Quotessence
Home / Books / Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other

Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other

Book by Thich Nhat Hanh · 10 quotes · Suffering, Compassion, Peace

Filter quotes by topic

AllSufferingCompassionPeaceAgreementsAngerAvailableBuddhistEvery StepIsraelLanguageLiberationLifeLife IsListeningLive In The MomentLive In The PresentMeditationMeditation LifeMeditation MindMindfulness

Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other Quotes

“In 1963, I was sitting with a number of my students on the campus of Columbia University in New York. The morning was beautiful, the sun was shining, and we were talking to each other about the Buddhist practice of removing concepts. Suddenly someone passing by stopped and looking at me for a few seconds, and then he asked, "Are you a Buddhist?" I looked up and said, "No." Did I tell a lie? I hope that my students understood me at that moment. If I had said, "Yes, I am a Buddhist," then he would still be caught in his idea of what a Buddhist is, and that would not help him. So "No" was more helpful than "Yes." That is the language of Zen. When you do say or do something, it is to help undo the knots in people's minds, and not to bind them anymore. That is why the language we use should aim at liberation.”

LanguageZenLiberation
Book:Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other
Create image

“Compassion is mindfulness. If you can maintain that awareness, you are protected. Your seeds of irritation and anger will not be watered and you can listen for one hour without being affected by what she says. You don't want to correct her, even if her speech is full of wrong perceptions and accusations—you feel only compassion, "Oh dear, she is the victim of so many wrong perceptions." You don't want to punish or criticize her because you have compassion.”

CompassionListeningMindfulness
Book:Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other
Create image

“There is a tendency to speak about your suffering and difficulties so that you can draw more people to support you in order to fight the other side. That is a big temptation. You think if you are strong and you will have more support, the other side will have to withdraw. That is the hope of many people. But we know that activities based on that kind of thinking have gone on for many years without bearing any fruit at all.”

SufferingSpeaking
Book:Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other
Create image

“In the case of Israel and Palestine, it can feel as though the situation is impossible and that the sides are unequal because Israel has more political power, nuclear weapons, and the support of the United States. You may be deceived by appearance. During the Vietnam War everyone saw that America was the big power and the Vietnamese were a tiny nation without weapons, technology, or the huge amount of money that the Americans had. But the Americans had to withdraw from Vietnam. We should not be too sure.”

IsraelPalestineSureness
Book:Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other
Create image