The next step on the path of Dhamma is to voluntarily choose to live a plain and simple life, a pure life, in which one isn't led astray or intoxicated by anything. On this level, there is still a sense of the "I" who is enjoying this mode of happiness, but it's a better, more developed "I."
         The next highest level of Dhamma is to not let any traces of the "I" remain at all. It's finished. The mind no longer has the feeling of being "I," of being a self, and there is no way that suffering or dissatisfaction can happen, since there is no"I" to suffer. Suffering can't occur because this egolessness is the highest happiness, if we speak in people language. If we speak in Dhamma language, however, there is nothing to say. There is nothing to get nothing to have nothing to be - no happiness, no suffering, nothing at all. We call this "voidness." Everything still exists, but it's free and void of any feeling of being "I" or "mine." For this reason we say "voidness."
         To see that everything is void is to see things as being neither an aspect of oneself nor in anyway possessed by oneself. The words "void" and "voidness" in the common language of ignorant people mean that nothing exists, but in the language of the Buddha, the Awakened One, the words "void" and "voidness" mean everything exists, but without attachment to any of it in terms of "I" or "mine." That there isn't clinging or attachment to things as being "I" and "mine" is voidness of I and voidness of mine. When the words "void" and "voidness" are used in this way, it's the voidness of Dhamma language. To use "void" in the sense that nothing actually exists is the language of worldly people who are trapped in their senses, is the language of materialism, is the language of householders who know nothing but their homes. Here, "voidness" has given us another example of the difference between people language and Dhamma language.
         We should always keep in mind this truth about language and discriminate whether the words we hear, read, and use are people language or Dhamma language. For example, the Buddha said, "Kill your father and kill your mother, then you shall attain Nibbana." "Kill your father and mother, be an ungrateful child, then you shall attain Nibbana." The Buddha didn't mean that we should take this literally and kill our flesh and blood parents. Instead, he meant that ignorance is a kind of father and craving is a kind of mother. The two give birth to ego-consciousness and subsequently all forms of selfishness and sin. There's no reason in feel any gratitude toward them; destroy them immediately and Nibbana is realized.
         To speak in this fashion is to use the Dhamma language which the ordinary person is unable to understand. He must study and inquire, think and reflect, until finally he understands. But the Noble ones, those who have realized Dhamma already, will understand immediately, though only a few words are spoken and without any explanation or advice. Just one word is enough for them to understand, without further explanation, because they khow Dhamma language thoroughly.
         The words "birth" and "death" require the same discrimination regarding language. In people language, the word "birth" means to be born from a mothers womb. In Dhamma language, however, the word "birth" means some form of attachment is born. This kind of birth happens every time we allow the arising of a thought or feeling which involves grasping and clinging to something as "I" or "mine," such as, "I am," "I have," "I think," and "I do." This is the birth of the "I" or the ego.
         For example, think like a criminal and one is instantly born as a criminal. A few moments later those thoughts disappear, one thinks like a normal human being again and is born as a human being once more. If a few moments later one has foolish thoughts, right then one is born as a fool. If one then thinks in an increasingly foolish and dull manner, one will be born as an animal immediately. Whenever an attachment is felt intensely - when it burns inside one with the heat of fire - one is born as a demon in hell. Whenever one is so hungry and thirsty that one could never be satiated, one is born as an insatiably hungry ghost. When one is overly cautions and timid without reason, one is born a cowardly titan. Thus, in a single day one can be born any number of times in many different forms, since a birth takes place each and every time there arises any form of attachment to the idea of being something. Each conception of "I am," "I was," or "I will" is simultaneously a birth. This is the meaning of "birth" in Dhamma language. Therefore, whenever one encounters the word "birth," one must be very careful to understand its meaning in each particular context.
         "Birth is suffering." These words mean that the egoistic kind of birth described above is always painful and ugly. That is to say, if we allow "I" to be born in any manner, suffering occurs immediately. If we live simply and directly in the awareness of "not-being-I," it's like remaining unborn and never experiencing suffering. Although physical birth has happened long ago, there is no further spiritual birth of the egoistic "I."
         On the other hand, whenever an egoistic thought or feeling arises, there is suffering at once and the suffering always fits the particular kind of "I" that is being born. If "I" is human, it suffers like a human. If "I" is an angel, it suffers angelically. If "I" is demonic, it suffers hellishly. The manner of the grasping and clinging can change repeatedly, even being born as beast, hungry ghosts, and cowardly titans. In one day, there may be many birth many dozens of births, and every one of them is unsatisfactory, frustrating, and painful. To destroy this kind of birth is Nibbana.
         2. Animals, demons, hungry ghosts(peta), and cowardly titans(asura) are the inhabitants of thc "lower realms" in traditional Buddhist cosmology.
