Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

Tomar refugio en nuestra respiración consciente

To commit to another person is to embark on a very adventurous journey. There is no one right person who will make it easier. You must be very wise and very patient to keep your love alive so it will last for a long time.

What we lack is not an ideology or a doctrine that will save the world. What we lack is awareness of what we are, of what our true situation really is.

We need a small space where we can take care of our nervous system and restore our tranquility and peace.

This is the nature of war: it turns us into enemies. People who have never met kill each other out of fear. War creates so much suffering—children become orphans, entire cities and villages are destroyed. All who suffer in such conflicts are victims.

Buda llamó al sufrimiento la Santa Verdad, porque nuestro sufrimiento tiene la capacidad de mostrarnos la senda de la liberación.

Often, we live a life of compromise so that there's peace in the house. We buy a small peace so that we can get through the day. And if we live like that then we aren't a great person, but a cracked vase, unable to contain the rice soup.

If we place our faith in a god, then perhaps later we will lose that faith. If we have faith in a person, then we may also lose faith in that person. We should have faith in something more steadfast and enduring. We need to have faith in ourselves and the Buddha within.

understanding, love, compassion, and insight are not abstract ideas, but energies which can be generated in real-life situations, no matter how difficult they may be.

Do you have the time to be there for yourself? Do you have the time for a cup of tea, for an orange, for your in-breath, your out-breath? Do you have the time to take steps without thinking of your projects?

Abraza tu sufrimiento y deja que te revele el camino hacia la paz.

If you are fortunate enough to be more successful on the path of practice than your brother or sister in the Dharma, find skillful and humble ways to help that person.

Right Mindfulness accepts everything without judging or reacting. It is inclusive and loving.

thundering silence, because it's eloquent and powerful.

If we practice conscious breathing, we will calm the turmoil and sorrow in our minds whenever they appear. If at first our practice is not successful, we continue until we see the results. When we see that the practice works, slowly our faith in it grows. Our faith is always based on empirical evidence. We do not believe it just because it has been repeated many times by others.

Mindful breathing helps us stop being preoccupied by sorrows of the past and anxieties about the future.

If you do not give right attention to the one you love, it is a kind of killing.

Our feelings are formations, impermanent and without substance. We learn not to identify with ourselves with our feelings, not to consider them as a self, not to seek refuge in them, not to die because of them.

The development of Japanese economy has made Japan into a Western-like nation, in which many of the spiritual values have given place to materialism. The temples and monasteries must also participate in the present economic way of life and be based upon the present social needs of producing and consuming in order to exist. They can no longer play their role of spiritual leadership, as in the past. Zen is threatened on the very ground on which it was born and developed.

If we practice meditation, we can generate the energies of mindfulness and concentration. These energies will lead us to the insight that there is no birth and no death. We can truly remove our fear of death. When we understand that we cannot be destroyed, we are liberated from fear. It is a great relief. Non-fear is the ultimate joy.

The West has begun to learn about Zen when it is already on the way to disintegration.

If we are still seeking or pursuing something else, something more, we're not yet aimless. We're not yet free, and we're not yet our true self. Our true self is already there within us, and as soon as we can see it, we become a free person.

Therefore the Lotus Sutra is like a cool breeze, a gentle rain, assuaging the stifling atmosphere of contention between the conservatives and the progressives.

With understanding and compassion, you will be able to heal the wounds in your heart, and the wounds in the world.