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Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
To me, if you live deeply the teaching of Jesus, everything you say and do in your daily life will be deeply spiritual.
If you live deeply the teaching of Jesus
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
No single tradition monopolizes the truth. We must glean the best values of all traditions and work together to remove the tensions between traditions in order to give peace a chance. We need to join together and look deeply for ways to help people get rerooted. We need to propose the best physical, mental, and spiritual health plan for our nation and for the earth.
We must glean the best values of all traditions
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
The practice of taking refuge can be done every day, several times a day. Whenever you feel agitated, sad, afraid, or worried, you can go back to your island of mindfulness. If you practice when you are not experiencing difficulty, it will be easier to go back to your island of self when the need is great. Don't wait until you are hit by a wave to go back to your island. Practice every day by living mindfully each moment of your life, and the practice will become a habit. Then when a difficult moment arrives, it will be natural and easy to take refuge. Walking, breathing, sitting, eating, and drinking tea in mindfulness are all practices of taking refuge. This is not a matter of belief. It is very grounded in experience.
The practice of taking refuge
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
The absence of true experience brings forth intolerance and a lack of understanding. Organized religions, therefore, must create conditions that are favorable for true practice and true experience to flower. Authentic ecumenical practices help different schools within a tradition learn from one another and restore the best aspects of the tradition that may have been eroded.
Create conditions that are favorable for true practice and true experience to flower.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
Real dialogue makes us more open-minded, tolerant, and understanding. Buddhists and Christians both like to share their wisdom and experience. Sharing in this way is important and should be encouraged. But sharing does not mean wanting others to abandon their own spiritual roots and embrace your faith. That would be cruel. People are stable and happy only when they are firmly rooted in their own tradition and culture. To uproot them would make them suffer.
Real dialogue makes us more open-minded
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love
When you touch the lemon tree in early spring, you touch the lemons that will be there in three or four months. You can do that because the lemons are already there. You can touch the lemon tree in the historical dimension or the ultimate dimension; it is up to you. The practice of the Lotus Sutra is to touch yourself, the leaf, and the tree in the ultimate dimension.
When you touch the lemon tree in early spring
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cultivating the Mind of Love
Notions and concepts can be useful if we learn how to use them skillfully, without getting caught by them. Zen master Lin Chi said, "If you see the Buddha on your way, kill him." He means if you have an idea of the Buddha that prevents you from having a direct experience of the Buddha, you are caught by that object of your perception, and the only way for you to free yourself and experience the Buddha is to kill your notion of the Buddha. This is the secret of the practice.
Don't get getting caught by notions and concepts.
Thich Nhat Hanh, For a Future to Be Possible
Happiness is, first of all, feeling understood. "I am grateful because you have proved that you understand me. While I was having difficulty and remained awake deep into the night, you took care of me. You showed me that my well-being is your own well-being. You did the impossible in order to bring about my well-being. You took care of me in a way that no one else in the world could have. For that I am grateful to you."
Happiness is feeling understood
Thich Nhat Hanh, For a Future to Be Possible
If you offer the young people of that country the opportunity to learn your democratic ways of governing by giving them scholarships to come to your country, that would be a good investment for peace in the future. If you had done that thirty years ago, the other country might be democratic now, and you would not have to bomb them or send in troops to "liberate" them. This is just one example of how looking deeply and learning can help find ways to do things that are more in line with loving-kindness.
A good investment for peace in the future.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Anger
Some of us keep a pebble in our pocket, a beautiful pebble we picked up in the front yard. We washed it very carefully and always carry it with us. Every time we put our hands in our pocket, we touch the small pebble, and hold it gently. We practice mindful breathing and we feel very peaceful. When anger arises, the pebble becomes the dharma. Just holding the pebble, breathing in and breathing out calmly smiling, can help tremendously. It sounds a little bit childish, but this practice is very useful. When you are in school, at work, or out shopping, you have no reminders to bring you back to yourself, So the little pebble serves as your teacher, as your fellow practitioner-it is a bell of mindfulness, allowing you to pause and return to your breathing.
Many people invoke the name of Jesus or Buddha Amitabha with a rosary. The pebble is a kind of rosary, a reminder that your teacher is always with you, your dharma brothers and sister are always with you. It will help you to go back to your breathing, allow love to be born in you, and keep that love in you alive. It can help keep enlightenment alive in you.
The little pebble