Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Famous Quotes By Thich Nhat Hanh
Can there be joy and laughter when always the world is ablaze? Enshrouded in darkness, should you not seek light? — Thich Nhat Hanh
Things cannot stay the same because they are influenced by everything else, everything that is not itself. — Thich Nhat Hanh
I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight ... I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Love, understanding, courage, and acceptance are expressions of the life of Jesus, — Thich Nhat Hanh
It's like when you're flying in an airplane. Whenever severe turbulence comes along, the seatbelt keeps you from getting thrown around the cabin. Mindful breathing is your seatbelt in everyday life - it keeps you safe here in the present moment. If you know how to breathe, how to sit calmly and quietly, how to do walking meditation, then you have your seatbelt and you're always safe. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Nonviolent action, born of the awareness of suffering and nurtured by love, is the most effective way to confront adversity. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Getting rid of the concept of self is the work of all meditators, because suffering is born from this concept. — Thich Nhat Hanh
They persistently refused to support either armed party and believed that both sides were but the reflection of one reality, and the true enemies were not people, but ideology, hatred, and ignorance. — 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
ALTHOUGH I DON'T PROFESS TO BE NORMAL, I AM HUMAN AS ARE ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE I WORK WITH, AND SOMETIMES EVEN I FORGET THAT."
-Violent Crimes Investigator Flagstaff Arizona — 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
Attachment to the false view of self means belief in the presence of unchanging entities which exist on their own. To break through this false view is to be liberated from every sort of fear, pain, and anxiety. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We have to look deeply at things in order to see. When a swimmer enjoys the clear water of the river, he or she should also be able to be the river. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Many of us slog through life without conscious awareness or intention. We set ourselves a course and we barrel ahead, without stopping to ask whether this path is fulfilling our most important goals. That's partly because many of us believe that happiness is not possible in the here and now. We think we need to struggle now so that we will be happy in the future. So we postpone happiness and try to run into the future and attain the conditions of happiness that we don't have now. — Thich Nhat Hanh
You listen not for the purpose of judging, criticizing or analyzing. You listen only to help the other person to express himself and find some relief from his suffering. — Thich Nhat Hanh
To be a friend means to offer happiness. If love doesn't offer happiness, if it makes the other person cry all the time, then it's not love; it's the opposite. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Without reason, there is no concentration. Without concentration, there is no reason. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Being in touch with oneself is the meaning of meditation, to be aware of what is going on in your body, in your feelings, in your mind. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Home is the place where loneliness disappears. When we're home, we feel warm, comfortable, safe, fulfilled. — Thich Nhat Hanh
There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, "Where are you going?"and the first man replies, "I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running,and it has become a habit. We struggle all the time, even during our sleep. We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others. We have to learn the art of stopping. — Thich Nhat Hanh
An oak tree is an oak tree. That is all it has to do. If an oak tree is less than an oak tree, then we are all in trouble. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Practicing meditation, we can generate the energies of mindfulness and concentration. These energies will lead us back to the insight that nothing is really born or dies. We can truly remove our fear of death. When we understand that we cannot be destroyed, we are liberated from fear. It is a great relief. Nonfear is the ultimate joy. If — Thich Nhat Hanh
We tend to think of nourishment only as what we take in through our mouths, but what we consume with our eyes, our ears, our noses, our tongues, and our bodies is also food. The conversations going on around us, and those we participate in, are also food. Are we consuming and creating the kind of food that is healthy for us and helps us grow? — Thich Nhat Hanh
What we lack is not an ideology or a doctrine that will save the world. What we lack is mindfulness of what we are, of what our situation really is. — 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
The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. — Thich Nhat Hanh
In the past, we probably did suffer from one thing or another. It may even have felt like a kind of hell. If we remember that suffering, not letting ourselves get carried away by it, we can use it to remind ourselves, "How lucky I am right now. I'm not in that situation. I can be happy. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Life waits patiently for true heroes. It is dangerous when those aspiring to be heroes cannot wait until they find themselves. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We have many kinds of energies in us, including the energies of anger, violence, and craving. But compassion is also a very strong energy. — Thich Nhat Hanh
