“The Art of Living” by Thich Nhat Hanh

• The first wrong view we need to liberate ourselves from is the idea that we are a separate self cut off from the rest of the world
• The second wrong view that many of us hold is the view that we are only this body, and that when we die we cease to exist. This wrong view blinds us to all the ways in which we are interconnected with the world around us and the ways in which we continue after death.
• The third wrong view that many of us have is the idea that what we are looking for—whether it be happiness, heaven, or love—can be found only outside us in a distant future. We may spend our lives chasing after and waiting for these things, not realizing that they can be found within us, right in the present moment.
• There are three fundamental practices to help liberate us from these three wrong views: the concentrations on emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness.
• We can also explore four additional concentrations on impermanence, non-craving, letting go, and nirvana.
• The freedom we seek is not the kind of freedom that is self-destructive or destructive of other nations or the environment, but the kind of freedom that liberates us from our loneliness, anger, hatred, fear, craving, and despair.
• Bringing the mind to stillness is easy. You need only to pay attention to one thing. As long as your mind is listening to the rain it is not thinking about anything else. You don’t need to try to still your mind. You need only to relax and continue listening to the rain. The longer you are able to do so, the more still your mind becomes.
• I think (too much), therefore I am (not there to live my life).
• So our observation tells us that the flower is full of the whole cosmos, while at the same time it is empty of a separate self-existence. The flower cannot exist by itself alone.
• We too are full of so many things and yet empty of a separate self. Like the flower, we contain earth, water, air, sunlight, and warmth. We contain space and consciousness. We contain our ancestors, our parents and grandparents, education, food, and culture. The whole cosmos has come together to create the wonderful manifestation that we are. If we remove any of these “non-us” elements, we will find there is no “us” left.
• Everything relies on everything else in the cosmos in order to manifest—whether a star, a cloud, a flower, a tree, or you and me.
• It’s true that each one of us is a continuation of our mother; we are our mother. And so whenever we are angry at our mother or father, we are also being angry at ourselves. Whatever we do, our parents are doing it with us.
• The river is always flowing, so as soon as we climb out onto the bank and then return again to bathe, the water has already changed. And even in that short space of time we too have changed. In our body, cells are dying and being born every second. Our thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and state of mind are also changing from one moment to the next. So we cannot swim twice in the same river; nor can the river receive the same person twice.
• The teaching on emptiness is not about the “dying” of the self. The self does not need to die. The self is just an idea, an illusion, a wrong view, a notion; it is not reality. How can something that is not there die? We do not need to kill the self, but we can remove the illusion of a separate self by gaining a deeper understanding of reality.
• There are the actions of thinking, feeling, and perceiving, but there is no actor or separate self-entity doing the thinking, feeling, and perceiving.
• I saw very clearly that if a cloud is not floating, it is not a cloud. If a flower is not blooming, it is not a flower. Without floating, there is no cloud. Without blooming, there is no flower. We cannot separate the two. You cannot take the mind out of the body, and you cannot take the body out of the mind. They inter-are. Just as we find the flower in the blooming, we find a human being in the energy of action. If there’s no energy of action, there’s no human being.
• With the insight of interbeing—the insight that we inter-are with one another and with all life—we don’t need to wait to meet our beloved ones again in heaven. They are still right here with us.
• Even a subatomic particle or a speck of dust has vitality. There is no absolute dividing line between animate and inanimate, between living matter and inert matter. In so-called inert matter there is life, and living beings are dependent on so-called inert matter. If we took the so-called inanimate elements out of you and me, we would not be able to live. We are made of non-human elements.
• If the Earth were inert matter, it could not give birth to countless great beings, including the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Moses. The Earth is also mother to our parents and to us. Looking with the eyes of non-discrimination, we can establish a very close relationship with the Earth. We look at the Earth with our heart and not the eyes of cold reasoning. You are the planet, and the planet is you. The well-being of your body is not possible without the well-being of the planet. And that is why to protect the well-being of your body we must protect the well-being of the planet. This is the insight of emptiness.
