Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

If we sit there and allow the negative thinking connected to past experiences to come up, we are eating the toxic matter of consciousness. Many of us sit and think, and the more we think, the more angry, upset, and in despair we become.

The Buddha once told the monastics to look up at the sky at night to see the moon, and he asked them whether they saw how great the moon's happiness was as it traveled in the vast open space.

Before we can make deep changes in our lives, we have to look into our diet, our way of consuming. We have to live in such a way that we stop consuming the things that poison us and intoxicate us. Then, we will have the strength to allow the best in us to arise, and we will no longer be victims of anger, of frustration.

Writing a letter is a form of meditation practice.

As long as you continue to compare, you suffer from the fear of coming up short; and, even worse, you keep yourself trapped in a constant, painful delusion of isolation and alienation.

We have no other ground. We will receive the fruits of any act we have done, whether wholesome or unwholesome.

The peaceful life of the monastery, where true brotherhood was possible, was a small oasis in the midst of the suffering of war.

The orange tree took time to create this masterpiece.

Love is not a kind of prison. True love gives us a lot of space.

Hugging meditation is something to practice with people you love and trust, particularly if you have been upset with each other. To begin, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and visualize yourself and your beloved three hundred years from now.

Mindfulness is the opposite of this tendency. We must invite these things up into our mind consciousness every day and tell them, "My dear, I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of my fear.

I do not think there is that much difference between Christians and Buddhists. Most of the boundaries we have created between our two traditions are artificial. Truth has no boundaries. Our differences may be mostly differences in emphasis.

My temple followed the Zen tradition; therefore every one of us from the highest monk to the newest member equally followed the principle of no work, no food.

A flower is not a flower. It is made only of non-flower elements — sunshine, clouds, time, space, earth, minerals, gardeners, and so on. A true flower contains the whole universe. If we return any one of these non-flower elements to its source, there will be no flower. That is why we can say, "A rose is not a rose. That is why it is an authentic rose." We have to remove our concept of rose if we want to touch the real rose.

Buddhism is not a collection of views. It is a practice to help us eliminate wrong views.

Angry in the ultimate dimension I close my eyes and look deeply. Three hundred years from now Where will you be and where shall I be?

We all worked, but we didn't work all day. There was time for us to study the sutras, practice writing, listen to the teachings given by our teacher, chant, and meditate. Most important was meditation. My teacher taught that meditation was the door to understanding, and the career of monks and nuns.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.

Rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd" (Nothing is created, nothing is lost).

When you produce a thought of hatred, anger, or despair, it harms you, and it also harms the world. None of us wants to be continued like that. We all want to produce thoughts of compassion, understanding, and love.

Do we really want to realize our greatest aspiration? If we truly want to accomplish our aspirations, then why would we go along a path that goes against them, and leaves us without enough energy to practice and help ourselves and others?

Practicing mindfulness enables us to become a real person. When we are a real person, we see real people around us, and life is present in all its richness.

the first six months, try only to build up your power of concentration, to create an inner calmness and serene joy. You will shake off anxiety, enjoy total rest, and quiet your mind. You will be refreshed and gain a broader, clearer view of things, and deepen and strengthen the love in yourself. And you will be able to respond more helpfully to all around you.

Con el uso hábil del concepto de vacuidad, podemos obtener la visión profunda de ella. Cuando el fuego se manifieste, consumirá la cerilla; cuando la visión profunda se manifieste, destruirá el concepto de vacuidad.