Thich Nhat Hanh: Trending quotes (page 2)
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Touching Peace (1992), p. 1. Parallax Press ISBN 0-938077-57-0
Variant: The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.
Source: Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Quoted in Engaged Buddhist Reader: Ten Years of Engaged Buddhist Publishing (1996) by Arnold Kotler, p. 106
Source: The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology
“The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment.”
Source: Living Buddha, Living Christ
“The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water.”
Source: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
Source: Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings from the beloved Zen teacher
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
Source: Stepping into Freedom: Rules of Monastic Practice for Novices
“If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love.”
Source: Living Buddha, Living Christ
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Source: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
“My actions are my only true belongings.”
Source: Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
“Our ecology should be a deep ecology—not only deep, but universal.”
The Sun My Heart (1996)
Context: Birds' songs express joy, beauty, and purity, and evoke in us vitality and love. So many beings in the universe love us unconditionally. The trees, the water, and the air don't ask anything of us; they just love us. Even though we need this kind of love, we continue to destroy them. By destroying the animals, the air, and the trees, we are destroying ourselves. We must learn to practice unconditional love for all beings so that the animals, the air, the trees, and the minerals can continue to be themselves.
Our ecology should be a deep ecology—not only deep, but universal. There is pollution in our consciousness. Television, films, and newspapers are forms of pollution for us and our children. They sow seeds of violence and anxiety in us and pollute our consciousness, just as we destroy our environment by farming with chemicals, clear-cutting the trees, and polluting the water. We need to protect the ecology of the Earth and the ecology of the mind, or this kind of violence and recklessness will spill over into even more areas of life.
The Sun My Heart (1996)
Context: We have to remember that our body is not limited to what lies within the boundary of our skin. Our body is much more immense. We know that if our heart stops beating, the flow of our life will stop, but we do not take the time to notice the many things outside of our bodies that are equally essential for our survival. If the ozone layer around our Earth were to disappear for even an instant, we would die. If the sun were to stop shining, the flow of our life would stop. The sun is our second heart, our heart outside of our body. It gives all life on Earth the warmth necessary for existence. Plants live thanks to the sun. Their leaves absorb the sun's energy, along with carbon dioxide from the air, to produce food for the tree, the flower, the plankton. And thanks to plants, we and other animals can live. All of us—people, animals, plants, and minerals—"consume" the sun, directly and indirectly. We cannot begin to describe all the effects of the sun, that great heart outside of our body.
When we look at green vegetables, we should know that it is the sun that is green and not just the vegetables. The green color in the leaves of the vegetables is due to the presence of the sun. Without the sun, no living being could survive. Without sun, water, air, and soil, there would be no vegetables. The vegetables are the coming-together of many conditions near and far.