Quotes from Thích Nh?t H?nh

Life is too precious for us to lose ourselves in our ideas and concepts, in our anger and our despair. We must wake up to the marvelous reality of life. We must begin to live fully and truly, every moment of our daily lives.

If you live without awareness it is the same as being dead. You cannot call that kind of existence being alive. Many of us live like dead people because we live without awareness. We carry our dead bodies with us and circulate throughout the world. We are pulled into the past or we are pulled forward into the future or we are caught by our projects or our despair and anger. We are not truly alive; we are not inhabited by awareness of the miracle of being alive.

When conditions are sufficient things manifest. When conditions are no longer sufficient things withdraw. They wait until the moment is right for them to manifest again.

When we are caught in notions, rituals, and the outer forms of the practice, not only can we not receive and embody the spirit of our tradition, we become an obstacle for the true values of the tradition to be transmitted. We lose sight of the true needs and actual suffering of people, and the teaching and practice, which were intended to relieve suffering, now cause suffering. Narrow, fundamentalist, and dogmatic practices always alienate people, especially those who are suffering.

We do not have to look for God, we do not have to look for our ultimate dimension or nirvana, because we are nirvana, we are God.

You can sit down with that fearful child inside and be gentle with him or her. You might say something like this: "Dear little child, I am your adult self. I would like to tell you that we are no longer a baby, helpless and vulnerable. We have strong hands and strong feet; we can very well defend ourselves. So there is no reason why we have to continue to be fearful anymore.

The moment you wake up, right away, you can smile. That's a smile of enlightenment. You are aware that a new day is beginning, that life is offering you twenty-four brand-new hours to live, and that that's the most precious of gifts.

Suffering has many faces. If we discover the roots of one suffering, we are at the same time discovering the roots of others.

Compassion is born from understanding suffering. We all should learn to embrace our own suffering, to listen to it deeply, and to have a deep look into its nature.

Resilient trees can weather a violent storm because their roots are deep and firm.

If you have the impression that you know the other person inside and out, you are wrong. Are you sure that you even know yourself? Every person is a world to explore.

When we feed and support our own happiness, we are nourishing our ability to love. That's why to love means to learn the art of nourishing our happiness.

we must speak carefully so that we and our listeners do not get stuck in words or concepts. It is our duty to transcend words and concepts to be able to encounter reality.

Work is only a part of life. But work is life only when done in mindfulness. Otherwise, one becomes like the person "who lives as though dead.

Waking up this morning I smile.        Twenty-four brand-new hours are before me.        I vow to live them deeply and learn to look at everything around me with the eyes of compassion.

As long as fear is in us, happiness cannot be perfect.

Anywhere we go, we will have our self with us; we cannot escape ourselves.

The reality is that we are safe and we have the capacity to enjoy the wonders of life in the present moment. When we recognize that our suffering is based on images instead of current reality, then living happily in the present moment becomes possible right away.

Be an island unto yourself. Take refuge in yourself and not in anything else.

All the wonders of life are already here. They're calling you. If you can listen to them, you will be able to stop running. What you need, what we all need, is silence. Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of life to be heard. Then you can begin to live your life authentically and deeply.

Discussing God is not the best use of our energy. If we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch God not as a concept but as a living reality. In Buddhism, we never talk about nirvana, because nirvana means the extinction of all notions, concepts, and speech. We practice by touching mindfulness in ourselves through sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindful eating, and so on.

Mindful breathing is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home.

Life waits patiently for true heroes. It is dangerous when those aspiring to be heroes cannot wait until they find themselves.

The Buddha said this: The object of your practice should first of all be yourself. Your love for the other, your ability to love another person, depends on your ability to love yourself. If you are not able to take care of yourself, if you are not able to accept yourself, how could you accept another person and how could you love him or her?