Birth as appearance
Birth is the appearance of a body in the waking state. Like all experiences, it is changing and therefore falls in the category of the false. It is part of the cycle of becoming that belongs to name and form, not to the true self.Just as in a dream, characters appear to be born and die, in the waking state, bodies appear and disappear. The characters in the dream were never really born they were appearances in the dreamer's consciousness. In the same way, birth in the waking state is an appearance in existence.
The Experiencer is unborn
The experiencer does not take birth and does not die. Our direct observation completely denies that a start of the Experiencer can be found in time. If we try to find the beginning of the Experiencer, we find that any start we witness is itself an experience and something must already be witnessing it. The Experiencer was already present before any birth.If the Experiencer could begin, its beginning would have to be witnessed and that witnessing requires an Experiencer already present. So logically and experientially, the Experiencer is unborn (aja) and deathless.
Birth and ignorance
The fundamental ignorance includes the assumption: I was born and I am going to die. This assumption drives the entire survival mentality I must do everything possible in this short period. This belief leads to the state of bondage and suffering.Upon self realisation, one understands that one was never born and can never die. Birth and death are appearances in consciousness. The existence itself is timeless it was not created at some point in time, and it will not end.
Practical understanding
This does not mean we deny the practical reality of birth in daily life. For the purposes of survival, birth and death are functional truths relative truths that govern practical life. But when we seek the absolute truth about our nature, we find that no real birth ever occurred. Something appeared and will disappear but the existence that it appeared in, and the Experiencer that witnessed it, were always there.See also: death, rebirth, becoming, experiencer, self realisation, existence, fundamental ignorance.