• Buddha. “Even if it’s an ancient teaching, even if it’s taught by a highly revered teacher. You should use your intelligence and critical mind to carefully examine everything you see or hear. And then put the teaching into practice to see if it helps liberate you from your suffering and your difficulties. If it does, you can believe in it.”
• We should investigate and observe reality with mindfulness and concentration, so our understanding and faith can deepen day by day. This is the kind of faith we cannot lose, because it is not based on ideas or beliefs but on experienced reality.
• We can speak of two kinds of Buddhism: popular Buddhism and deep Buddhism. Different audiences need different kinds of teachings, so the teachings should always be adapted in order to be appropriate to the audience.
• Practicing openness and non-attachment to views is fundamental in Buddhism. That is why, even though there are dozens of different schools of Buddhism, Buddhists have never waged a holy war against each other.
• We don’t need a permanent, separate self in order to reap the consequences of our actions. Are you the same person you were last year, or are you different? Even in this lifetime, we cannot say that the one who sowed good seeds last year is exactly the same person as the one who reaps the benefit this year.
• In Buddhism, if you touch the reality of interbeing, impermanence, and no self, you understand reincarnation in quite a different way. You see that rebirth is possible without a self. Karma is possible without a self, and retribution is possible without a self.
• A cloud can only become something else, like rain or snow or hail. When you are a cloud, you feel like a cloud. And when you become rain, you feel like the rain. And when you become snow, you feel like the snow. Remanifestation is wonderful.
• Every day you transform. Some part of you is being born and some part is dying.
• It’s the quality of our life that is important, not how long we live.
• It is possible to transform not only our home but also our work, school, corporation, or hospital into a beloved community, into a kind of family, where there is love, understanding, and true communication.
• We think death means that from something we will become nothing. But if we see all the ways in which we exist beyond our body, constantly changing forms, we realize nothing is lost. And we no longer feel so angry or afraid.
• When a cloud becomes rain, we may be tempted to say that the cloud has died. But we know the cloud’s true nature, H2O, hasn’t died at all. It has become rain. If we want to see the true nature of the cloud, we have to free ourselves from the sign “cloud.” The dying of a cloud is at the same time the birthing of the rain. If the cloud did not die, how could the rain be born? But the cloud need not wait until that moment in order to see the birth of the rain. Because, like us, the cloud is dying in every moment.
• But we should not be caught up in thinking that our body is our self. Our body is made entirely of non-body elements, including the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and air. Contemplating these elements, we can see a deep connection between the inside and the outside of our body. We cannot draw a boundary between them. The four elements in us are one with the four elements outside us. Input and output are always taking place. In this very moment we are receiving and releasing water, warmth, and breath; and we can see countless cells and atoms from our body being nourished by and returning to the earth.
• Buddha body” is just a shorthand way of describing our capacity to be awake and fully present, to be understanding, compassionate, and loving. You don’t need to know or use the word “buddha” to have a buddha body. You don’t have to believe in anything, not even the Buddha.
• We’re all capable of drinking our tea in mindfulness. Every one of us can breathe, walk, shower, and eat in mindfulness. Every one of us can wash the dishes in mindfulness. Every one of us can speak and listen with compassion. The more you water the seeds of mindfulness, concentration, insight, and love in you, the more your buddha body will grow, and the happier and freer you’ll become.
• Spiritual practice is the art of knowing how to generate happiness and handle suffering, just as a gardener knows how to make good use of mud in order to grow lotus flowers. Spiritual practice is what helps us to overcome challenging and difficult moments. It is the art of stopping and looking deeply to gain deeper insight. It is very concrete. We cultivate our spiritual practice body—which we can also call our “Dharma body”—by cultivating the seeds of awakening and mindfulness in our daily life. The more solid our spiritual body becomes, the happier we will be and the more we are able to help those around us be happier and suffer less.
