Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist Religious Leader)

Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022) was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk and a peace activist. He was one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist teachers and the founding father of the Engaged Buddhism movement.

Born Nguyen Xaun Bao in central Vietnam, Nhất Hạnh became a monk at sixteen. As an apprentice, he neglected his Buddhist training college for Saigon University to study world literature, philosophy, and science. During the Vietnam War, he coined the term Engaged Buddhism to describe the antiwar movement in his country. He left his monastery and became actively engaged in helping victims of the war and publicly advocating peace. He organized rescue missions to save the “boat people” fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s. However, his anti-war activism made him unpopular with the powers that be, and he was forced into exile. In 1967, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nhất Hạnh was considered by many to be the father of mindfulness in the West. He lived in exile in Plum Village, a retreat center in southern France from where he taught meditation to thousands of followers in the West.

Nhất Hạnh, affectionately referred to as “Thay” by his students, was the author of many books of poetry and prose on Engaged Buddhist themes. His notable works include Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1987,) Peace Is Every Step (1992,) Living Buddha, Living Christ (1997,) Being Peace (2005,) How to Love (2014,) and The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching (2015.)

In his writings, Nhất Hạnh stressed the oneness or “interbeing” of all existence, mindfulness in daily life, and service and nonviolent activism on behalf of those suffering tyranny and injustice.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Thich Nhat Hanh

Water flows from high in the mountains
Water runs deep in the Earth
Miraculously, water comes to us,
And sustains all life.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Water

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Smile

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Attention, Listening

If love is in our hearts, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Government

Hatred and fear blind us. We no longer see each other. We see only the faces of monsters, and that gives us the courage to destroy each other.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Courage

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
Topics: Understanding, Arguments, Blame

Your true home is in the here and the now. It is not limited by time, space, nationality, or race. Your true home is not an abstract idea. It is something you can touch and live in every moment. With mindfulness and concentration, the energies of the Buddha, you can find your true home in the full relaxation of your mind and body in the present moment. No one can take it away from you. Other people can occupy your country, they can even put you in prison, but they cannot take away your true home and your freedom.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

To educate people for peace, we can use words or we can speak with our lives.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Peace

Words and thoughts concerning compassionate action that are not put into practice are like beautiful flowers that are colorful but have no fragrance.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Activism

When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Kindness, Compassion

Smile, breathe and go slowly.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

But if we have the energy of compassion and loving kindness in us, the people around us will be influenced by our way of being and living.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Compassion

We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Love

In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain and July. just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Reflection

May our heart’s garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Gardening

Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane… sitting at the table with other people, we have the chance to offer an authentic smile of friendship and understanding. It is very easy, but not many people do it. To me, this is the most important practice. We look at each person and smile … .
—Thich Nhat Hanh

There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Happiness

It is possible to live happily in the here and now. So many conditions of happiness are available—more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don’t have to run into the future in order to get more.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Smile

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Peace

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Suffering, Letting Go

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.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Joy, Peace, Smile

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.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Whatever you can do, do it today and then old age will be a delicious fruit.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting.
With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Topics: Meditation

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

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