Nhat Hanh Men Quotations

Without full awareness of breathing, there can be no development of meditative stability and understanding.

Our appointment with life is in the present moment. If we do not have peace and joy right now, when will we have peace and joy?

The 7 factors of enlightenment: mindfullness, investigation of mental objects, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration and equanimity.

Because if the manifestations that happen in the present moment are beautiful and good, their continuation in the future will be also good and beautiful.

Many Communist government officials have a rigid, dictatorial power, but they live in constant suspicion and fear of anything that might undermine the power they have.

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.

Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.

Enlightenment for a wave is the moment the wave realizes it is water. At that moment, all fear of death disappears.

By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better & prepare for a better future.

That is why those who are not capable of being there in the present moment, they don't really live their life - they live like dead people.

Awareness is a mirror reflecting the four elements. Beauty is a heart that generates love and a mind that is open.

Let us look at wealth and poverty. The affluent society and the deprived society inter-are. The wealth of one society is made of the poverty of the other. "This is like this, because that is like that." Wealth is made of non-wealth elements, and poverty is made by non-poverty elements. [...] so we must be careful not to imprison ourselves in concepts. The truth is that everything contains everything else. We cannot just be, we can only inter-be. We are responsible fo everything that happens around us.

You are a Buddha, and so is everyone else. I didn't make that up. It was the Buddha himself who said so. He said that all beings had the potential to become awakened. To practice walking meditation is to practice living in mindfulness. Mindfulness and enlightenment are one. Enlightenment leads to mindfulness and mindfulness leads to enlightenment.

To live in the present moment is a miracle.

Life is only available in the present moment.

Contemplating the bowl, it is possible to see the interdependent elements which give rise to the bowl.

There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man standing alongside the road, shouts, «Where are you going?» and the first man replies, «I don't know! Ask the horse!» This is also our story. We are riding a horse, and we don't know where we are going and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless.

We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet.

Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment.

The way we live our daily lives is what most effects the situation of the world. If we can change our daily lives, then we can change our governments and can change the world. Our president and governments are us. They reflect our lifestyle and our way of thinking. The way we hold a cup of tea, pick up the newspaper or even use toilet paper are directly related to peace.

There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.

Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.

If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.

You have an appointment with life, an appointment that is in the here and now.

Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us.

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

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.

We have to learn to die in every moment in order to be fully alive.

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.

It is said that God has created man in his own image. But it may be that humankind has created God in the image of humankind.

Nothing is more precious than being in the present moment. Fully alive, fully aware.

Transformations is the word. We can do the work of transformation only in the present moment

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.

Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.

Know that life can only be found in the present moment.

Find joy and peace in this very moment.

Only the present moment contains life.

Our own lives are the instruments with which we experiment with truth.

If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.

If you are truly present and know how to take care of the present moment as best you can, you are doing your best for the future already.

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.

Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment.

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.

Be part of the miraculous moment.

If we are free from attachment, we can easily recognize ourselves in other people, in different forms of manifestation, and then we don't have to suffer.

The moment you understand the importance of loving yourself, you will stop hurting others.

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.

The happiest moments are when we sit down and we feel the presence of our brothers and sisters, lay and monastic, who are practicing walking and sitting mediation.