Top 100 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes
#1. Soldiers fear the frontier post, monks fear the Surangama Dharani!
Thich Nhat Hanh
#2. Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#3. Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#4. Love is a living, breathing thing. There is no need to force it to grow in a particular direction. If we start by being easy and gentle with ourselves, we will find it is just there inside of us, solid and healing.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#5. Our forgetfulness of its sacred nature, which is also our own sacred nature.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#6. When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#7. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#8. Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world, to make peace possible for the world, to make happiness possible for the world.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#10. The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#11. Love, understanding, courage, and acceptance are expressions of the life of Jesus,
Thich Nhat Hanh
#12. The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#13. Vegetarians and vegans tend to weigh less and have lower blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, and, in turn, a lowered risk of heart disease than people whose diets include some or all types of animal products;
Thich Nhat Hanh
#14. In a place where there is something that can be distinguished by signs, in that place there is deception. If you can see the signless nature of signs, then you can see the Tathagata.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#17. As a free person I can always come and go, Not caught in ideas of is and is not. Not caught in ideas of being and non-being Let your steps be leisurely.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#18. We do so much, we run so quickly, the situation is difficult, and many people say, "Don't just sit there, do something." But doing more things may make the situation worse. So you should say, "Don't just do something, sit there." Sit there, stop, be yourself first, and begin from there.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#19. You only need to breathe mindfully and smile to your habit energy: "Oh, I got pulled away by that again." When you can recognize habit energies this way, they lose their hold on you, and you're free once again to live peacefully and happily in the present.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#20. Due to attachment, anger, and foolishness, I have committed numberless mistakes in speech, deed and thought. I bow my head and repent. I vow from today to begin anew, to live day and night in mindfulness, and not to repeat my previous mistakes.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#21. You know that your happiness and suffering depend on the happiness and suffering of others. That insight helps you not to do wrong things that will bring suffering to yourself and to other people.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#22. Whether you can see the Buddha or not depends on you, on the state of your being.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#23. The son needs the father to have access to his source, and the father needs the son to have access to the future and the infinite.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#24. [A]ll the methods in the search for truth should be looked on as means rather than as ends in themselves or as absolute truth.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#25. Of course, to lose weight, dieters need to eat fewer calories than they burn.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#27. It is possible to live twenty-four hours a day in a state of love. Every movement, every glance, every thought, and every word can be infused with love.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#28. Jesus Christ is still manifesting himself in many thousands of ways. He is manifesting himself all around you. We need to be alert in order to recognize his manifestations. If you are not mindful or attentive, you will miss him because you will miss his manifestations.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#29. Because they have learned not to get caught in notions or representations, they do not speak as though they alone hold the truth, and they do not think that those in other traditions are going the wrong way.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#30. Most of us experience a life full of wonderful moments and difficult moments. But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is fear behind our joy.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#31. For me, there is no happiness without freedom, and freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#32. The main affliction of our modern civilization is that we don't know how to handle the suffering inside us and we try to cover it up with all kinds of consumption.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#33. Mindful eating means simply eating or drinking while being aware of each bite or sip.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#34. For many people, it [suffering] starts already at a very young age. So what don't schools teach our young people the way to manage suffering?
Thich Nhat Hanh
#35. The soil of our mind contains many seeds, positive and negative. We are the gardeners who identify, water, and cultivate the best seeds.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#36. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#37. If our minds are blocked, there is no device that will make up for our inability to communicate with ourselves or others.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#38. The suffering and the quarreling in a family don't begin with unkindness, they begin with one person's pain and stress.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#39. Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#40. We must practice living deeply, loving, and acting with charity if we wish to truly honor Jesus.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#42. In the dimension of space and time,
We chew as rhythmically as we breathe.
Maintaining the lives of all our ancestors,
Opening an upward path for descendants.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#43. The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#44. Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#45. A true partner or friend is one who encourages you to look deep inside yourself for the beauty and love you've been seeking.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#46. Imagine one atom of that speck of dust, with electrons traveling around its nucleus at 180,000 miles per second. It is very exciting. To return to a speck of dust with be quite an exciting adventure!