So many individuals, children, couples, and families have been destroyed by sexual misconduct. To practice the Third Precept is to heal ourselves and heal our society. This is mindful living. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Health is the highest prize. Contentment is the greatest wealth. A loyal friend is the best relative. Nirvana is supreme bliss. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do? — Thich Nhat Hanh
When an unpleasant feeling, physical or mental, arises in him, the wise man does not worry, complain, weep, pound his chest, pull his hair, torture his body and mind, or faint. He calmly observes his feeling and is aware that it is only a feeling. He knows that he is not the feeling, and he is not caught by the feeling. Therefore, the pain cannot bind him. When he has a painful physical feeling, he knows that there is a painful physical feeling. He does not lose his calmness, does not worry, does not fear, and does not complain. Thus the feeling remains a painful physical feeling, and it is not able to grow and ravage his whole being. — Thich Nhat Hanh
You cannot love properly and deeply without mindfulness. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Without suffering, there's no happiness. So we shouldn't discriminate against the mud. We have to learn how to embrace and cradle our own suffering and the suffering of the world, with a lot of tenderness. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The suffering and the quarreling in a family don't begin with unkindness, they begin with one person's pain and stress. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Just as rust produced by iron corrodes iron, so is the violator of moral law destroyed by his own wrong action. — Thich Nhat Hanh
[A]ll the methods in the search for truth should be looked on as means rather than as ends in themselves or as absolute truth. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The one contains the many and the many contains the one. Without the one, there cannot be the many. Without the many, there cannot be the one. — Thich Nhat Hanh
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. — Thich Nhat Hanh
This is the nonduality principle of Buddhism: there is nothing to throw away. If a person has never suffered, he or she will never be able to know happiness. If a person does not know what hunger is, he or she will never know the joy of eating every day. Thus pain and suffering are a necessary condition of our understanding, of our happiness. — Thich Nhat Hanh
If we study it is not to store up knowledge but to deepen our understanding. Our understanding, in turn, can only deepen as we put it into action. — Thich Nhat Hanh
In what spirit is this explanation given? Without being caught up in signs, just according to things as they are, without agitation. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We are very afraid of being powerless. But we have the power to look deeply at our fears, and then fear cannot control us. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We have to restore the meaning of the word 'love.' We have been using it in a careless way. When we say, 'I love hamburgers,' we are not talking about love. We are talking about our appetite, our desire for hamburgers. We should not dramatize our speech and misuse words like that. We make words like 'love' sick that way. We have to make an effort to heal our language by using words carefully. the word 'love' is a beautiful word. We have to restore its meaning (31). — Thich Nhat Hanh
it is always possible to practice "I have arrived, I am home." I have run all my life; I am not going to run anymore; now I am determined to stop and really live my life. When — Thich Nhat Hanh
If you take good care of the present, there is no need to worry about the future. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Find joy in the extinction of desires. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The environment in which we live and work plays a very important role in this practice. When we choose wholesome living and working environments (and that includes the things we hear, see, smell, and touch), they help us get in touch with what's beautiful and healthy in us and in the world, and we will be nourished, healed, and transformed. We should do everything we can to choose - or create - wholesome environments for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. If you are a political leader, if you work in a ministry of culture, or if you are a teacher or a parent, please reflect on this point. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The more freedom you have, the more happiness you have. — Thich Nhat Hanh
When we succeed in surviving strong emotions, we experience a more solid peace of mind. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The energy of mindfulness has the element of friendship and loving kindness in it. — Thich Nhat Hanh
You are the foundation of any change that will happen in your society. A student asked Thay, "There are so many urgent problems. What should I do?" Thay answered calmly, "Take one thing, and do it very deeply and carefully, and you will be doing everything at the same time." Knowing — Thich Nhat Hanh
I am life without boundaries. The decaying of this body does not mean the end of me. I am not limited to this body. — Thich Nhat Hanh
When a person's speech is full of anger, it is because he or she suffers deeply. — Thich Nhat Hanh
When there is mist on the mountains, it is beautiful, and when there is no mist, it is also beautiful. All four seasons are beautiful. [...] There is nothing to stop you from being in touch with life in the present moment. The question is, Do you have eyes that can see the sunset, feet that can touch the earth? [...]
