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Nhat Hanh

Nhat Hanh Quotes

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Famous Nhat Hanh Quotes

“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.”

IfsThinkingMeanDoeStillsIdeasMomentsPastLostWorryPlansObjectsRegretMindfulnessInsightBuddhistConcentrationPresent MomentGroundedInquiryHere And Now
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“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.”

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Author:Nhat Hanh
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“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”

PeopleIfsLifeLooksMomentsBodyHandsSpiritualParentFamilyAliveGenerationsYogaMy FamilyYour BodyGrievingAncestorPalmsAbout FamilyContinuationParents LoveHappy FamilyInspirational FamilyBuddhist MonkContinuation Of Life
Book:Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living: Easyread Large Bold Edition
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“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.”

IfsGivingHeartStillsHappinessInspiringConditionsLetting GoAnxietyAngerPossessionLovelyPeace Is Every StepFreedom And HappinessLetting Go Of AngerAnger Inside
Book:The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
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“If a child smiles, if an adult smiles, that is very important. If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.”

IfsKnowsWayLifeMindChildrenImportantJoyPeaceKnow HowAwarenessSourceAdultsDeterminationSmileProfitAwakeningPeacefulDaily LifeAwakenedBetter WaysStart The DayPeace And JoyPeace Is Every Step
Book:Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
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“Peace ca n exist only in the present moment. It is rid iculous to say "Wait until I fi nish this, then I will be free to live in peace." What is "this" ? A di­ploma, a job, a house, the payment of a debt? If yo u th ink that way, peace wi ll never come. There is always another "th is" that wi ll fo llow the present one. If you are not living in peace at this moment, you will never be able to . If you truly wa nt to be at peace, you must be at peace right now. Otherwise, there is only "the hope of peace some day.”

IfsWayMomentsAbleJobsHouseWaitingRight NowDebtPresent MomentInkPayment
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“If you do not know how to take care of yourself, and the violence in you, then you will not be able to take care of others. You must have love and patience before you can truly listen to your partner or child. If you are irritated you cannot listen. You have to know how to breath mindfully, embrace your irritation and transform it. Offer ONLY understand and compassion to your partner or child - This is the true practice of love.”

IfsKnowsChildrenCareAbleCompassionPracticeKnow HowViolenceOffersBreathsEmbraceTake CarePartnersIrritatedIrritationTake Care Of YourselfPatience And LoveThich Nhat Hanh
Book:Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World
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“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”

IfsNeedsGivingMindHeartBodyUnderstandingTeacherTeachingTruth IsEnlightenmentSeedsSoilHeart And MindPenetrate
Book:The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering Into Peace, Joy, & Liberation : the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, & Other Basic Buddhist Teachings
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“To be beautiful means to be yourself.You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don't try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself.”

PeopleIfsWantNeedsTryingMeanBeautifulLyingSufferingUnderstandingBornAcceptingAcceptanceFlowerFitAcceptedRecognitionBeing YourselfBe YouCraveTrue HappinessTrue LifeAccepting YourselfChange YourselfLotusesConfidence In YourselfTrue PowerMagnoliasLotus FlowerUnderstanding Yourself
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“We talk about social service, service to the people, service to humanity, service to others who are far away, helping to bring peace to the world - but often we forget that it is the very people around us that we must live for first of all. If you cannot serve your wife or husband or child or parent - how are you going to serve society? If you cannot make your own child happy, how do you expect to be able to make anyone else happy? If all our friends in the peace movement or of service communities of any kind do not love and help each other, whom can we love and help?”

PeopleIfsWorldFirstsKindChildrenHelpingAbleHumanitySocialParentCommunityForgetWifeMovementHusbandFar AwayService To OthersHelping Each OtherService To HumanitySocial Service
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?”

IfsLooksNationsCommunitySituationFamilyProjectsBusyUncertaintyBelovedOur FamilyLoved OnesCravingToo BusyOur CommunityCarried Away
Book:Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World
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“Anxiety is the illness of our age. We worry about ourselves, our family, our friends, our work, and our state of the world. If we allow worry to fill our hearts, sooner or later we will get sick.”

IfsWorldHeartStatesAgePeaceWorryAnxietySickIllnessOur FamilySooner Or Later
Book:The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
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“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.”

