No Mud, No Lotus - Thich Nhat Hanh

Last updated May 6, 2024

• Author: Thich Nhat Hanh
• Full Title: No Mud, No Lotus
• Category: #books

“Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.” —THICH NHAT HANH (Location 15)

Being able to enjoy happiness doesn’t require that we have zero suffering. (Location 45)

there is no realm where there’s only happiness and there’s no suffering. (Location 48)

Knowing how to suffer well is essential to realizing true happiness. (Location 56)

If there’s no right, then there’s no left. Where there is no suffering, there can be no happiness either, and vice versa. (Location 62)

Suffering isn’t some kind of external, objective source of oppression and pain. There might be things that cause you to suffer, such as loud music or bright lights, which may bring other people joy. (Location 67)

Some people think that in order to be happy they must avoid all suffering, and so they are constantly vigilant, constantly worrying. They end up sacrificing all their spontaneity, freedom, and joy. (Location 71)

If you can recognize and accept your pain without running away from it, you will discover that although pain is there, joy can also be there at the same time. (Location 72)

The way to suffer well and be happy is to stay in touch with what is actually going on; in doing so, you will gain liberating insights into the true nature of suffering and of joy. (Location 75)

they are always changing. The flower, when it wilts, becomes the compost. The compost can help grow a flower again. (Location 78)

It’s easy enough to notice mud all over you at times. The hardest thing to practice is not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by despair. (Location 90)

If you know how to make good use of the mud, you can grow beautiful lotuses. If you know how to make good use of suffering, you can produce happiness. (Location 100)

The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths are: there is suffering; there is a course of action that generates suffering; suffering ceases (i.e., there is happiness); and there is a course of action leading to the cessation of suffering (the arising of happiness). (Location 110)

there is the suffering of the mind, including anxiety, jealousy, despair, fear, and anger. (Location 118)

While we can’t avoid all the suffering in life, we can suffer much less by not watering the seeds of suffering inside us. (Location 119)

Suffering can be either physical or mental or both, but every kind of suffering manifests somewhere in the body and creates tension and stress. (Location 121)

Nonhuman animals instinctively know that stopping is the best way to get healed. (Location 127)

We don’t know how to rest anymore. We don’t allow the body to rest, to release the tension, and heal. (Location 129)

we can sometimes use them in smaller quantities and to much greater effect when we know how to let our body and mind truly rest. (Location 132)

The main affliction of our modern civilization is that we don’t know how to handle the suffering inside us and we try to cover it up with all kinds of consumption. (Location 134)

Mindfulness is the capacity to dwell in the present moment, to know what’s happening in the here and now. (Location 141)

Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. It’s the energy that helps us be aware of what is happening right now and right here, in our body, in our feelings, in our perceptions, and around us. (Location 147)

By being aware of your in-breath and out-breath you generate the energy of mindfulness, so you can continue to cradle the suffering. (Location 150)

With mindfulness we are no longer afraid of pain. We can even go further and make good use of suffering to generate the energy of understanding and compassion that heals us and we can help others to heal and be happy as well. (Location 152)

The way we start producing the medicine of mindfulness is by stopping and taking a conscious breath, giving our complete attention to our in-breath and our out-breath. (Location 154)

We are truly alive only when the mind is with the body. The great news is that oneness of body and mind can be realized just by one in-breath. (Location 156)

Recognizing the tension, the pain, the stress in our body, we can bathe it in our mindful awareness, and that is the beginning of healing. (Location 158)

If we take care of the suffering inside us, we have more clarity, energy, and strength to help address the suffering violence, poverty, and inequity of our loved ones as well as the suffering in our community and the world. (Location 159)

Our thinking, perceiving, and worrying take away all the space inside us, and keep us from being in touch with what’s happening moment to moment. (Location 168)

Love needs to be nurtured and fed to survive; and our suffering also survives because we enable and feed it. (Location 171)

If we try to use consumption to ignore or distract ourselves from our suffering, we end up making the suffering worse. (Location 174)

We don’t feel very well inside, so in order to forget, we go and look for something to eat even if we’re not hungry at all. We eat in an attempt to feel better, but we end up becoming addicted to eating, because we are trying to cover up the suffering inside, and the real problem is left unaddressed. (Location 178)

Electronic distractions not only fail to help heal the underlying suffering, they may contain stories or images that feed our craving, jealousy, anger, or despair. Instead of making us feel better, they numb us only briefly, then make us feel worse. (Location 181)