Don't think that happiness will be possible only when conditions around you become perfect. Happiness lies in your own heart. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Letting go takes a lot of courage sometimes. But once you let go, happiness comes very quickly. You won't have to go around search for it. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we'll also have a lot more joy in living. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The original reality of Amitabha is our own Dharma body, It shines out brightly everywhere, in the South, North, East, and West, It is like the autumn moon that lies in the high, vast sky, In the silence of the night its brilliance shines far over the ocean. — Thich Nhat Hanh
If we have too many worries, fears, and doubts, we have no room for living and loving. We need to practice letting go. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Anapana means breath and sati means mindfulness. Tang Hoi translated it as "Guarding the Mind." The Anapanasati Sutra, that is, is the sutra on using one's breath to maintain mindfulness. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes it is better not to talk about art by using the word "art". If we just act with awareness and integrity, our art will flower, and we don't have to talk about it at all. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death. — Thich Nhat Hanh
You already are everything you are seeking. Do not try to become something else. — Thich Nhat Hanh
What we need are people who are capable [...] of not taking sides so that they can embrace the whole of reality. — Thich Nhat Hanh
At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Speech: 1. Tell the truth. Don't lie or turn the truth upside down. 2. Don't exaggerate. 3. Be consistent. This means no double-talk: speaking about something in one way to one person and in an opposite way to another for selfish or manipulative reasons. — Thich Nhat Hanh
In the process of meditation, fetters are undone; internal blocks of suffering such as resentment, fear, anger, despair, and hatred are transformed; relationships with humans and nature become easier; freedom and joy can penetrate us. We become aware of what is inside and around us; — Thich Nhat Hanh
Fools do not praise generosity, the wise rejoice in generosity. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Breathing in, there is only the present moment.
Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment. — Thich Nhat Hanh
It is possible to live twenty-four hours a day in a state of love. Every movement, every glance, every thought, and every word can be infused with love. — Thich Nhat Hanh
We can recognize happiness only when we remember the times of suffering! — Thich Nhat Hanh
People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena. To see one in all and all in one is to break through the great barrier which narrows one's perception of reality, a barrier which Buddhism calls the attachment to the false view of self.
Attachment to the false view of self means belief in the presence of unchanging entities which exist on their own. — Thich Nhat Hanh
I inherit the results of my acts of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Earth will be safe when we feel in us enough safety. — Thich Nhat Hanh
In a family, if there is one person who practices mindfulness, the entire family will be more mindful. Because of the presence of one member who lives in mindfulness, the entire family is reminded to live in mindfulness. If in one class, one student lives in mindfulness, the entire class is influenced. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Our forgetfulness of its sacred nature, which is also our own sacred nature. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Time passes quickly, Great King. If I don't use the strength and energy I now possess as a young man, old age will arrive too soon and I will feel deep regret. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Nonhuman animals instinctively know that stopping is the best way to get healed. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Give up the lesser comforts for the greater happiness. — Thich Nhat Hanh
He who judges a situation impulsively is not righteous. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulness isn't something we practice only in the meditation hall; we also practice in the kitchen, in the garden, or when we're on the telephone, driving the car, or washing the dishes. — Thich Nhat Hanh
To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The Essential Discipline for Daily Use, written by the Buddhist monk Doc The from Bao Son pagoda, — Thich 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
Each morning when we wake up to life we see that we have a gift of twenty-four brand new hours. If — Thich Nhat Hanh
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything. — Thich Nhat Hanh
If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Unwholesome action, hurting self, comes easily. Wholesome action, healing self, takes effort. — Thich Nhat Hanh
If monks and nuns do not cherish their time of practice, they will have nothing to offer the world. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Equanimity means to let go, not to abandon. — Thich Nhat Hanh
You have an appointment with life, an appointment that is in the here and now. — Thich Nhat Hanh
The kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now. But the question is whether you are available to the kingdom. Our practice is to make ourselves ready for the kingdom so that it can manifest in the here and the now. You don't need to die in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, you have to be truly alive in order to do so. — Thich Nhat Hanh