         Concerning death, there's no need to speak about what happens after the people language version. Why talk about what happens once we're in the coffin? Instead, please deal with this most urgent issue of ego-birth, that is, don't get born and there will be no suffering. Without the feeling of being born, there is no person anymore and all the problem disappear with it. That is all. When there isn't this continual being born, there is no longer a "somebody" to have problems. It's as simple as that. The time remaining in life is no longer an issue once we know how to experience the fact that this "I" will never be born again. This can be called "non-birth." You may call it "death" if you prefer.
         So you see, betwecn people language and Dhamma language the words "birth" and "death" have opposite meanings. The same situation exists in the scriptures of other religions, especially those of Christianity. As a result, the Christians don't understand their own Bible, just as we Buddhists don't understand the Tipitaka (Buddhist scriptures). Thus, whenever members of the two meet, they end up arguing until they are blue in the face. The quarrels are simply unbelievable; they fight to the end. Therefore, let us develop some understanding concerning this matter of people language and Dhamma language.
         We have discussed the word "birth" in a Buddhist context, now let us consider a word from the Christian scriptures, such as "life." Matthew says that Jesus Christ "surrendered his life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). Elsewhere, Jesus said, "If you would enter life, keep the commandments" (Matt. 19:17). These two statements show that the word"life" has more than one meaning. In the first statement, "life" is used in its people language sense. Jesus allowed them to kill the life of his body, which is the ordinary meaning of "life." "Life" in the second passage is the same word "life," but it now refers to a life that can never be killed. It's a life which will never know death. By this we see that even the simple word "life" can have two very different meanings.
         The word "die" provides another example. In people language, "to die" means that the bodily functions have stopped, which is the kind of death we can see with our eyes. However, "die" in the language used by God has quite a different meaning, such as when he spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden telling them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 2:17). Eventually, Adam and Eve ate that fruit, but we know that they didn't die in the ordinary sense, the kind that puts people into coffins. That is, their bodies didn't die. Instead, they died in another way, in the Dhamma language sense, which is a spiritual death much more cruel than being buried in a coffin. This fate worse than death was the appearance of enormous sin in their minds, that is, they began to think in dualistic terms - good and evil, male and female, naked and clothed, husband and wife, and so on. The pairs of opposites proliferated making the pain very heavy, so much so that their minds were flooded by a suffering so severe that it's impossible to describe. All this has been passed down through the years and inherited by everyone living in the present era.
         The consequences have been so disastrous that the Christians give the same "Original Sin" to the first appearance of dualistic thinking. Original Sin first happened with that primordial couple and then was passed on to all their descendants down to this very day. This is what God meant by the word "death"; whenever we partake of this fruit of dualism (from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil") we must die right then and there. This is the meaning of "death" in Christian language.
         "Death" has the same meaning in the language of the Buddha. Why is this so? Because both religions are pointing to the same truth concerning attachment and dualism. Whenever dualistic thoughts arise there is bound to be suffering, which is death. Death means the end of everything good, the end of happiness, the end of peace, the end of everything worthwhile. This is the meaning of "death" in Dhamma language. Most of us die this way many times each day.
         It's called "death" because it makes the heart heavy. It always creates a feeling of frustration and depression to some degree, not to mention worry, restlessness, and anxiety. The more intelligent and clever a person is, the more often one dies and the more profound the deaths. The clever person's deaths are much more special and creative than those of an ignorant person.
         We must know how to avoid death in order to be in accord with the teachings of the Buddha and Jesus (along with the other prophets). The objective of Buddhism is the same as of Christianity: don't let this original sin overpower you; don't let dualistic attachment dominate your heart or your mind. Refuse to let it dominate the mind ever again.
         We must always be aware of the true nature of Dhamma, that in reality there is no duality of any sort - nogain, no loss, no happiness, no suffering, no good, no evil, no merit, no sin, no male, no female. There is absolutely nothing at all that can be separated and polarized into opposites. Rather than buy into them, we ought to transcend.
         The dualistic pairs are the basis of all attachment, so don't fall for their tricks. Don't attach to any of them. Try to understand that these things can never be seized and held onto because they are impermanent, lack any real substance, and are not-self. Try to go about your business with a mind that is unattached. Work with a mind that clings to nothing and is free from all forms of attachment. This is called "working with a void mind."
         We should perform every kind of task with a void mind, no matter whether it's at the office or at home. Even rest and recreation should be done with a void mind, a mind that always remains unattached and free because it's above all dualities. If we work with a busy mind, a mind that is restless and always grasping and clinging to one thing or idea after another, a mind that is over-burdened with attachments, then there is suffering and we must inevitably be born in a lowly state. The lower realms spoken of by traditional Buddhists happen right then and there; birth as a demon in hell, as a beast, as a hungry ghost, or as a cowardly titan takes place at that very moment. This is the most serious problem facing humanity, it's the most original sin, and it's death in Dhamma language. Therefore, we should live, work, and play without attachments.