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
Knowing that anger makes me ugly, I smile instead. I return to myself and meditate on love.
Happiness is not an individual matter.
Each second of life is a miracle
Peace in ourselves, peace in the world.
When the energy of compassion and love touches us, healing establishes itself.
The first thing I learned was that even if you have a lot of money and power and fame, you can still suffer very deeply.
Awareness is a mirror reflecting the four elements. Beauty is a heart that generates love and a mind that is open.
Buddhism has to do with your daily life, with your suffering and with the suffering of the people around you.
The necessary condition for the existence of peace and joy is the awareness that peace and joy are available.
Impermanence is very important, crucial for life. That is why instead of complaining about impermanence you have to say "Long live impermanence!"
If things were not impermanent, life would not be possible.
In English we say 'we are' but it's proper to say 'we are becoming' because things are becoming.
I hold my face in my two hands. No, I am not crying. I hold my face in my two hands to keep the loneliness warm - two hands protecting, two hands nourishing, two hands preventing my soul from leaving me in anger.
A flower is not a flower. It is made only of non-flower elements - sunshine, clouds, time, space, earth, minerals, gardeners, and so on. A true flower contains the whole universe. If we return any one of these non-flower elements to its source, there will be no flower.