Quotessence
Home / Authors / Nhat Hanh
Nhat Hanh

Nhat Hanh Quotes

Monk

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsSufferingMomentsPracticeWayMindfulnessCompassionPeoplePeace Is Every StepUnderstandingNeedsPresent MomentThinkingHelpingPersonsBuddhistKnowsWorldLooksMeditation

Famous Nhat Hanh Quotes

“There are so many things that can provide us with peace. Next time you take a shower or a bath, I suggest you hold your big toes in mindfulness. We pay attention to everything except our toes. When we hold our toes in mindfulness and smile at them, we will find that our bodies have been very kind to us. We know that any cell in our toes can turn cancerous, but our toes have been behaving very well, avoiding that kind of problem. Yet, we have not been nice to them at all. These kinds of practices can bring us happiness.”

KnowsWellsKindHas BeensProblemBodyBigsTurnsNextPayAttentionPracticeNiceAwarenessMindfulnessCellsPay AttentionShowersNext TimeToesAvoidingBaths
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“If you have a friend who suffers, you have to help him.«My dear friend, you are on safe ground. Everything is okay now. Why do you continue to suffer? Don't go back to the past. It's only a ghost; it's unreal». And whenever we recognize that these are only movies and pictures, not reality, we are free. That is the practice of mindfulness.”

IfsHelpingRealityPastSufferingPracticeFriendsSafeMindfulnessOkayDearGhostMovieUnrealDear Friend
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“The practice of Zen is to eat, breathe, cook, carry water, and scrub the toilet — to infuse every act of body, speech, and mind — with mindfulness, to illuminate every leaf and pebble, every heap of garbage, every path that leads to our mind's return home.”

MindHomeBodyWaterPracticePathReturnSpeechMindfulnessEatingBreatheCooksLeafsGarbageToiletsPebbles
Book:Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966
Create image

“If we are at war with our parents, our family, our society, or our church, there is probably a war going on inside us also, so the most basic work for peace is to return to ourselves and create harmony among the elements within us - our feelings, our perceptions, and our mental states. That is why the practice of meditation, looking deeply, is so important.”

IfsImportantWarStatesFeelingsPeaceParentChurchWorkFamilyPracticeMeditationSocietyReturnElementsPerceptionHarmonyOur FamilyOur Society
Book:Living Buddha, Living Christ 10th Anniversary Edition
Create image

“Sometimes you have a flash of insight, but it's not strong enough to survive. Therefore in the practice of Buddhism, samadhi is the power to maintain insight alive in every moment, so that every speech, every word, every act will bear the nature of that insight. It is a question of cleaning. And you clean better if you are surrounded by those who are practicing exactly the same.”

IfsSometimesEnoughMomentsStrongPracticeAliveBuddhismBearsSpeechCleanInsightFlashCleaningStrong EnoughSamadhiNot StrongNot Strong Enough
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“We should be able to bring the practice of meditation hall into our daily lives. We need to discuss among ourselves how to do it. Do you practice breathing between phone calls? Do you practice smiling while cutting carrots? Do you practice relaxation after hard hours of work? These are practical questions. If you know how to apply meditation to dinner time, leisure time, sleeping time, it will penetrate your daily life, and it will also have a tremendous effect on social concerns.”

IfsKnowsNeedsShouldHardAbleSocialHoursSleepPracticeKnow HowMeditationCuttingEffectsConcernPhonesDinnerPracticalsBreathingDaily LifeHallsLeisureRelaxationPenetratePhone CallsCarrotsLeisure TimeDinner Time
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditation. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves.”

ThinkingHelpingSpiritualTalkingStepsPracticeMeditationEatingSittingBreathsDrinkingTouchingEvery StepSpiritual PracticeMeditation Practice
Book:Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh: 365 days of practical, powerful teaching s from the beloved Zen teacher
Create image

“Our role as gardeners is to choose, plant and tend the best seeds within the garden of our consciousness. Learning to look deeply at our consciousness is our greatest gift and our greatest need, for there lie the seeds of suffering and of love, the very roots of our being, of who we are. Mindfulness...is the guide and the practice by which we learn how to use the seeds of suffering to nourish the seeds of love.”

NeedsLooksUseLyingSufferingConsciousnessRolesPracticeMindfulnessGardenRootsPlantSeedsGuidesWho We AreGardenerGreatest Gifts
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“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.”

IfsWayFirstsKindStillsRealPracticeWeekDangerHealthyWineIncludingGlassesDestroyedDamageOur SocietyUrgesAbandonUnhappinessVegetablesAlcoholismBacteriaWine Glass
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“You need the practice of mindfulness to bring your mind back to the body and establish yourself in the moment. If you are fully present, you need only make a step or take a breath in order to enter the kingdom of God. And once you have the kingdom, you don't need to run after objects of your craving, like power, fame, sensual pleasure, and so on. Peace is possible. Happiness is possible.”

IfsNeedsMindMomentsBodyRunningOrderPleasureStepsPracticeObjectsFameMindfulnessBreathsKingdomsSensualCravingKingdom Of GodSensual Pleasure
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“When you climb a ladder and arrive on the sixth step and you think that is the highest, then you cannot come to the seventh. So the technique is to abandon the sixth in order for the seventh step to be possible. And this is our practice, to release our views. The practice of nonattachment to views is at the heart of the Buddhist practice of meditation.”

ThinkingHeartOrderViewsStepsPracticeMeditationHighestTechniqueReleaseBuddhistClimbsAbandonLadders
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“The kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now. But the question is whether you are available to the kingdom. Our practice is to make ourselves ready for the kingdom so that it can manifest in the here and the now. You don't need to die in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, you have to be truly alive in order to do so.”

NeedsFactsOrderDiesHeavenPracticeAliveReadyAvailableKingdomsManifestKingdom Of GodKingdom Of Heaven
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“We who have touched war have a duty to bring the truth about war to those who have not had a direct experience of it. We are the light at the tip of the candle. It is really hot, but it has the power of shining and illuminating. If we practice mindfulness, we will know how to look deeply into the nature of war and, with our insight, wake people up so that together we can avoid repeating the same horrors again and again.”

PeopleIfsKnowsLooksWarLightTogetherPracticeKnow HowDutyHorrorMindfulnessDirectHotShiningInsightTouchedCandleAgain And AgainIlluminatingTogether We Can
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“I am inviting you to go deeper, to learn and to practice so that you become someone who has a great capacity for being solid, calm, and without fear, because our society needs people like you who have these qualities, and your children, our children, need people like you, in order to go on, in order to become solid, and calm, and without fear.”

PeopleNeedsChildrenOrderQualityPracticeLike YouGoes OnCapacityOur ChildrenCalmDeeperYour ChildrenOur SocietyInviting
Author:Nhat Hanh
Create image

“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
Create image