Where Do We Go When We Die?

Thich Nhat Han uses the metaphor of a burning candle to explore profound questions about life, death, and continuation beyond physical existence. The candle, which emits light and heat while burning, symbolizes a living being whose presence and actions extend beyond its physical form. When the candle burns out, does it truly disappear, or does its essence continue in different forms? The discussion highlights the Buddhist and Christian perspectives that life continues after death, but emphasizes that understanding this requires deep contemplation and practice.

Thich Nhat Han explains that life is a continuous process of going and coming, much like the candle sending out light and heat in all directions. Humans similarly extend their existence through thoughts, speech, and actions—collectively known as karma—which influence not only themselves but also others, including their children, friends, and even the wider cosmos. Positive actions create beneficial effects both immediately and in the future, while negative actions also return to impact the doer, sometimes after a delay.

Continuation is not limited to individual physical survival but manifests through relationships, teachings, and the impact one leaves behind. Thich Nhat Han illustrates this with personal examples, such as disciples, friends, readers of his books, and even prisoners who practice his teachings, all of whom serve as his continuation. The analogy extends to the transformation of clouds to rain: although the form changes, the essence remains. Likewise, one’s presence continues in other forms after death.

Importantly, Thich Nhat Han stresses that birth and death are not singular events occurring only at the end of life but are ongoing processes happening moment by moment, even within the body’s cells. Recognizing this continuous cycle helps one understand that dying and being reborn occur constantly, dissolving the fear or finality often associated with death. Through mindful practice and deep inquiry as taught by the Buddha, one can perceive this ongoing transformation and find peace in the understanding of life’s impermanence and continuity.

• [00:03] 🕯️ The candle metaphor introduces the question of what happens after death.
• [04:59] 🔄 Life is a continuous process of “going” through thoughts, speech, and actions.
• [07:47] 🌍 Karma affects both the world and oneself immediately and over time.
• [11:22] ⚖️ Actions have immediate and delayed effects, impacting future generations.
• [14:51] 🌧️ Continuation after death is like recognizing rain as transformed clouds.
• [15:28] 🔄 Birth and death occur in every moment, not only at the end of life.
• [18:39] 🧘 Deep practice and looking deeply are essential to understanding life and

• [00:03] 🕯️ The Candle as a Metaphor for Life and Death: The candle’s burning process symbolizes the transient nature of physical life, yet its light and heat represent the essence that permeates many directions. This metaphor emphasizes that death is not a simple end but a transformation, prompting reflection on what truly “dies” and what continues. It challenges the listener to reconsider common assumptions about the finality of death.
• [04:59] 🔄 Karma as Continuous Influence: Life’s “going” through thought, speech, and action means individuals are constantly extending their presence and influence into the world. This perspective reframes existence as a dynamic process, where each moment contributes to a legacy that affects others and oneself, highlighting the ethical importance of mindful living.
• [07:47] 🌍 Immediate and Delayed Effects of Actions: The immediate effect of positive or negative actions benefits or harms both oneself and others in the present moment. Meanwhile, some consequences may manifest much later, affecting individuals and their descendants. This duality underscores the complex, interconnected nature of karma and the importance of conscious choices.
• [11:22] ⚖️ Intergenerational Continuation: The idea that children or disciples are extensions of oneself illustrates how legacy and retribution can pass through generations. This insight stresses that personal behavior not only shapes one’s own life but also profoundly influences future lives, reinforcing responsibility beyond the individual.
• [14:51] 🌧️ Transformation and Signlessness: The analogy of clouds turning into rain teaches that forms may change, but the essence persists. Recognizing continuation requires “the eyes of signlessness,” or a perception beyond physical appearances. This insight invites a deeper spiritual understanding that transcends ordinary sensory experience.
• [15:28] 🔄 Birth and Death as Constant Processes: Understanding that cells in the body die and are reborn every moment demystifies death as merely a stage in a continuous flow. This challenges the notion of death as a singular point, fostering acceptance of impermanence and encouraging living fully in the present.
• [18:39] 🧘 The Necessity of Deep Practice: The speaker emphasizes that these truths about life, death, and continuation cannot be grasped intellectually alone; they require diligent, heartfelt practice and profound contemplation as taught by the Buddha. This highlights the spiritual discipline necessary for true insight and peace regarding mortality.