Thich Nhat Hanh
#47. We are what we feel and perceive. If we are angry, we are the anger.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#48. Hell is in us, like a seed. We need to cultivate the positive within us so we can generate the energy of understanding and compassion and transform hell.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#49. In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy, but alert and awake. Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#50. It is my conviction that there is no way to peace - peace is the way.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#51. The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#52. The reality is that we are safe and we have the capacity to enjoy the wonders of life in the present moment. When we recognize that our suffering is based on images instead of current reality, then living happily in the present moment becomes possible right away.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#53. Everything - including love, hate, and suffering - needs food to continue. If suffering continues, it's because we keep feeding our suffering.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#54. It is easy to see the flaws of others, hard to see one's own. One exposes flaws of others, yet hides one's own flaws.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#55. Imagine yourself as a pebble which has been thrown into a river. The pebble sinks through the water effortlessly. Detached from everything, it falls by the
Thich Nhat Hanh
#56. Releasing both victory and defeat, the tranquil minds dwell in happiness. Victory produces hostility.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#57. We must lead all beings to the shore of awakening, but, after these beings have become liberated, we do not, in truth, think that a single being has been liberated.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#58. We are related to each other. By taking care of you, I take care of myself. By taking care of myself, I take care of you. Happiness and safety are not individual matters.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#59. Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#60. Faith is having a path that leads you to freedom, liberation, and the transformation of afflictions.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#61. Sometimes it is better not to talk about art by using the word "art". If we just act with awareness and integrity, our art will flower, and we don't have to talk about it at all.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#62. He whispered to himself, If I do not find the Way, I will not return to Kapilavatthu.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#63. The wise man, by vigor, mindfulness, restraint, and self-control, creates for himself an island which no flood can submerge.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#64. The essential discipline of following one's breath to nourish and maintain calm mindfulness, even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#65. Home is the place where loneliness disappears. When we're home, we feel warm, comfortable, safe, fulfilled.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#66. The roots of war are in the way we live our daily lives
the way we develop our industries, build up our society, and consume goods.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#67. Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#68. According to the Buddha, life is available only in the here and now, the present moment. He said, "The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment." If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#69. To be a friend means to offer happiness. If love doesn't offer happiness, if it makes the other person cry all the time, then it's not love; it's the opposite.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#70. When we return to our breathing, we return to the present moment, our true home. There's no need for us to struggle to arrive somewhere else. We know our final destination is the cemetery. Why are we in a hurry to get there? Why not step in the direction of life, which is in the present moment?
Thich Nhat Hanh
#71. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life. Don't be attached to the future. Don't worry about things you have to do. Don't think about getting up or taking off to do anything. Don't think about departing.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#72. When we hug, our hearts connect and we know that we are not separate beings.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#74. The secret of Zen masters is discovering the path of return to such moments, and knowing how to pave the way for such moments to arise. The masters know how to use the dazzling light of those moments to illuminate the journey of return, the journey that begins from nowhere and has no destination.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#75. Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve. My mind becomes calm, my body relaxed, and a smile is born on my lips. Following the sound of the bell, my breath guides me back to the safe island of mindfulness. In the garden of my heart, the flower of peace blooms beautifully.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#76. Each moment you are alive is a gem, shining through and containing earth and sky, water and clouds. It needs you to breathe gently for the miracles to be displayed. Suddenly you hear the birds singing, the pines chanting, see the flowers blooming, the blue sky, the white clouds ...
Thich Nhat Hanh
#77. In what spirit is this explanation given? Without being caught up in signs, just according to things as they are, without agitation.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#78. even if you turn off the TV, the TV in your mind continues to run. So you have to also stop the TV in your head.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#79. That's why to love means to learn the art of nourishing our happiness.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#80. Nourish yourself every day with the wonderful things that life has to offer you. Nourish yourself in the present moment. Walk in the kingdom of God.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#81. The Three Kinds of Pride are: (1) thinking I am better than the other(s); (2) thinking I am worse than the other(s); and (3) thinking I am just as good as the other(s).
Thich Nhat Hanh
#82. If we practice walking meditation, we walk just for walking, not to arrive.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#84. The only place where we can touch Jesus and the Kingdom of God is within us.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#85. Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#86. Curb your speech, restrain your mind, commit no evil deed.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#87. Looking deeply" means observing something or someone with so much concentration that the distinction between observer and observed disappears.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#89. Mindfulness frees us of forgetfulness and dispersion and makes it possible to live fully each minute of life. Mindfulness enables us to live.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#90. That is why I don't believe much in what Mr. Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am."
I think, therefore I'm lost in my thinking. I'm not there.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#91. Some people are consumed with thoughts and memories from their past. Their mourning, regretting, rehashing, and begrudging doom them to life imprisonment in their painful past.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#92. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is a wonderful moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#93. Mindful consumption is the way out of our difficulties, not just our personal difficulties, but also the way out of war, poverty, and climate crisis.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#94. Those who are without compassion cannot see what is seen with the eyes of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#95. Understanding is like water flowing in a stream. Wisdom and knowledge are solid and can block our understanding
Thich Nhat Hanh
#96. You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#97. Learn to look at your body as a river in which every cell is a drop of water. In every moment, cells are born and cells die. Birth and death support each other.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#98. If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence
Thich Nhat Hanh
#99. We can only accept teachings that we have put into practice with our own awakened understanding and that we can see with our own experience to be true.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#100. Do not allow your heart to whirl in the pleasures of senses.
Thich Nhat Hanh
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