[Buddha-l] Ajahn Buddhadasa on rebirth and death

[JKirkpatrick]

Every now and then I re-read Buddhadasa for renewed inspiration
and insight, to the best of my ability to practice what he says.
His distinguishing between people language and dhamma language
makes a lot of sense. Joanna
==================
Ajahn Buddhadasa on rebirth:
http://www.wfb-hq.org/bud21b.htm
 
(There's much more on a continuation of sites reporting his
teaching.)
 

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. 
 
...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. 
 
...This"I," this ego, is just a mental concept, a product of
thought. There's nothing substantial or permanent upon which it's
based. There's only an ever-changing process flowing according to
causes and conditions, but ignorance misconstrues this process to
be a permanent entity, a "self," and an "ego." So don't let
attached thoughts and feelings based on "I" and "mine" arise. All
pains and problems will end right there and then, so that the
body becomes insignificant, no longer a cause of worry. It's
merely a collection of the five aggregates (khandha), functioning
according to causes and conditions, pure in its own nature. These
five aggregates or component processes of life are naturally free
of attachment and selfishness....