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Book:Anger
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“If we are not empty, we become a block of matter. We cannot breathe, we cannot think. To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out. We cannot be alive if we are not empty. Emptiness is impermanence, it is change. We should not complain about impermanence, because without impermanence, nothing is possible.”

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Book:Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries
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“If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. When a child presents himself to you with his smile, if you are not really there - thinking about the future or the past, or preoccupied with other problems - then the child is not really there for you. The technique of being alive is to go back to yourself in order for the child to appear like a marvellous reality. Then you can see him smile and you can embrace him in your arms.”

IfsThinkingChildrenMomentsProblemRealityPastOrderAliveMissingArmsEmbraceTechniqueBuddhistPresent MomentMarvellousHis SmileThinking About The Future
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“Training is needed in order to love properly; and to be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice DEEP LOOKING directed toward the other person you love. Because if you do not understand this person, you cannot love properly. Understanding is the essence of love. If you cannot understand, you cannot love. That is the message of the Buddha.”

IfsGivingPersonsAbleJoyOrderUnderstandingLove IsPracticeNeededMessagesTrainingEssenceBuddhistJoy And Happiness
Book:True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart
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“When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.”

IfsWayLoveShouldMindPersonsDoeActionRomanceEasyLove IsActingCompassionAcceptingPracticeContactBuddhistOur ThoughtsOur LoveLovableThoughts And Actions
Book:Transformation and Healing
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“Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generatng that kind of energy toward yourself - if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself - it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.”

PeopleIfsKindPersonsCareEnergyDifficultLove IsPracticeClearTeachingProtectCapableCapacityFoundationOneselfTake CareBuddhistTake Care Of YourselfLove Oneself
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“You have two gardens: your own garden and that of your beloved. First, you have to take care of your own garden and master the art of gardening. In each one of us there are flowers and there is also garbage. The garbage is the anger, fear, discrimination, and jealousy within us. If you water the garbage, you will strengthen the negative seeds. If you water the flowers of compassion, understanding, and love, you will strengthen the positive seeds. What you grow is up to you.”

IfsFirstsArtTwoCareGrowsUnderstandingWaterCompassionLove YouFlowerMastersNegativeGardenAnd LoveTake CareSeedsDiscriminationBuddhistBelovedGardeningGarbageUp To YouUnderstanding And Love
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“True love always brings joy to ourself and the one we love. If our love does not bring joy to both of us, it is not true love.”

IfsLoveDoeJoyOur LoveLove Always
Book:The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering Into Peace, Joy, & Liberation : the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, & Other Basic Buddhist Teachings
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“Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn't mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you're truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence.”

IfsHeartMeanMatterEnjoySilenceTalkingSituationNo Matter WhatSilentFinding YourselfSilence IsDisturbedNot Talking
Book:Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses to Life's Burning Questions
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“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 arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding.”

IfsKnowsLoveNeedsTryingWellsLooksMayPersonsDoeReasonProblemCareGrowsUnderstandingWaterKnow HowSunEffectsPositive ThinkingArgumentBlamePlantTrue LoveTake CareMeaningfulReasoningFertilizerLettucePeace Is Every StepBlaming OthersDeep MeaningBuddhist Monk
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life. We cannot support any act of killing; no killing can be justified. But not to kill is not enough ... If in your thinking you allow the killing to go on, you also break this precept. We must be determined not to condone killing, even in our minds.”

IfsThinkingWorldWayMindEnoughBreakSupportGoes OnKillingDeterminedMy WayJustifiedDeath PenaltyI Am Determined
Author:Nhat Hanh
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“Sometimes when I am alone in my room in the dark, I practice smiling to myself. I do this to be kind to myself, to take good care of myself, to love myself. I know that if I cannot take care of myself, I cannot take care of anyone else.”

IfsKnowsKindSometimesCareDarkRoomsPracticeLaughterTake CareBe KindLove Myself
Book:Be Free Where You Are: A Talk Given at the Maryland Correctional Institute: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition
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“If love is in our hearts, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle. Because understanding is the very foundation of love, words and actions that emerge from our love are always helpful.”

IfsHeartActionUnderstandingLove IsMiracleFoundationDeedsHelpfulOur LoveWords And ActionsFoundation Of Love
Book:Wisdom from Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
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