• What we have learned from our teachers is far more important than their physical presence. Our teachers have transmitted to us the fruit of all their wisdom and experience. The Buddha was trying to tell Vaikali that he should look for the teacher within, not the teacher outside. Our teachers are there within us. What more could we want?
• The key elements in a beloved community are love, trust, joy, harmony, and brotherhood and sisterhood. When we can generate understanding and compassion in our way of being and working together, everyone we interact with feels that energy right away and is able to profit from it. We can create moments to listen deeply to one another’s insights and difficulties, or a relaxing moment with tea and cookies where we take time just to be fully present for each other. Our community can become a source of support and a place of refuge for many people.
• When I write a book, I transform myself into thousands of me that can go a little bit everywhere. Every book becomes my body outside the body.
• If we can see our continuation body while we’re still alive, we’ll know how to cultivate it to ensure a beautiful continuation in the future. This is the true art of living. Then, when the time comes for the dissolution of our physical body, we will be able to release it easily.
• There is no self who dies. There is only transformation.
• We contain mountains, rivers, stars, and black holes. In every moment of our life the cosmos is going through us, renewing us, and we are returning ourselves to the cosmos. We are breathing the atmosphere, eating the earth’s food, creating new ideas, and experiencing new feelings. And we are emitting energy back into the cosmos, in our thinking, speech, and actions, in our out-breath, in our body’s warmth, and in releasing everything we have consumed and digested. In this very moment many parts of us are returning to the earth.
• With our mindful breathing and deep awareness of our body, we are able to leave the zone of cogitating, discriminating, and analyzing, and enter the realm of interbeing.
• Restoring communication is the most basic practice for peace.
• Living each moment as a way to realize our dreams, there is no difference between the end and the means.
• You only need to look inside. Looking deeply into your own body, barely six feet tall, you can discover the immensity of the cosmos. You can touch your true nature beyond birth and death, suffering and discrimination. You don’t need to go anywhere.
• The concentration on aimlessness means arriving in the present moment to discover that the present moment is the only moment in which you can find everything you’ve been looking for, and that you already are everything you want to become.
• Aimlessness does not mean doing nothing. It means not putting something in front of you to chase after. When we remove the objects of our craving and desires, we discover that happiness and freedom are available to us right here in the present moment.
• One mindful in-breath is enough for us to suddenly notice the bright blue sky, the cool fresh air, the sound of the wind in the pine trees, or the music of the running brook. We don’t need to die to go to heaven. We already are in the Kingdom of God.
• To practice aimlessness is to identify what it is you’re looking for, waiting for, or running after, and let it go. By removing these objects of seeking that are pulling you away from the here and now, you will discover that everything you want is already right here in the present moment. You don’t need to “be someone” or do something in order to be happy and free.
• Loving-kindness, understanding, and compassion are there within us. We need only to clear some of the rock obstructing the way in order to reveal them. There is no essence of holiness we need to seek outside. And there is no essence of the ordinary we have to destroy. We already are what we want to become. Even in our most difficult moments, everything that is good, true, and beautiful is already there, within us and around us. We just have to live in such a way that allows it to be revealed.
• Master Lin-Chi exhorted his students to be “business-less.” It means to not be getting busy all the time, to be free from busyness. If we can be business-less, we can touch the spirit of aimlessness in our daily life, not being carried away by our desires, plans, and projects. We don’t do things to get praise or status; we don’t try to play a role. Wherever we are, we can be sovereign of ourselves. We’re no longer swept away by our environment; we’re no longer pushed or swayed by the crowd.
• To be business-less is to live our daily life in touch with the ultimate dimension. In the ultimate dimension, there is nothing to do. We already are what we want to become. We are relaxed; we are at peace. There is no need to run anymore. We are happy and free from worry and anxiety. This is the way of being that is most needed in the world. It is very pleasant to dwell in the ultimate dimension, and we should all learn how to do it.
