When you want to start a fire, you light a match, and then the fire consumes the match. The teachings of impermanence and non-self are like the match. If you practice with intelligence and succeed in your practice, the match will be consumed and you will be completely free. You will not have to defend Buddhism; you will not have to die for Buddhism. Buddhism has no need for martyrs.

The Dharma is offered to you as a tool, not as an object of worship. Cutting the roots of evil, hate, confusion, and discrimination is the work of all those who meditate, and the Dharma is the sickle we use to do that. If somebody gives you a sickle to cut the grass with, you use it. You don’t put it on a shrine or in a special box.

We must also go beyond the concept of nirvana. The word “nirvana” is like the word “God”—it can become a concept for you to get caught in. We should touch God as an ultimate reality and not as a concept. The same thing is true of nirvana. We should touch it as an ultimate reality in the here and now. If nirvana is a concept to you, then you are a prisoner. Burn nirvana, burn impermanence, and burn non-self if they ever become concepts!