When suffering arises, the first thing to do is to stop, follow our breathing, and acknowledge it. (Location 186)

Breathing in, I know suffering is there. Breathing out, I say hello to my suffering. (Location 188)

In just two or three breaths taken with your full attention, you may notice that regret and sorrow about the past have paused, as well as uncertainty, fear, and worries about the future. (Location 192)

When we breathe in and focus our attention on our in-breath, we reunite body and mind. We become aware of what is going on in the present moment, in our body, in our perceptions, and around us. (Location 201)

most of our thinking is unproductive. When we think, it may be easy for us to be lost in our thinking. But when we use our breath to bring our mind home to the body, we can stop the thinking. (Location 203)

If you continue to breathe in and out mindfully, you maintain that state of presence and freedom. Your mind will be clearer and you will make better decisions. (Location 206)

When you practice mindfulness of breathing, you know right away that you are alive, and that to be alive is a wonder. (Location 209)

If you can be aware that you have a living body, and notice when there’s tension in your body, that’s already an important insight. (Location 210)

You don’t need to struggle to control your breathing. In fact, breathing in can become a real pleasure. You just allow yourself to breathe in naturally while focusing your attention on your in-breath. (Location 213)

The sunshine doen’t interfere with the flower. The sunshine just embraces and subtly permeates the flower. Embraced by the energy of the sunshine, the flower begins to bloom. (Location 215)

But if we don’t have the time and the willingness to take care of ourselves, how can we offer any genuine care to the people we love? (Location 224)

Suffering is one energy. Mindfulness is another energy that we can call on to come and embrace the suffering. (Location 227)

With mindful breathing, you can recognize the presence of a painful feeling, just like an older sibling greets a younger sibling. (Location 229)

The function of mindfulness is, first, to recognize the suffering and then to take care of the suffering. (Location 234)

A mother taking care of a crying baby naturally will take the child into her arms without suppressing, judging it, or ignoring the crying. Mindfulness is like that mother, recognizing and embracing suffering without judgment. (Location 236)

If we can recognize and cradle the suffering while we breathe mindfully, there is relief already. (Location 241)

Once you have offered your acknowledgment and care to this suffering, it naturally will become less impenetrable and more workable; and then you have the chance to look into it deeply, with kindness (but still always with a solid ground of mindful breathing to support you), and find out why it has come to you. (Location 246)

It is trying to get your attention, to tell you something, and now you can take the opportunity to listen. You can ask someone to look with you— a teacher, a friend, a psychotherapist. (Location 248)

you can explore what kind of roots it has, and what nutriments and habits of consumption have been feeding your sorrow. (Location 249)

A bell of mindfulness, whether it is an actual bell or some other sound, is a wonderful reminder to come back to ourselves, to come back to life here in the present moment. (Location 254)

Every one of us has Buddha nature— the capacity for compassionate, clear, understanding nature— within us. (Location 256)

In my tradition, every time we hear the bell, we pause. We stop moving, talking, and thinking, and we listen to the voice of the heart. (Location 258)

we say we “invite the bell” to sound, because the bell is a friend, an enlightened friend that helps us wake up and guides us home to ourselves. Gentleness and nonviolence are characteristics of the sound of the bell. (Location 260)

If you want to experience what the end of suffering will feel like, it is in the here and the now with this breath. If you want nirvana, it’s right here. (Location 263)

After we’ve cradled and embraced our suffering for some time, we can look deeply into it and begin to understand what has caused it and what has been feeding it. (Location 271)

Understanding the nature of the situation makes it much easier to transform it. (Location 272)

To connect with others, however, we first have to be willing to look deeply into ourselves. (Location 279)

if you have suffering in you and you don’t know where it comes from, looking deeply you may see that this is the suffering of your ancestors, handed down from one generation to another, because no one knew how to recognize, embrace, and heal it. (Location 295)

we can heal not only our own suffering and that of our ancestors, but we can also avoid transmitting this suffering to our loved ones, to our children, and their children. (Location 304)

if you take the time to still the activities of body and mind and look deeply, you may see that you are dying right this very moment. (Location 311)

You are dying now. You have been dying all the time. It’s actually very pleasant to die, which is also to live. (Location 313)

There is no birth and death; everything dies and renews itself all the time. When you get that kind of insight, you no longer tire yourself out with anxiety and aversion. (Location 322)

We believe that we need to obtain a certain diploma or career in order to be safe and be a success. There are people who are victims of this kind of success. They get the things they worked so hard to achieve, and then they find themselves trapped in ways they hadn’t anticipated. (Location 326)

Many of us slog through life without conscious awareness or intention. We set ourselves a course and we barrel ahead, without stopping to ask whether this path is fulfilling our most important goals. (Location 331)

If we haven’t taken the time to stop, come home to ourselves, and look deeply, we may not know what brings us our deepest happiness. (Location 346)

We need to stop and ask, “Can I realize my deepest aspiration if I pursue this path?” “What is really preventing me from taking the path I most deeply desire?” (Location 348)

looking more deeply, we can see the true sources of our own suffering, and we also can see that the person who we think is out to get us is a victim of his or her own suffering. (Location 354)

Understanding our own hurt allows us to see and understand the suffering of others. Looking without judgment, we can understand, and compassion is born. (Location 355)

When there is no more blame or criticism in your eyes, when you are able to look at others with compassion, you see things very differently. You speak differently. The other person can sense you are truly seeing her and understanding her, and that already eases her pain significantly. (Location 362)

when compassion is born in your heart, you naturally want to reach out, to help others suffer less. (Location 367)

If you haven’t suffered hunger, you can’t appreciate having something to eat. If you haven’t gone through a war, you don’t know the value of peace. That is why we should not try to run away from one unpleasant thing after another. (Location 371)

Holding our suffering, looking deeply into it, and transforming it into compassion, we find a way to happiness. (Location 373)

They aren’t communicating with themselves, and we aren’t communicating with ourselves, so is it any wonder we have difficulty communicating with each other? (Location 380)

The situation doesn’t call for blame or punishment; it calls for understanding and compassion. (Location 381)

The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk. (Location 386)

In the practice of compassionate listening, you listen with only one purpose, which is to give the other person the chance to speak out and to suffer less. (Location 387)

If I jump in with my perspective on things or correct her, it will become a debate, not a practice of deep listening. Another time, there may be a chance for me to offer her a little information so that she can correct her wrong perception. But not now.” That kind of mindfulness helps you to keep your compassion alive and protects you from having the seed of anger in you touched off. (Location 393)

“It’s not my intention to make you suffer. I didn’t understand your suffering. I’m sorry. Please help me by telling me about your struggles and your difficulties. I need help in understanding you.” (Location 398)

“I know you have suffered a lot during the past many years. I was not able to help you to suffer less. Instead, I have made the situation worse. I have reacted with anger and stubbornness, and instead of helping you, I have made you suffer more. I am very sorry.” (Location 400)

Many of us are no longer able to use that kind of language with the other person because we have suffered so much. But when we consciously practice deep listening and loving speech, so much healing and happiness is possible. (Location 401)

Take it as a reminder to breathe in and out three times slowly, paying attention to your breath. Try to smile. (Location 408)

Play the role of a bell of mindfulness. Your squeezing the hand is like a bell, lovingly calling your friend to come back to himself. (Location 410)

If we know how to handle the little sufferings, we don’t have to suffer on a daily basis. (Location 419)

We can practice letting go of what the French call les petites miseres, the little miseries, and save our energy to embrace and soothe the true pains of illness and loss that are unavoidable. (Location 420)

The unwelcome things that sometimes happen in life— being rejected, losing a valuable object, failing a test, getting injured in an accident— are analogous to the first arrow. They cause some pain. The second arrow, fired by our own selves, is our reaction, our storyline, and our anxiety. All these things magnify the suffering. (Location 425)

everything is impermanent. A suffering can arise— or can work itself out— for anyone at any moment. (Location 437)

If you have eyes in good condition, just open them and enjoy what you see. Happiness is possible immediately— even if not everything is perfect. (Location 446)

Mindfulness is for making us aware of what is happening now. (Location 449)

Most of the second arrows with which we shoot ourselves come from our beliefs. (Location 451)

the idea that we are a separate self. This gives rise to the complexes of inferiority, superiority, and equality. (Location 452)

Equality, when it refers to opportunity and access to resources, in other words treating everyone’s needs and feelings with respect, is a good thing. (Location 461)

the constant effort to prove one’s self equal to all others brings only short-lived relief from the pain of discrimination— and, ultimately, creates more suffering because it perpetuates our incorrect belief in a separate self. (Location 462)