• But our freedom and sovereignty means that we don’t become a victim of circumstances.
• my one action is to be peace and to bring peace to others.
• Our time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving. And this is what the world needs the most. We all need to train ourselves in our way of being, and that is the ground for all action.
• Our quality of being determines our quality of doing.
• we learned that the quality of our action depended on the quality of our being.
• In Plum Village we have organized retreats for Israelis and Palestinians. Back in the Middle East, their lives may be a daily struggle to survive. There is always something to do and not a moment to stop. But when they come to Plum Village, we create a peaceful environment for them to rest, stop, sit quietly, and come back to themselves. They just sit with us, walk with us, and eat with us. They practice deep relaxation. No one is doing anything special, yet it is already a revolution. After only a few days of practice, they feel a lot better. They have space inside, and they are able to sit there and listen to the suffering of the other side with compassion. Many young people on these retreats have told us that it was the first time in their lives that they believed peace was possible in the Middle East.
• Peace is something that we can be in every moment. If we want peace, we have to be peace. Peace is a practice and not a hope
• The truth is I really don’t feel that there is anything I have to do before I die, because the way I see it, I won’t ever die. And the things I want to do, I’ve been doing for a long time already. In any case, in the ultimate dimension, there is nothing more to do.
• Everyone has a dream. You need to take the time to be still, to look deeply, and to listen to your heart to find out what your deepest desire is. Is it to have a lot of money, power, fame, or sex, or is it something else? What do you really want to do with your life? You should not wait until you are already old to ask yourself these questions. Once you can identify your deepest intention, you have a chance to be true to yourself, to live the kind of life you’d like to live, and to be the kind of person you’d like to be.
• as soon as you have a dream, an intention, an ideal, you have to live it. Your dream can be realized right in the present moment. You live your life in such a way that every step in the right direction and every breath along the way becomes the realization of your dream. Your dream does not take you away from the present; on the contrary, your dream becomes reality in the present moment.
• There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.
• Walking meditation is linked to the practice of mindful breathing. When you walk, you coordinate your breathing and your steps. Relax your body and let go of any thinking about the past and the future, and bring your mind back to the present moment. Feel the contact with the ground. As you breathe in, notice the number of steps you are making while breathing in. As you breathe out, notice the number of steps that you are making while breathing out. Allow your breathing to be natural, and simply pay attention to how many steps you take as you breathe in and out. After a while, you notice there is a rhythm, a coordination, between your breathing and your steps. It’s like music.
• Our suffering is impermanent, and that is why we can transform it. And because happiness is impermanent, that is why we have to nourish it.
• Impermanence is just as capable of bringing about happiness as it is of bringing about suffering. Impermanence is not bad news. Because of impermanence, despotic regimes are subject to fall. Because of impermanence, illness can be cured. Thanks to impermanence, we can enjoy the wonder of the four beautiful seasons. Thanks to impermanence, anything can change and transform in a more positive direction.
• Love is something alive, and it needs to be nourished. No matter how beautiful our love is, if we don’t know how to nourish it, it will die. We need to learn how to cultivate our love’s garden so that our love story can become a long love story. Don’t think that your love has died. The person you fell in love with has not disappeared. They are still there, waiting to be rediscovered.
• The truth is that suffering and happiness inter-are; there cannot be one without the other.
• Mindfulness can only help reduce our stress and tension if it provides us with insight.
• Whether this moment is happy or not depends on you. It’s you who makes the moment happy, not the moment that makes you happy. With mindfulness, concentration, and insight, any moment can become a happy moment.
• We may spend our lives chasing after wealth, status, influence, and sensual pleasures, thinking they will improve the quality of our life. And yet we end up not having any time left to live. Our life becomes just a means to make money and become “someone.”
• At first we think that if we let go of what we’re craving, we’ll lose a lot. But when you finally release it, you see that you have not lost anything after all. You are even richer than before, because you have your freedom, and you have the present moment, just like the farmer who sold everything in order to buy the treasure in the field.
• When fear, craving, or desire comes up, we need to be able to recognize it with mindfulness and smile to it with compassion. “Hello, fear; hello, craving. Hello, little child; hello, ancestors.” Following our breathing, and in the safe island of the present moment, we transmit the energy of stability, compassion, and non-fear to our inner child and our ancestors.
• Many of us do things only for the sake of form. We do things not because we believe it’s important, but because we think others think it’s important. We may even chant or pray or invoke the Buddha’s name because we think it matters to the Buddha, but not because it’s meaningful for us. The same is true with chasing after signs of success, wealth, or status. We may do it, not because we think it’s important, but because we think others expect it of us. But when we truly see the cost of these pursuits, and the hook in them, we won’t want to keep running after them anymore. We make use of the insight that we are already enough. We don’t have anything to prove.
• If you want to heal your loneliness, you first have to learn how to heal yourself, be there for yourself, and cultivate your own inner garden of love, acceptance, and understanding.
• Many people around you have a lot of anger, hate, and despair, which prevents them from getting in touch with the fresh air, the blue sky, or the fragrance of a rose. They are in a kind of prison. But if you practice compassion, if you can see the suffering in the people around you, and if you try to do something to help them suffer less every day, then you will be free. One day with compassion is worth more than one hundred days without it.
• We cannot be still. We do everything in a hurry, rushing from one thing to the next. Wherever we are, we always think we should be somewhere else. We’re even restless in our sleep. No position of the body feels comfortable. We’re longing for something and craving something, but we don’t know what it is. We open the refrigerator, we check our phone, we pick up a newspaper, we listen to the news—we do everything we can to forget the feeling of loneliness and suffering inside.
• We may take refuge in our work, not because we need the money, or because we really want to do it, but because our work distracts us from the painful feelings deep inside. We’re rewarded by a sense of achievement in our work, and before we know it, we get addicted to our work. Maybe we turn to films, TV series, the Internet, or computer games, or we listen to music for hours on end. We think these things make us feel better, but as soon as we turn them off, we feel just as bad, if not worse, than we did before. It has become a habit to reach for the phone or computer and immerse ourselves in another world. We do it to survive. But we want to do more than just survive. We want to live.
• The energy of mindfulness—our spiritual practice body—helps us identify what kind of feeling is coming up and pushing us to run away. Solidly rooted in our mindful breathing, we realize we don’t need to run away. We don’t need to suppress our painful feelings. We see clearly what is going on inside and take the chance to stop, embrace our feelings, and start to truly take care of ourselves.
• When you pursue the path of happiness, you are much more likely to be successful in your work. If you are happier and have more inner peace, your work tends to be better. But you have to make happiness your priority. Once you can accept yourself as you are, you allow yourself to be happy. You don’t need to become anything or anyone else, just as a rose doesn’t need to become a lotus in order to be happy. As a rose, it is already beautiful. You are wonderful just as you are.
• The time of brushing your teeth is not lost time. It is also life. Don’t do it just to get it done. Enjoy being mindful, and concentrate on the act of tooth brushing. This is the art of living. You don’t need to think of anything else; you don’t need to hurry. Just relax and enjoy brushing your teeth. When you do this, you encounter yourself and you encounter life deeply in the present moment.
• Put your thinking aside while you eat and just try to be fully present to taste and enjoy the food and the people around you. Switch off the TV or radio; put aside your phone, the newspaper, or anything else that might distract you. Eating like this, you’re not just nourished by the food; you’re also nourished by the peace, happiness, and freedom you have while eating.
