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Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
To take good care of ourselves, we must go back and take care of the wounded child inside of us. You have to practice going back to your wounded child every day. You have to embrace him or her tenderly, like a big brother or a big sister. . . .
When you climb a beautiful mountain, invite your little child within to climb with you. When you contemplate the beautiful sunset, invite him or her to enjoy it with you. If you do that for a few weeks or a few months, the wounded child in you will be healed. Mindfulness is the energy that can help us to do this.
Taking care of our wounded child
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddha Mind, Buddha Body
You might think that your body is your individual possession, but your body belongs to the world as well. Suppose you are a driver and your safety depends on your optic nerve. You think of your optic nerves as something strictly individual; they belong to you and you are the one who profits from them and is responsible for them. But if you are a bus driver, all of us who sit in your bus rely on your optic nerves very much. Our lives depend on you. That is why to say, "It's my own life!" is a bit na
Your body belongs to the world as well
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
In old times, servants of kings and queens always had to have a mirror, because whenever anyone was presented to the emperor, they had to be perfect in their appearance. So for the sake of formal etiquette, people would carry a pouch with a small mirror inside. Try it. Carry a mirror with you and look at it to see what state you are in. After you have breathed in and out a few times, smiling at yourself, the tension will be gone, and you will obtain some relief.
Carry a mirror with you
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
When firemen come to help put out a fire, they have to have the right equipment. They must have ladders, water, and the kind of clothing that can protect them from fire. They have to know many ways to protect themselves and to put the fire out. When you listen deeply to someone who suffers, you step into a zone of fire. There is a fire of suffering, of anger burning in the person you are listening to. If you are not well equipped, you cannot help and you might become a victim of the fire in the other person. This is why you need equipment.
Your equipment here is compassion, which can be nourished and kept alive with the practice of mindful breathing.
You must have the right equipment
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
You yourself must also figure out a way of living that will bring you harmony and peace. You have to sign a peace treaty with yourself, because very often you are torn apart by the war and conflict inside you. You are at war because you lack wisdom, you lack insight. With understanding, you can restore peace and harmony in yourself and in your relationships with others. You will know how to act and how to react with intelligence so that you are no longer in a war zone, a zone of conflict. If there is peace and harmony in you, the other person will recognize it, and peace and harmony between both of you will be restored quickly. You will be much more pleasant, much easier to be with, and that will help the other person tremendously.
Sign a peace treaty with yourself
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddha Mind, Buddha Body
The practice of Touching the Earth is to return to the Earth, to our roots, to our ancestors, and to recognize that we are not alone but connected to a whole stream of spiritual and blood ancestors. We are their continuation, and with them we will continue in future generations. We touch the earth to let go of the idea that we are separate and to remind us that we are the Earth and part of life.
When we touch the earth we become small, with the humility and simplicity of a young child. When we touch the Earth we become great, like an ancient tree sending her roots deep into the earth, drinking from the source of all waters. When we touch the earth, we breathe in all the strength and stability of the earth, and breathe out our suffering — our feelings of anger, hatred, fear, inadequacy, and grief.
We join our palms to form a lotus bud and we gently lower ourselves to the ground so that all four limbs and our forehead are resting comfortably on the floor. While we are Touching the Earth we turn our palms face up, showing our openness to the Three Jewels — the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Even after practicing . . . one or two times, we can already release a lot of our suffering and feeling of alienation and reconcile with our ancestors, parents, children, friends.
The practice of Touching the Earth
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddha Mind, Buddha Body
When by chance the mental formation of anger is watered and manifests in your mind consciousness, you suffer, and now you try to use another mental formation to come and to replace it. . . . If the CD you're playing isn't good, you just stop it and put in another CD, because we have many beautiful CDs down in our store consciousness to choose from. So the second practice is to change the CD because if we allow the previous CD, or mental formation, to stay for long, then that will continue to water the negative things and bring these things up again. . . .
The third practice is to water the seeds that are wholesome and beautiful in your store consciousness, helping them to have a chance to manifest: the seed of compassion, the seed of love, the seed of hope, the seed of loving kindness, the seed of joy; you do have these seeds. So arrange your life and practice in such a way that these seeds can be watered several times a day in order for them to manifest. We can do that as a person, we can do that as a couple, we can do that as a Sangha, helping each other to water the wholesome seeds so that they can manifest on the screen of mind consciousness. When the wholesome seeds manifest, joy, freedom, and happiness become possible.
When the mental formation of anger is watered
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddha Mind, Buddha Body
Looking at the forest you are aware that the trees are providing oxygen for you, and then you see yourself as the forest, as the trees, because without them you can't breathe. You see that the trees and the forest are part of your body. And in big cities you always have a central park. The central park in the city is our lungs, the collective lungs of everyone, of every citizen, otherwise we wouldn't have enough oxygen to breathe. We see it's very crucial that we have a park. That park is our lungs outside of this body.
I know there is a heart inside, and if my heart inside doesn't function, I will die right away. Therefore, I try to do everything I can to protect and to preserve my heart. But when I look at the red sun, and breathe in and out, I see that the sun is another heart of mine. If the sun stops operating I will die right away. That is why I consider the sun as my heart. When you practice like this, you see yourself not limited by the skin of your body. You see that the environment is you. . . . Taking good care of the environment is taking care of yourself.
Taking good care of the environment is taking care of you
Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping Into Freedom
Cleaning the Meditation hall
As I clean
this fresh, calm room,
boundless joy
and energy arise!
As I clean boundless joy and energy arise!
Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping Into Freedom
Washing Vegetables
In these vegetables
I see a green sun.
All dharmas join together
to make life possible.
All dharmas join together to make life possible.