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Nhat Hanh

Nhat Hanh Quotes

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Famous Nhat Hanh Quotes

“Mindful consumption is the object of this precept. We are what we consume. If we look deeply into the items that we consume every day, we will come to know our own nature very well. We have to eat, drink, consume, but if we do it unmindfully, we may destroy our bodies and our consciousness, showing ingratitude toward our ancestors, our parents, and future generations.”

IfsKnowsWellsLooksMayBodyParentConsciousnessGenerationsObjectsDrinkAncestorConsumptionItemsFuture GenerationIngratitude
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“Let us look at wealth and poverty. The affluent society and the deprived society inter-are. The wealth of one society is made of the poverty of the other. "This is like this, because that is like that." Wealth is made of non-wealth elements, and poverty is made by non-poverty elements. [...] so we must be careful not to imprison ourselves in concepts. The truth is that everything contains everything else. We cannot just be, we can only inter-be. We are responsible fo everything that happens around us.”

LooksMadeHappensWealthPovertyTruth IsElementsConceptsResponsibleCarefulBe CarefulDeprivedAffluentPeace Is Every StepWealth And Poverty
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“No one can practice the precepts perfectly, including the Buddha... Boiled vegetables contain dead bacteria. We cannot practice the First Precept or any of the precepts perfectly. But because of the real danger in our society-alcoholism has destroyed so many families and has brought about much unhappiness-we have to do something. We have to live in a way that will eradicate that kind of damage. That is why even if you can be very healthy with one glass of wine every week, I still urge you with all my strength to abandon that glass of wine.”

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Author:Nhat Hanh
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“The healing of ourselves is the healing of the whole nation. Society is only a manifestation of our collective consciousness and our collective consciousness has a lot of fear, violence and hatred in it. ... It is possible to transform our heart...Not much time is needed...(the transformation can be born) the moment you vow to go in the direction of peace and service.”

HeartWholeMomentsNationsBornHealingConsciousnessViolenceNeededHatredTransformationManifestationCollectivesVowCollective Consciousness
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“All violence is injustice. Responding to violence with violence is injustice, not only to the other person but also to oneself. Responding to violence with violence resolves nothing; it only escalates violence, anger and hatred. It is only with compassion that we can embrace and disintegrate violence. This is true in relationships between individuals as well as in relationships between nations.”

WellsPersonsIndividualNationsCompassionViolenceHatredEmbraceInjusticeOneselfResolveResponding
Book:Calming the Fearful Mind: Easyread Large Bold Edition
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“Recently, one friend asked me, "How can I force myself to smile when I am filled with sorrow? It isn't natural." I told her she must be able to smile to her sorrow, because we are more than our sorrow. A human being is like a television set with millions of channels. If we turn the Buddha on, we are the Buddha. If we turn sorrow on then we are sorrow. If we turn a smile on, we really are the smile. We can not let just one channel dominate us. We have the seed of everything in us, and we have to seize the situation in our hand, to recover our own sovereignty.”

IfsHumansHandsAbleTurnsForceNaturalHuman BeingsSituationMillionsTelevisionSorrowFilledSeedsJust OneCan NotSovereigntyOne Friend
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“In Buddhism, there are three gems: Buddha, the awakened one; Dharma, the way of understanding and loving; and Sangha, the community that lives in harmony and awareness. The three are interrelated, and at times it is hard to distinguish one from another. In everyone there is the capacity to wake up, to understand, and to love. So in ourselves we find Buddha, and we also find Dharma and Sangha.”

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Book:Being Peace
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“Leaves are usually looked upon as the children of the tree. Yes, they are children of the tree, born from the tree, but they are also mothers of the tree. The leaves combine raw sap, water, and minerals, with sunshine and gas, and convert it into a variegated sap that can nourish the tree. In this way, the leaves become the mother of the tree. We are all children of society, but we are also mothers. We have to nourish society. If we are uprooted from society, we can not trasform it into a more liveable place for us and our children.”

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Book:Being Peace: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition
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“I do many kinds of work, and if you forbid me from binding books, from gardening, from writing poetry, from practicing walking meditation, from teaching children, I will be very unhappy. To me, work is pleasant. Pleasant or unpleaseant depends on our way of looking.”

IfsWayWritingKindChildrenBookMeditationTeachingDependsWalkingUnhappyPleasantGardeningBindingTeaching ChildrenWriting PoetryWalking Meditation
Book:Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings
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“It is often said that the Buddha's teaching is only a raft to help you cross the river, a finger pointing to the moon. Don't maistake the finger for the moon. The raft is not the shore. If we cling to the raft, if we cling to the finger, we miss everything. We cannot, in the name of the finger or the raft kill each other. Human life is more precious than any ideology, any doctrine.”

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Author:Nhat Hanh
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“A flower is not a flower. It is made only of non-flower elements - sunshine, clouds, time, space, earth, minerals, gardeners, and so on. A true flower contains the whole universe. If we return any one of these non-flower elements to its source, there will be no flower.”

IfsMadeWholeEarthUniverseSpaceFlowerSourceReturnElementsCloudsSunshineGardenerMinerals
Book:The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
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“One day I saw a picture of the Buddha on a Buddhist magazine and he was sitting on the grass, and he was sitting on the grass, very peaceful, smiling, and I was impressed. Around me people were not like that, so I had the desire to be someone like him. I nourished that kind of desire until the age of sixteen, when I had the permission from my parents to go and ordain as a Buddhist monk.”

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Author:Nhat Hanh
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