00:00:03 - 00:00:46
Suppose you look up here in the  blackboard... in the whiteboard, and this is a candle . . . the candle . . . and the candle is emitting light and heat in many directions. And this candle might take five hours, seven hours to burn to the end, right? And after all the wax is gone, it's like the candle dies. Do you think that the candle  goes somewhere after it dies? The candle has something like five hours to live, to burn. And do you think that after it has burned to the end it will go somewhere, or not?


00:01:52 - 00:02:28
And do you think that  this is the end of the candle? That this line is the line  of the end of the candle? There is a candle from here up here. I agree, you agree, we all agree that from this line up there is a candle. But do you think that from this line down there is no candle? No or yes? [Soft laughter] It seems that if you are a buddhist, you have to believe that there is something after, after you die. And if you are a Christian also, you have to believe that after you die there is something,


00:02:41 - 00:03:19
that you'll go somewhere. In the candle, in the case of the candle: Do you think that there is something left after the candle has burned itself completely? Who says yes? Not too many. [Laughter] Who says no? There is no... no more candle after. Many people are not decided. [Laughter] The Dharma is very deep and lovely. We have to learn to to learn with all our heart in order to really understand the question  "Where shall we go after we die?" It's a good question, but without practicing looking  very, very deeply


00:03:54 - 00:04:35
we cannot have a good answer. Look at this candle. In this moment, this is the present moment. This line is the present moment. In this present moment, the candle is already going somewhere because in this very moment the candle is sending itself in many directions, in terms of heat and light. So the candle is going in this very moment. It does not need to arrive here in order to go somewhere. You, the same. You are the same. In this very moment, you are going somewhere. There is a coming and going that is... that happens in every moment of your daily life,


00:04:59 - 00:05:38
and you go a little bit like the candle. The candle goes in terms of light and heat, and you go in terms of thought, speech, and physical movement. Three kinds... three kinds of action. Every moment of your daily life you are offering thinking, speaking and acting. And you go in many directions. Speech, you go into your children. Anything you think, anything you speak, anything you act,  you go through your children, and through your friends  and through the cosmos. That is called karma, action.


00:05:51 - 00:06:33
We are spending ourselves, we are going. I live my daily life in such a way that I can go beautifully into the world, into my disciples, into my friends. I want to think beautiful thoughts. The thoughts of loving kindness, the thoughts of compassion, the thoughts of understanding, the thoughts of love. And every time I have a thought, I offer myself to you, to my disciples, to my friends and to the world. That is ... that is going, that is a That's my continuation. And I don't want to offer  the negative things.


00:06:51 - 00:07:35
I want to to transform the negative things so that they become positive before I I go. Because I go, enter into the cosmos and the closest are my friends, my disciples. So when you look into my disciples, you can see me. When you look into my friends, you can see me. And this is very scientific. I continue to go into my disciples, into my friends and to the cosmos. You can see me outside of my body. This is my practice. The candle does the same, you see? The candle is offering light and heat and the light


00:07:47 - 00:08:28
is offered to the world, the heat is offered to the world, but the light and the heat is offered to the candle by itself. The light of the candle can light the candle, and the heat of the candle can cause the the wax to melt. And it's because like that that the wick can absorb the wax so the flame can be powerful. So any action made by the candle affects the world and affects itself. Any action comes out from the candle goes back to the candle also. When you have a  thought of loving kindness,


00:08:37 - 00:09:23
the world profits and you profit also. The effect is immediate. When you say something very nice to another person, you offer... that person receives has an effect on that person and you also... you also . . . profit from that loving speech. Any action of you... of yours can affect the world  and affect yourself, and some actions, some thoughts, some speech come back to you right away in this very moment. But sometimes a thought or a word would need more time in order to come back to you. You say something not true,


00:09:36 - 00:10:17
that speech affects you right away. Now. But later on it will go back to you. And people will discover that it's a lie. So that goes back to you and you have to to bear to bear the effect of that. There are things that we do now but we have to suffer ten years later or twenty years later. So the karma, it means the... the action can have two kinds of effects: immediate effect, and a . . . retarded effect. It's like some medicines, when you swallow the medicine it will release a substance, and it has an effect now,


