Dharma Words for the Heart
No-Birth and No-Death
From the Chan perspective, the terms no-birth and no-death do not mean that you are not born into a cycle of birth and death. Rather, they mean that there is no particular reality to either birth or death. These events are not hings, but mere moments in a great continuity. Even though a great Buddhist sage is within the cycle of birth and death, he is liberated from it.
Resource
Dharma Drum – The life and heart of Chan practice, p. 177