Thien Nhat Hanh Quotes

Committed to Improving the State of Every Heart. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A true bodhisattva is one who sees no demarcations between organic and non-organic, self and non-self, living beings and non-living beings, bodhisattvas and non-bodhisattvas. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

There is no fire like lust, no vise like hatred, no trap like delusion, and no galloping river like craving. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a world that honors the servant, but has forgotten the gift. - ALBERT EINSTEIN ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now, when will we have peace and joy? ~ Nhat Hanh

When we practice the first turning of the First Noble Truth, we recognize suffering as suffering. If we are in a difficult relationship, we recognize, "This is a difficult relationship." Our practice is to be with our suffering and take good care of it. When we practice the first turning of the Second Noble Truth, we look deeply into the nature of our suffering to see what kinds of nutriments we have been feeding it. How have we lived in the last few years, in the last few months, that has contributed to our suffering? We need to recognize and identify the nutriments we ingest and observe, "When I think like this, speak like that, listen like this, or act like that, my suffering increases." Until we begin to practice the Second Noble Truth, we tend to blame others for our unhappiness. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The most important thing is that we need to be understood. We need someone to be able to listen to us and to understand us. Then we will suffer less. ~ Nhat Hanh

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. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Anger is like a flame blazing up and consuming our self-control, making us think, say, and do things that we will probably regret later. ~ Nhat Hanh

Cultivate solidity. You are somebody; you are something. You are a positive factor for your family, for society, for the world. You have to recover yourself, to be yourself. You have to become solid again. You can practice solidity in everyday life. Every step, every breath you take should help you become more solid. When you have solidity, freedom is there too. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Some people do not even want to look at a person when the person is alive, but when the person dies they write eloquent obituaries and make offerings of flowers. At that point the person has died and cannot really enjoy the fragrance of the flowers anymore. If we really understood and remembered that life was impermanent, we would do everything we could to make the other person happy right here and right now. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

For me, there is no happiness without freedom, and freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

New cells are born everyday and old cells die, but they have neither funerals nor birthdays. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Suppose you want something very much. You think that if you don't get that something, happiness won't be possible. You get caught in that idea. But, in reality, there are people who have that thing who are miserable, and there people who don't have that thing who are perfectly happy. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When you see the suffering inside yourself, you can see the suffering in the other person, and you can see your part, your responsibility, in creating the suffering in yourself and in the other person. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive - that you can touch the miracle of being alive - then that is a kind of enlightenment. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

If you can feel that Mother Earth is in you, and you are Mother Earth, then you are not any longer afraid to die because the earth is not dying. Like a wave appears and disappears and appears again. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

In a place where there is something that can be distinguished by signs, in that place there is deception. If you can see the signless nature of signs, then you can see the Tathagata. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Bhikkhus, the teaching is merely a vehicle to describe the truth. Don't mistake it for the truth itself. A finger pointing at the moon is not
the moon. The finger is needed to know where to look for the moon, but if you mistake the finger for the moon itself, you will never know
the real moon.
The teaching is like a raft that carries you to the other shore. The raft is needed, but the raft is not the other shore. An intelligent person
would not carry the raft around on his head after making it across to the other shore. Bhikkhus, my teaching is the raft which can help you
cross to the other shore beyond birth and death. Use the raft to cross to the other shore, but don't hang onto it as your property. Do not
become caught in the teaching. You must be able to let it go. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Imagine one atom of that speck of dust, with electrons traveling around its nucleus at 180,000 miles per second. It is very exciting. To return to a speck of dust with be quite an exciting adventure! ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Because we know that our feelings are ourselves, we do not neglect or overrule them. We embrace them affectionately in the arms of mindfulness, as a mother embraces her newborn child when it cries. A mother embraces the child with all her love for the child to feel comforted and stop crying. Mindfulness nourished by conscious breathing takes the feelings in its arms, becomes one with them, calms and transforms them. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Nourish yourself every day with the wonderful things that life has to offer you. Nourish yourself in the present moment. Walk in the kingdom of God. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness frees us of forgetfulness and dispersion and makes it possible to live fully each minute of life. Mindfulness enables us to live. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

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. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

With our faith in our community of two or more, we can go anywhere.When the three roots of faith, practice, and community support have fed us deeply, then we will be solid both alone and in our relationships. We will not just survive; we will flourish. Often in our daily lives, we are just focused on survival. But fidelity is not a question of survival. It is one of vitality. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Touching the present moment, we realize that the present is made of the past and is creating the future. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Look deeply at your anger, as you would look at your own child. Don't reject it or hate it. The point of meditation is not to turn yourself into a battlefield, one side opposing the other. Conscious breathing soothes and calms the anger, and mindfulness penetrates it. Anger is just an energy, and all energies can be transformed. Meditation is the art of using one kind of energy to transform another. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness does not come from consumption of things. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The second element of true love is compassion. Compassion is the capacity to understand the suffering in oneself and in the other person. If you understand your own suffering, you can help him to understand his suffering. Understanding suffering brings compassion and relief. You can transform your own suffering and help transform the suffering of the other person with the practice of mindfulness and looking deeply. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The more freedom you have, the more happiness you have. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair, there is no hope. ~ Nhat Hanh

Real love means loving kindness and compassion, the kind of love that does not have any conditions. ~ Nhat Hanh

I realize that many elements of the Buddhist teaching can be found in Christianity, Judaism, Islam. I think if Buddhism can help, it is the concrete methods of practice. ~ Nhat Hanh

The essential discipline of following one's breath to nourish and maintain calm mindfulness, even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, a rare combination of mystic, poet, scholar, and activist. His luminous presence and the simple, compassionate clarity of his writings have touched countless lives. ~ Joanna Macy

If we are not peaceful, if we are not feeling well in our skin, we cannot demonstrate real peace, and we cannot raise our children well either. ~ Nhat Hanh

Your anger. And when someone makes you suffer, go back and ~ Thich Nhat Hanh