Thích Nhất Hạnh (/ˈtɪk ˈnjʌt ˈhʌn/; Vietnamese: [tʰǐk ɲɜ̌t hɐ̂ʔɲ] ( listen); born as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo on October 11, 1926) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist.
Your anger is like a flower. In the beginning you may not understand the nature of your anger, or why it has come up. But if you know how to embrace it with the energy of mindfulness, it will begin to open. You may be sitting, following your breathing, or you may be practicing walking meditation to generate the energy of mindfulness and embrace your anger. After ten or twenty minutes your anger will have to open herself to you, and suddenly, you will see the true nature of your anger. It may have arisen just because of a wrong perception or the lack of skillfulness.
It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way.
If you are capable of brushing your teeth in mindfulness, then you will be able to enjoy the time when you take a shower, cook your breakfast, sip your tea.
If you think that peace and happiness are somewhere else and you run after them, you will never arrive.
Whenever anger comes up, take out a mirror and look at yourself. When you are angry, you are not very beautiful.
Walk so that your footprints bear only the marks of peaceful joy and complete freedom. To do this you have to learn to let go. Let go of your sorrows, let go of your worries. That is the secret of walking meditation.
By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better & prepare for a better future.
Reconciliation is a deep practice that we can do with our listening and our mindful speech. To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to nations, people, and members of our family. . . . In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening.
Science and mindfulness complement each other in helping people to eat well and maintain their health and well-being.
It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available - more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more.
Don't think you have to be solemn to meditate. To meditate, well, you have to smile a lot.
I am determined to practice deep listening. I am determined to practice loving speech.
Go slowly, breathe and smile.
To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.
Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.
If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today
Find joy and peace in this very moment.
The buddha called suffering a holy truth, because our suffering has the capacity of showing us the path to liberation. Embrace your suffering and let it reveal to you the way to peace.
Meditation is to be aware of what is going on - in our bodies, in our feelings, in our minds, and in the world. Each day. . . children die of hunger. . . . Yet the sunrise is beautiful, and the rose that bloomed this morning along the wall is a miracle. Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects. Please do not think we must be solemn in order to meditate. In fact, to meditate well, we have to smile a lot.
I know that we do not know enough. We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality.