Xuyen Khong Quotes

I don't know how I got to be thirty. I don't feel thirty, the way I felt so definitely nine, and thirteen, and twenty-one. ~ Rachel Khong

Here I am, in lieu of you, collecting the moments. ~ Rachel Khong

You are in front of your brother, but your mind is on many other things, so you don't really see your brother. Maybe he is having some trouble, but you don't see it, not even when you share the same room. But mindfulness brings you there, to the present, and then you see. Train yourself all day long to bring your mind to your body and to be present with your food, your friends, your work, everything, because the more you concentrate, the deeper you will see. ~ Chan Khong

A long time ago I stopped wondering why there are so many crazy people. What surprises me now is that there are so many sane ones. ~ Rachel Khong

You repeated about how nice the day was, either because you really wanted me to know it or because you'd forgotten you already mentioned it, but all of a sudden, it didn't matter what you remembered or didn't, and the remembering--it occurred to me--was irrelevant. All that mattered was that the day was nice--was what it was. ~ Rachel Khong

I want to tell you a story. It is about a friend who lost his eyesight in a car accident. His world is entirely one of darkness, all the time. Do you know what he told me? He said that if he could see again, he would be in paradise. How I wish I could fulfill his wish. If I cannot help him, at least I can share his insight with you: Do not wait until you lose your eyesight before knowing how happy you can be just by opening your eyes. You have excellent eyes, and each time you open them a marvelous paradise of forms and colors appears. ~ Chan Khong

When I brought it up, months later, Joel said, "What are you talking about?" because he didn't remember it - he'd forgotten it completely - and it was at that point I realized that I could remember something and he could remember something different and if we built up a store of separate memories, how would that work, and would it be okay? The answer, of course, in the end, was no. ~ Rachel Khong

In Buddhism, the word "emptiness" is a translation of the Sanskrit sunyata. It means "empty of a separate self." It is not a negative or despairing term. It is a celebration of interconnectedness, of interbeing. It means nothing can exist by itself alone, that everything is inextricably interconnected with everything else. I know that I must always work to remember that I am empty of a separate self and full of the many wonders of this universe, including the generosity of my grandparents and parents, the many friends and teachers who have helped and supported me along the path, and you dear readers, without whom this book could not exist. We inter-are, and therefore we are empty of an identity that is separate from our interconnectedness. ~ Chan Khong

I knew it started being over with Joel when I'd open a bottle of wine and he wouldn't drink it.

Sharing things is how things get started, and not sharing things is how they end. ~ Rachel Khong

Today we went over to your mother's friend's house for dinner. We'd asked you to be polite, so you said, "No more, please, it's horrible thank you. ~ Rachel Khong

Lately my thing is inventing new yoga poses. The Onion is one. You make yourself very round, then peel yourself, limb by limb. ~ Rachel Khong

Together on the path of love, we can try to make a small difference in someone's life. What else is there to do? ~ Chan Khong

Here's the fear: she gave to us, and we took from her, until she disappeared. ~ Rachel Khong

Today you asked me what "Dick" meant, and while I was deciding what direction I should take, you said, "Mom said you were one. ~ Rachel Khong

What imperfect carriers of love we are, and what imperfect givers. That the reasons we can care for one another can have nothing to do with the person cared for. That it has only to do with who we were around that person - what we felt about that person. ~ Rachel Khong

As they pedalled us down the long suburban road to the Chinese town a line of French armoured cars went by, each with its jutting gun and silent officer motionless like a figurehead under the stars and the black, smooth, concave sky––trouble again probably with a private army, the Binh Xuyen, who ran the Grand Monde and the gambling halls of Cholon. This was a land of rebellious barons. It was like Europe in the Middle Ages. But what were the Americans doing here? Columbus had not yet discovered their country. ~ Graham Greene

When you hear that my body has ceased to exist, please do not feel sad. Just look deeply and see that my life and work continue in so many friends, so many young people, in their own ways and through their work. I will continue in everyone and everything I have ever touched. I have nothinng to fear and nothing to regret. ~ Chan Khong

If I were you is something I've never really understood. Why say, "If I were you"? Why say, "If I were you," when the problem is you're not me? I wish people would say, "Since I am me," followed by whatever advice it is they have. ~ Rachel Khong

What I want to know is what counted for something and what counted not at all. Now I feel like a shit for spending that time - that's the word it's convention to use: spending - on what turns out not to matter, and neglecting the things that did, and do. ~ Rachel Khong