Quotes from Thích Nh?t H?nh

When you practice looking deeply, you see your true nature of no birth, no death; no being, no non-being; no coming, no going; no same, no different. When you see this, you are free from fear. You are free from craving and free from jealousy. No fear is the ultimate joy. When you have the insight of no fear, you are free. And like the great beings, you ride serenely on the waves of birth and death.

Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.

Nonhuman animals instinctively know that stopping is the best way to get healed.

failures are not your own self. See to it that you are free from them. Only when you can relinquish them can you really be free and no longer assailed by them.

Sit in such a way that you feel light, relaxed, happy, and free. Many of us have so many anxieties and projects that weigh heavily on us. We carry our past sorrows and anger and they become a kind of baggage that makes life heavy. Sitting meditation is a way to practice letting go of the things we carry needlessly.

To be enlightened is always to be enlightened about something. I am enlightened about the fact that I am drinking a glass of water. I can obtain joy, peace, and happiness just because of that enlightenment. When you look at the blue sky and are aware of it, the sky becomes real, and you become real. That is enlightenment, and enlightenment brings about true life and true happiness.

To be and not to be are just two ideas opposing each other. But they are not reality, and they do not describe reality.

As soon as we pay attention to our breath, as we breathe in, these three things—body, breath, and mind—come together.

person always deserves your full respect. Reverence is the nature

He realized that body and mind formed one reality which could not be separated. The peace and comfort of the body were directly related to the peace and comfort of the mind. To abuse the body was to abuse the mind.

The gift of truth is the highest gift. The taste of truth is the sweetest taste. The joy of truth is the greatest joy. The extinction of craving is the end of suffering.

Every minute can be a holy, sacred minute. Where do you seek the spiritual? You seek the spiritual in every ordinary thing that you do every day. Sweeping the floor, watering the vegetables, and washing the dishes become holy and sacred if mindfulness is there. With mindfulness and concentration, everything becomes spiritual.

The son needs the father to have access to his source, and the father needs the son to have access to the future and the infinite.

We can't wait to be happy until we remove one hundred percent of suffering. That moment will never exist.

Now I see that if one doesn't know how to die, one can hardly know how to live—because death is a part of life.

Where there is anger, apply loving kindness. Where there is evil, offer good. Where there is stinginess, be generous. Where there are lies, be truthful.

Whoever is not tied to possessions, clinging neither to body nor mind, is never in bondage.

Can there be joy and laughter when always the world is ablaze? Enshrouded in darkness, should you not seek light?

Like a beautifully brightly colored flower without fragrance, is the well-spoken word without action.

Everything—including love, hate, and suffering—needs food to continue. If suffering continues, it's because we keep feeding our suffering.

If you don't understand and you love, that is not love; it is something else.

Sitting in the lotus position or lying down on your back, begin breathing into your belly. Keep your mind entirely on the belly as it rises with every in-breath and falls with each out-breath. Breathe deeply, maintaining full attention on your abdomen. Don't think. Stop all your ruminating, and just focus on the breathing.

Maybe we too are living like dead people. We move about life in our own corpse because we are not touching life in depth. We live a kind of artificial life, with lots of plans, lots of worries and anger. Never are we able to establish ourselves in the here and now and live our lives deeply. We have to wake up! We have to make it possible for the moment of awareness to manifest. This is the practice that will save us—this is the revolution.

A lotus for you. A Buddha to be.