We sometimes use the expression “The Eight Outer Forms of Realizing the Path” to mean the appearances or forms through which every Tathagata passes: entering the womb, being born, getting in touch with suffering, becoming a practitioner, following the path, attaining enlightenment, teaching the Dharma, and entering nirvana. We practice in order to see that these outer forms of reality are really only magical appearances. In fact, the Buddha is not born and does not die; that is the true nature of the Buddha and of everything else. When we look deeply enough into any phenomenon – a pebble, a drop of dew, a leaf, a cloud – we recognize its ultimate nature in the Three Dharma Seals of impermanence, no-self, and interdependence. In this way we can discover its true nature of no birth, no death, which is exactly the same as the true nature of the Tathagata. A beautiful golden leaf in autumn is also just putting on a magical show for us. First the leaf plays at being born in the springtime, and later it pretends to fall down to earth and die. As far as the phenomenal world is concerned, we believe that the leaf comes into being and then passes away. But in terms of the ultimate dimension, birth and death, coming and going, existence and nonexistence are only a magic display, a mere appearance.