Lovingkindness

"My aspiration is to water the seed of loving-kindness in order to create understanding so that I can bring joy and happiness to my beloved and all beings."

 -Thich Nhat Hanh

Silence

"Silence is something that comes from our own hearts, and not from someone outside. If we are truly silent, then no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can enjoy the silence. Silence does not only mean not talking and not doing loud things. Silence means that we're not disturbed inside, there's no talking inside."   - Thich Nhat Hanh

Seeds of Love

We all need a personal inner space of peace and safety, like birds seeking refuge, returning to a familiar place time and again. With mindfulness as our practice, our first place of refuge is to return to the present. "I have arrived, I am home in the here and in the now, I am solid, I am free." Each breath can be an opportunity to gather our energy and return to our real "home," which is within.   Thich Nhat Hahn

This body is not me
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries
I have never been born,
And I have never died.


Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
Manifestations from my wondrous mind.
Since before time, I have been free.


Birth and death are only doors through which we pass
Sacred thresholds on our journey
Birth and death are a game of hide and seek.


So laugh with me,
Hold my hand,
Let us say goodbye
Say goodbye to meet again soon.
We meet today
We will meet again tomorrow
We meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.

Peacemaking

“We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds--our own prejudices, fears and ignorance...To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women.” --Thich Nhat Hanh

Listening

"When you sit down to listen, you say, 'I listen like this with one purpose: to allow him or her to speak out and to suffer less." -Thich Nhat Hanh

I am Not My Body

This body is not me.

I am not limited by this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,

and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.

Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

~By Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness and Freedom

"The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart."   Thich Nhat Hanh.

MIndfulness

"The answer to anger or other negative states is not to suppress or deny them, but to embrace them with mindfulness like a mother with a baby."  Thich Nhat Hanh

Please Call Me By My True Names

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow --
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

1989

Be Here Now

"To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Impermanence

"Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Morning Prayer

"Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion."
                     Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh