Venerable Zan Master Thich Nhat Hanh
"The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth."
— Ram Dass
"I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people."
Ram Dass
"I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people."
Ram Dass
"Meditation can be a tool for returning to the self ... There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, & stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence." Deepak Chopra
"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."
Buddha
"Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care."
Buddha
Happiness by Sunanda
"Love yourself, then others will love you.
Learn, then others will learn from you.
Accept yourself and you will be accepted.
Take pleasure in your life, then others will take pleasure in it,
Have faith in yourself, then others will believe you.
Trust yourself, then others will trust you.
Change your life and you will change the life of others.
Be happy, then others will be happy.
Use positive thoughts for your life and positive events will arrive.
Trust in the strength of your wishes and they will come true.
The negatives from your past will turn out as positive use in your present and future.
Don't beg for happiness; demand it because life is there to be happy.
You, only you can create the world in which you are happy."
“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”
“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
"Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery."
Ram Dass
"We're fascinated by the words--but where we meet is in the silence behind them."
Ram Dass
"When we see the Beloved in each person, it's like walking through a garden, watching flowers bloom all around us."
Ram Dass
"I'm not interested in being a "lover." I'm interested in only being love."
Ram Dass
"Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."
Ram Dass
"The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it's in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I'm caught in an unstable situation. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me."
Ram Dass
"Information is just bits of data. Knowledge is putting them together. Wisdom is transcending them."
Ram Dass
"Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery."
Ram Dass
"The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out."
Thich Nhat Hanh
Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive—that you can touch the miracle of being alive—then that is a kind of enlightenment."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him."
Buddha
"It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
Not by angels or by demons,
Heaven or hell."
Buddha
"Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts.. if we can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way." Ram Dass
SURYANAMASKAR
"Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is a supreme creative act."
I’m not interested in being a “lover.” I’m interested in only being love."
Ram Dass
"Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts.. if we can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way." Ram Dass
The Blessed One
"I teach one thing and one only:
that is, suffering and the end of suffering."
A brahmin once asked The Blessed One:
"Are you a God?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"Are you a saint?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"Are you a magician?"
"No, brahmin" said The Blessed One.
"What are you then?"
"I am awake."
"To meditate does not mean to fight with a problem.
To meditate means to observe.
Your smile proves it.
It proves that you are being gentle with yourself,
that the sun of awareness is shining in you,
that you have control of your situation.
You are yourself,
and you have acquired some peace."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"....there is a great deal of hatred and anger and discrimination. How is it possible, in such a state, for people to practice deep looking with the aim of achieving a deep knowledge...So it is necessary to practice mindfulness- it could be Buddhist or Christian- but it is necessary to bring mindfulness to our everyday life. If you are a journalist, a teacher, or a filmmaker you should practice mindfulness- for the sake of your own calm and your own happiness, but also for that of other people as well. Because we need your calm, your compassion, your understanding. So we should be mindful as individuals but also as a community, as a family, as a nation."
Thich Nhat Hanh,True Love, in the chapter titled 'Everybody Should Practice Mindfulness'
"Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating 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. "
Thich Nhat Hanh__Shambhala Sun
"The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves "inside the skin" of the other. We "go inside" their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with."
ZEN GARDEN
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"There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.
If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.
Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful. "
"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look into the 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 our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like 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. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change. "
Thich Nhat Hanh , Contemporary Vietnamese Buddhist Zen monk, peace activist and writer
"Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world. "
"Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity. "
BUDDHA
“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world” BUDDHA
“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world” BUDDHA
"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
The Buddha
"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned, forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."
~Luke 6:37~
You are me and I am you.
It is obvious that we are inter-are.
You cultivate the flower in
yourself so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself so
that you do not have to suffer.
I support you you support me.
I am here to bring you peace
you are here to bring me joy."
Venerable Zen MasterThich Nhat Hanh
"In Buddhism, we speak of touching Nirvana with our own body, In Christianity, you can also touch the Kingdom of God with your body, right here and now. it is much safer than placing our hope in the future. If we cling to the idea of hope in the future, we might not notice the peace and joy that are available in the present moment. The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment."
Venerable Zan Master Thich Nhat Hanh