00:10:28 - 00:11:10
but later on, it will  continue to affect you. So, your thinking, your speech, and your act affect you right away, but later on it will continue to affect you. So, suppose we are in the present moment you do something. You say something very strong. It goes out to the world, it affects the world. And it goes back right in and affects yourself. But some... some actions will go back to you later on. And the candle has to burn until until this line in order to receive the the retribution. In Vietnamese we say


00:11:22 - 00:12:03
[Speaking Vietnamese] The father eats very salty, and the son has to drink a lot of water. So . . . whatever you do, you think and you speak now will have an effect right now and will have an effect later on. And suppose you have... you do something very strong, and you get have the effect here. It will be your son who will have to get the retribution, because your son is your continuation. Your son is the most visible retribution. Your son is the most visible em... continuation of yours. Or your . . .


00:12:24 - 00:13:03
Your daughter. Your daughter is the most. . . one of the most visible  continuation of yours. And it's you, your son is you, your daughter is you, your disciple is you, your friend is you, because you have been going to them every day. So I can see  my continuation not only in this body, in this consciousness, but I can see my continuation in my disciples, in my friends,  and in the world. You see, I have written a number of books. And some of my books go very, very far. And it is affecting  the people who are reading.


00:13:12 - 00:13:53
I have offered many wholesome thoughts, many insights in my books. And some of the books go into prisons, into the prisons, and prisoners have been reading and practicing. And I am in prison, because I like to be in prison  in order to be helpful. So there are many prisoners who are my continuation. And there are Catholic monks and Catholic nuns who live in cloisters and they have read my book and they have written letters to me. They were able to release some of their views, they feel much lighter


00:14:01 - 00:14:38
and I am continued by them. So I can see me continued in many forms. So when, at this point, when you don't see my body anymore,  you will say that Thay is no longer there. That's not true. Thay is there, but you have to have the eyes of eyes of signlessness in order to . . . to recognize him. It's like when... when the cloud has become rain, the cloud is not lost, and you can recognize the cloud in her new form: the rain. So when you don't see Thay in this form anymore, you can recognize Thay's presence,


00:14:51 - 00:15:25
Thay's continuation in other forms, and the most visible is his disciples. Look at the monks, the nuns  and the lay practitioners in Plum Village. You can see Thay. It's not very difficult. In the way they walk, the way they smile, the way they cook, the way they sweep the ground, the way they help other people. Well... There is a lot of Thay inside. So the question is... can be answered like this: If you know where you are going in this moment, there will be no difficulty in knowing where you go after you die.


00:15:28 - 00:16:02
You are dying and you are being reborn right here and right now in this very moment. You don't need to arrive at this point in order to die. You are dying in every moment, and you are being reborn in every moment. Not only inside of yourself, but also outside. We know that there are  many cells in the body and the cells in our body... many cells  in our body die every moment. In this very moment, many cells in our... in us die in order to make room  for other cells to be born. So birth and death happen right here and right now.


00:16:09 - 00:16:42
You don't need to arrive  at the age of eighty in order to die. You are dying now, in order for for you to reborn now. Birth and death are happening in every moment. That is the teaching of the Buddha and you have to practice looking deeply in order to see to see that. So, when you say "after I die" you mean that now you are not dying. That's not true. You are dying in this very moment, and you are being born  right in this moment. Suppose that happens... that happens in every moment.


00:16:50 - 00:17:29
Many thousands, many million cells die in this very moment. Every time someone dies, we organize funerals, and we cry. But if if every time a cell in our body died and if we organize funerals and cry and then we'd have no time to do anything. [Laughter] No time left to do anything at all. Practice looking deeply in order to see to see that. So, when you say "after I die" you mean that now you are not dying. That's not true. You are dying in this very moment, and you are being born  right in this moment.


00:17:41 - 00:18:23
Suppose that happens... that happens in every moment. Many thousands, many million cells die in this very moment. Every time someone dies, we organize funerals, and we cry. But if... every time a cell in our body died and if we organize funerals and cry and then we'd have no time  to do anything. [Laughter] No time left to do anything at all. We have to accept birth and death that happen in us every moment. So in order to answer this question, you have to practice looking deeply the way the Buddha


00:18:39 - 00:19:03
proposed so that you can see that birth and death are happening in every moment and you are reborn in every moment not only in your body and your consciousness, but in other forms as well. We will continue because this question is so... demands a lot of looking deeply. Ok.