Quotations Search Results
We found 528 matching quotes
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, we can see and listen deeply, and the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy. When our beautiful child comes up to us and smiles, we are completely there for her.
When our beautiful child comes and smiles
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
For dialogue to be fruitful, we need to live deeply our own tradition and, at the same time, listen deeply to others. Through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, we become free, able to see the beauty and values in our own and others' tradition.
We need to live deeply our own tradition and, at the same time, listen deeply to others.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
"Looking deeply" means observing something or someone with so much concentration that the distinction between observer and observed disappears. The result is insight into the true nature of the object. When we look into the heart of a flower, we see clouds, sunshine, minerals, time, the earth, and everything else in the cosmos in it.
The distinction between observer and observed disappears
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love
Your every look, smile, and word reaches faraway universes and influences every living and non-living being in the cosmos. Everything is touching everything else. Everything is penetrating everything else.
Everything is touching everything else
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
The Kingdom of God is also said to be like a treasure that someone finds and hides in a field. Then, in his joy, he sells all he has and buys that field. If you are capable of touching that treasure, you know that nothing can be compared to it. It is the source of true joy, true peace, and true happiness. Once you have touched it, you realize that all the things you have considered to be conditions for your happiness are nothing. They may even be obstacles for your own happiness, and you can get rid of them without regret. We are all looking for the conditions for our own happiness, and we know what things have made us suffer. But we have not yet seen or touched the treasure of happiness. When we touch it, even once, we know that we have the capacity of letting go of everything else.
The Kingdom of God is said to be like a treasure
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love
Whenever I touch a flower, I touch the sun and yet I do not get burned. When I touch the flower, I touch a cloud without flying to the sky. When I touch the flower, I touch my consciousness, your consciousness, and the great planet Earth at the same time. This is the Avatamaska realm. The miracle is possible because of insight into the nature of interbeing.
I touch the sun and yet I do not get burned
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love
Looking deeply at everything, we see the nature of interbeing. We see that the president of our country is composed of non-president elements, including economics, politics, hatred, violence, love, and so on. Looking deeply into the person who is the president, we see the reality of our country and the world. Everything concerning our civilization can be found in him — our capacity to love, to hate, everything. One thing contains every other thing in it. We deserve our government and our president, because they reflect the reality of the country — the way we think and feel, and the way we live our daily lives.
One thing contains every other thing in it.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Finding Our True Home
There was an elderly lady who recited the name of the Buddha dutifully. Every morning she would light incense and she had a bell and wooden fish as is proper. She had been reciting the Buddha's name like that for more than ten years but her personality had not changed one bit; she was an extremely bad-tempered lady and all her neighbors were wary of her unskillful speech.
A man in the village wanted to teach her a lesson. One morning when she was before her shrine, he came and stood at the gate and called her name "Mrs. Tu, Mrs. Tu!"
Hearing this, she grumbled to herself: "If you have come here, why don't you just come in, instead of standing out there shouting?" She began to grow very irritated. She invited the bell and the wooden fish as loudly as she could and she recited the name of the Buddha at the top of her voice in order to send the message that she was reciting the name of the Buddha and it was very impolite of her neighbor to interrupt. The neighbor, however, pretended not to hear. He just stood outside the gate and continued to call her name. In the meantime, she was trying to recite even more loudly. Both of them were shouting loudly and the neighbor persisted in pretending not to hear the recitation and to call the lady.
Finally she could bear it no longer. She pushed the bell and the wooden fish out of the way and went outside, with her hands on her hips, to reprimand him: "Don't you know that this is the time when I practice recitation of Buddha's name? Your behavior is extremely impolite and improper."
The neighbor laughed loudly and said: "Heavens above! I only called your name twenty or thirty times and it has made you so angry; but every day you call on the Buddha for a whole hour; the Buddha must be very angry with you by now." It is useless to recite the Buddha's name when there is not content.
It is useless to recite the Buddha's name
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
You have to protect yourself and your beloved ones by practicing selective watering. You say, "Darling, if you really care for me, if you really love me, please do not water the negative seeds in me every day. If you do, I'll be very unhappy, and if I'm unhappy, I'll make you unhappy. So please, please don't water the seeds of anger, intolerance, irritation, or despair in me. And I promise not to water these seeds in you . . . . I vow only to water the positive in you — the seeds of love, compassion, and understanding."
Please don't water the negative seeds in me
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Path of Emancipation
When we direct the energy of mindfulness to the part of our body that we are embracing with love and tenderness, we are doing exactly what our body needs. If a part of our body does not feel well, we have to spend more time holding it with mindfulness, with our smile. We should do this once or twice each day.
Doing exactly what our body needs