THE GROUND OF EXPERIENCE It is necessary to die in order to be reborn. As soon as you experience impermanence, non-self, and interbeing, you are born again. But if the plant does not become dormant in the winter, it cannot be reborn in the spring. Jesus said that unless you are reborn as a child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Thomas Merton wrote, “The living experience of divine love and the Holy Spirit … is a true awareness that one has died and risen in Christ. It is an experience of mystical renewal, an inner transformation brought about entirely by the power of God’s merciful love, implying the ‘death’ of the self-centered and self-sufficient ego and the appearance of a new and liberated self who lives and acts in the Spirit.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you
don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not
doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or
less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have
problems with our friends or family, we blame the other
person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will
grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive
effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason
and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no
reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you
understand, and you show that you understand, you can
love, and the situation will change”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth... This is the real message of love.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Teachings on Love
“If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
“If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“Around us, life bursts with miracles--a glass of water, a ray of
sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you
live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human
being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors,
shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain
that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart
that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired
and feel discouraged by life's daily struggles, we may not notice these
miracles, but they are always there.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“A real love letter is made of insight, understanding, and
compassion. Otherwise it's not a love letter. A true love letter can
produce a transformation in the other person, and therefore in the
world. But before it produces a transformation in the other person, it
has to produce a transformation within us. Some letters may take the
whole of our lifetime to write.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings from the beloved Zen teacher
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teachings from the beloved Zen teacher
“We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is
only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves,
if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person,
we cannot love. We must look deeply in order to see and understand the
needs, aspirations, and suffering of the person we love. This is the
ground of real love. You cannot resist loving another person when you
really understand him or her.
From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, 'Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don't want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy." If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry.
That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again.
Maybe a father does not have time or is not brave enough to ask his son such a question. Then the love between them will not be as full as it could be. We need courage to ask these questions, but if we don't ask, the more we love, the more we may destroy the people we are trying to love. True love needs understanding. With understanding, the one we love will certainly flower.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, 'Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don't want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy." If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry.
That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again.
Maybe a father does not have time or is not brave enough to ask his son such a question. Then the love between them will not be as full as it could be. We need courage to ask these questions, but if we don't ask, the more we love, the more we may destroy the people we are trying to love. True love needs understanding. With understanding, the one we love will certainly flower.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before
suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the
life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering by all
means, including personal contact and visits, images, sounds. By such
means, ...awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the
world. If we get in touch with the suffering of the world, and are
moved by that suffering, we may come forward to help the people who are
suffering.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
“If you know how to be happy with the wonders of life that are already
there for you to enjoy, you don't need to stress your mind and your body
by striving harder and harder, and you don't need to stress this planet
by purchasing more and more stuff. The Earth belongs to our children.
We have already borrowed too much from it, from them; and the way things
have been going, we're not sure we'll be able to give it back to them
in decent shape. And who are our children, actually? They are us,
because they are our own continuation. So we've been shortchanging our
own selves. Much of our modern way of life is permeated by mindless
overborrowing. The more we borrow, the more we loser. That's why it's
critical that we wake up and see we don't need to do that anymore.
What's already available in the here and now is plenty for us to be
nourished, to be happy. Only that kind of insight will get us, each one
of us, to stop engaging in the compulsive, self-sabotaging behaviors of
our species. We need a collective awakening. One Buddha is not enough.
All of us have to become Buddhas in order for our planet to have a
chance. Fortunately, we have the power to wake up, to touch
enlightenment from moment to moment, in our very own ordinary and, yes,
busy lives. So let's start right now. Peace is your every breath.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives
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