“…Nibbāna is death before dying. Death before death? If this isn’t understood properly it just sounds insane, but let the ‘I,’ the ‘me,’ the defilements that are ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ let them die before the body breaks up and that’s ‘death before dying.’ The defilements that cause the feeling of ‘self’ die, hence the ‘me’ dies and can’t arise again because wisdom has arisen, there’s proper understanding to prevent it, and, should it arise, it will dissolve away immediately. This is called ‘death before dying.’ Let the ‘me,’ the ‘self’ idea die before the body dies and there will be ease and comfort. If we cling to the ‘me’ idea then we have to bear life, to shoulder it, to cart it around, then life becomes ‘heavy,’ that’s dukkha. Clinging to and carting something heavy around, the five aggregates, is suffering, throwing them off isn’t; then there’s no need to talk about death anymore because there isn’t anyone who will have to die. Living without the weight is cool and comfortable, one might want to call it ‘happy,’ but the true Dhamma says that it’s ‘not dukkha,’ it’s ‘dukkha-lessness’ here and now.
We don’t need to suffer; cause the ‘self’ to die before the body does, and there won’t be any suffering. Then Māra can seek all he likes but he won’t find us, because the ‘me’ he’s seeking will already be dead and gone…”