By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person. Nhat Hanh More Quotes by Nhat Hanh More Quotes From Nhat Hanh To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment. Nhat Hanh buddhistregretmean Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others will be possible. Nhat Hanh inner-peacerealgod We have the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast. But in the name of freedom, people have done a lot of damage. I think we have to build a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast in order to counterbalance. Because liberty without responsibility is not true liberty. We are not free to destroy. Nhat Hanh responsibilitypeacethinking We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness. Nhat Hanh cooperationillusionpeaceful Many people think excitement is happiness.... But when you are excited you are not peaceful. True happiness is based on peace. Nhat Hanh buddhismhappinesspeace Today is the most important day of our lives. Nhat Hanh mediocrityimportanttoday It is best if we do not listen to or look at the person whom we consider to be the cause of our anger. Like a fireman, we have to pour water on the blaze first and not waste time looking for the one who set the house on fire. "Breathing in, I know that I am angry. Breathing out, I know that I must put all my energy into caring for my anger." So we avoid thinking about the other person, and we refrain from doing or saying anything as long as our anger persists. If we put all our mind into observing our anger, we will avoid doing any damage that we may regret later. Nhat Hanh regretcaringthinking The Buddha said, 'Nothing can survive without food.' This is a very simple and very deep truth. Love and hate are both living phenomena. If we do not nourish our love, it will die and may turn into hate. If we want love to last, we have to nurture it and give it food every day. Hate is the same; if we don't feed it, it cannot survive. Nhat Hanh hatesimplemotivational As long as we think our lives are not good enough (materially), we will not have happiness. As soon as we realize our lives are good enough, happiness immediately appears. That is the practice of contentment. Nhat Hanh practicehappinessthinking If I am incapable of washing dishes joyfully, if I want to finish them quickly so I can go and have dessert, I will be equally incapable of enjoying my dessert. With the fork in my hand, I will be thinking about what to do next, and the texture and flavor of the dessert, together with the pleasure of eating it, will be lost. I will always be dragged into the future, never able to live in the present moment. Nhat Hanh togetherhandsthinking A teacher cannot give you the truth The truth is already in you You only need to open yourself – body, mind and heart- so that his or her teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment If you let the words enter you, the soil and the seeds will do the rest of the work Nhat Hanh teachingheartteacher We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we'll also have a lot more joy in living. Nhat Hanh changeinspirationallife Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart. Even if he says things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with compassion. Because you know that listening like that, you give that person a chance to suffer less. Nhat Hanh compassionheartgiving The nectar of compassion is so wonderful. If you are committed to keeping it alive, then you are protected. What the other person says will not touch off the anger and irritation in you, because compassion is the real antidote to anger. Nothing can heal anger except compassion. That is why the practice of compassion is a very wonderful practice. Nhat Hanh compassionrealpractice The source of a true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding. Nhat Hanh understandingmindhelping Without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people to smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement. Nhat Hanh peacefulhelping-otherspeople No thought about the past or future can pull you away from your present peace and joy. The universe exists in this present moment. No desire can pull you away from this present peace, not even the desire to become a Buddha or the desire to save all beings. Know that to become a Buddha and to save all beings can only be realized on the foundation of the pure peace of the present moment. Nhat Hanh futurepeacepast People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don't suffer anymore. Nhat Hanh changeinspirationallife People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom? Nhat Hanh thinking-negativebuddhistpositive Our joy, peace and happiness depend very much on our practice of recognizing and transforming habit energies. There are positive habit energies that we have to cultivate, and negative habit energies that we have to recognize, embrace and transform. The energy with which we do these things is mindfulness. Nhat Hanh practicehappinesspeace
