Once the disciple of a hermit passed away.

The hermit went to the disciple's house, where the dead body was lying and people were crying. The hermit approached and asked in a loud voice:

"Is this man dead or alive?"

This astonished and perplexed the mourners. Why was the question asked? The dead body lay there. Was any further evidence needed? For a while there
was silence, and then someone asked the hermit:

"Please, sir, can you answer your own question?"

Do you know what the hermit replied? He said:

"That which was dead has died. That which was alive still lives. It is only the link between the two which has given way. Life does not die, and death does not live."

Those who do not know life call death the end of life. But birth is not the beginning of life, nor death its end. Life exists within birth and death, and beyond them also. It exists before birth and it lives after death. Birth and death exist within life, but life itself is not born, nor does it die.

I have just returned from a cremation. As the funeral pyre blazed, people said,

"It is all over."

I said,

"You have no eyes, and so that is the way it appears to you."

Osho, "Seeds of Wisdom", Ch. 28.