Nhat Hanh
Nhat Hanh
Thích Nhất Hạnh; born as Nguyen Xuan Bao on October 11, 1926) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist. He lives in Plum Village in the Dordogne region in the south of France, travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. He coined the term "Engaged Buddhism" in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. A long-term exile, he was given permission to make his first return trip to Vietnam in 2005...
NationalityVietnamese
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth11 October 1926
CountryVietnam
Don't think you have to be solemn to meditate. To meditate, well, you have to smile a lot.
Science and mindfulness complement each other in helping people to eat well and maintain their health and well-being.
"I am breathing in and liberating my mind. I am breathing out and liberating my mind." One practices like this.
Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what's the use of seeing?
The bad things, don't do them. The good things, try to do them. Try to purify, subdue your own mind. That is the teaching of all buddhas.
We will not just say, "I love him very much," but instead, "I will do something so that he will suffer less." The mind of compassion is truly present when it is effective in removing another person's suffering.
Before practicing meditation, we see that mountains are mountains. When we start to practice, we see that mountains are no longer mountains. After practicing a while, we see that mountains are again mountains. Now the mountains are very free. Our mind is still with the mountains, but it is no longer bound to anything.
If we practice mindfulness, we always have a place to be when we are afraid.
I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life. We cannot support any act of killing; no killing can be justified. But not to kill is not enough ... If in your thinking you allow the killing to go on, you also break this precept. We must be determined not to condone killing, even in our minds.
Meditation is to be aware of what is going on in your body, in your feelings, in your mind, and in the world.
Compassion is a mind that removes the suffering that is present in the other.
Breath is aligned with both body and mind and it alone can bring them together.
When reality is perceived in its nature of ultimate perfection, the practitioner has reached a level of wisdom called non-discrimination mind - a wondrous communion in which there is no longer any distinction made between subject and object.
With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.