• There is a positive mental formation called “ease”—a relaxed state of peacefulness and tranquillity, like the still water in a calm mountain lake. We cannot be happy, we cannot nourish and heal ourselves, unless we are at ease. The peace of feeling at ease is the most precious thing there is, more precious than any other pursuit.
• Each one of us has our own idea of happiness. We may think our happiness depends on having a certain job, house, car, or person to live with. Or we may think we have to eliminate this or that from our lives in order to be happy. Some of us think that if only a certain political party was in power, then we’d be happy. But these are just ideas we have created for ourselves. If we let go of our ideas, we can allow ourselves to touch happiness right away. Our idea of happiness may be the very obstacle standing in the way of our happiness.
• Letting go is a source of joy and happiness, but it takes courage.
• My experience has shown me that the practice of mindful breathing and mindful walking can help overcome depression, despair, anger, and fear.
• The energy of mindfulness helps us recognize, acknowledge, and embrace the presence of the suffering, which can already bring some calm and relief.
• When suffering comes up, we have to be present for it. We shouldn’t run away from it or cover it up with consumption, distraction, or diversion. We should simply recognize it and embrace it, like a mother lovingly embracing a crying baby in her arms. The mother is mindfulness, and the crying baby is suffering. The mother has the energy of gentleness and love. When the baby is embraced by the mother, it feels comforted and immediately suffers less, even though the mother does not yet know exactly what the problem is. Just the fact that the mother is embracing the baby is enough to help the baby suffer less. We don’t need to know where the suffering is coming from. We just need to embrace it, and that already brings some relief. As our suffering begins to calm down, we know we will get through it.
• Sometimes someone else’s suffering can make you feel powerless. It may seem like there is nothing you can do to help them. But in fact, if you can generate and sustain an energy of calm and embrace your own feeling of powerlessness—by following your breathing and relaxing your body—you are taking care of the energy of your tree. Offering a high quality of presence for someone who is suffering can already be very supportive and healing for the other person.
• Don’t think that you and the world are two separate things. Anything you do for yourself, you are also doing for the world.
• So the first step in the art of suffering is to use the energy of mindfulness to be present for your suffering. Your spiritual practice body—your mindful breathing and the energy of mindfulness, concentration, and insight—gives you the courage and stability to recognize, handle, and embrace what’s coming up.
• Compassion is born from understanding suffering, and without understanding and compassion, we cannot be a happy person.
• We cannot create happiness in a place where there is no suffering, just as we cannot grow lotuses without mud. Happiness and peace are born from transforming suffering and pain. If there was no mud, how could a lotus grow? Lotuses cannot grow on marble.
• When we cool the flames of our anger and, having understood its roots, the anger transforms into compassion, this is the experience of nirvana
• In the ultimate dimension of reality-in-itself, there is no birth and no death, no suffering and no happiness, no coming and no going, no good and no evil. When we can let go of all ideas and notions—including the ideas of a “self,” a “human being,” a “living being,” or a “life span”—we touch the true nature of reality in itself; we touch nirvana.
• If we run away from our suffering, we will never be able to find awakening. So it’s okay to suffer—we just need to learn how to handle it. Awakening can be found right in the heart of our suffering. It is thanks to transforming the heat of the fire that we can touch the coolness of nirvana.
• The immediate product of your practice of mindfulness is joy, solidity, and happiness in every moment. Suppose you are walking mindfully from the parking lot to your office. Every step is peace. Every step is freedom. Every step is healing. Arriving at your office is only a by-product. By learning to walk in freedom like that, you develop the habit of dwelling happily in the present moment. The freedom and happiness of the walking enters every cell of your body. If you can do this every day, then walking mindfully will become a way of life—an art of living—that you can transmit to your children.
• Western capitalist civilization says “Time is money” and that we should use our time to make money. We can’t afford to stop and breathe or enjoy a walk or marvel at the setting sun. We cannot afford to lose time. But time is more precious than money. Time is life. Coming back to our breathing and becoming aware that we have a wonderful body—this is life.