As long as you continue to compare, you suffer from the fear of coming up short; and, even worse, you keep yourself trapped in a constant, painful delusion of isolation and alienation. (Location 464)

In Buddhist stories, Mara is the personification of all depravity and delusion, everything that makes us suffer in life. (Location 467)

Every life has its trials and tribulations. We can navigate them more skillfully when we don’t waste time and energy shooting ourselves with a second arrow— (Location 505)

Our idea of happiness may itself be the main obstacle keeping us from true happiness. (Location 511)

There are more conditions of happiness available than you and I can count, many more than it takes to make us happy in the here and the now. (Location 514)

Then joy and happiness arise easily, from your recognition of all the positive elements available right now. (Location 522)

Happiness is impermanent, like everything else. In order for happiness to be extended and renewed, you have to learn how to feed your happiness. (Location 525)

We can condition our bodies and minds to happiness with the five practices of letting go, inviting positive seeds, mindfulness, concentration, and insight. (Location 529)

We believe these things are necessary for our survival, our security, and our happiness. But many of these things— or more precisely, our beliefs about their utter necessity— are really obstacles for our joy and happiness. (Location 532)

Even when you have achieved that situation, or are with that person, you continue to suffer. At the same time, you’re still afraid that if you let go of that prize you’ve attained, it will be even worse; (Location 535)

When the farmer was gone, the Buddha looked at his friends and smiled knowingly. “Dear friends, you are very lucky,” he said. “You don’t have any cows to lose.” (Location 553)

You may suffer just because of your idea; and you continue to suffer until, one day, you are capable of releasing the idea and right away you feel happy. (Location 561)

A whole country can be caught in a single cow. (Location 563)

Take a piece of paper and write down the names of your cows, the things you think of as crucial for your well-being. Perhaps this week you can start by releasing just one, perhaps two. Or perhaps each one takes a year or more. (Location 569)

I have nothing. Yet I finally have everything. I am touching such a great happiness and freedom. (Location 588)

If we pay attention only to the negative things in us, especially the suffering of past hurts, we are wallowing in our sorrows and not getting any positive nourishment. (Location 593)

One way of taking care of our suffering is to invite a seed of the opposite nature to come up. As nothing exists without its opposite, (Location 596)

You don’t have to fight it or push it down. We can selectively water the good seeds and refrain from watering the negative seeds. (Location 599)

Now when I breathe, all I need to do is to remember the time when my lungs were infected with this virus. Then every breath I take becomes really delicious, really good. (Location 607)

Mindfulness is an energy you can generate all day long through your practice. (Location 611)

we have to learn how to enjoy every moment of our sitting— how to breathe, how to sit, so that every moment of our sitting can be nourishing and healing. (Location 619)

Every time we stop and bring the mind back to our breath and our step, we can produce a feeling of joy and peace, and get in touch with the wonders of life. (Location 622)

Our body is a wonder. Our body is like a flower; it’s a wonder of life. (Location 623)

I enjoy every step; every step makes me happy. There’s no use in doing walking meditation if you don’t enjoy every step you make. It would be a waste of time. (Location 628)

If you can’t produce peace and joy in sitting meditation, then it’s of no use. (Location 631)

Enlightenment is always enlightenment about something. You are aware that you are alive; that is already enlightenment. (Location 636)

Many of us have spent our lives pursuing material comforts and affective comforts. (Location 642)

Waking up this morning I smile. I have twenty-four hours to live. I vow to live them deeply and learn to look at the beings around me with the eyes of compassion. There are four lines. The first line is for your in-breath. The second line is for your out-breath. (Location 650)

The practice of mindfulness means to be aware of everything you do in your daily life— to live more deeply every moment that is given you to live, so you won’t waste your time and waste your life. (Location 661)

We need to find the many small joys that life has to offer and help them grow. (Location 670)

A small portion of happiness is a kind of soup. With a few ingredients, an open mind, and a little resourcefulness, we can make a moment of happiness for ourselves and for the person next to us. (Location 675)

If we know how to create a moment of happiness, we get to enjoy that happiness ourselves, and we can also double it by sharing it with another person. (Location 676)

That is the art of happiness, tasting and delighting in the little happinesses of daily life. (Location 677)

Concentration is born from mindfulness. (Location 682)

Concentration is always concentration on something. If you focus on your breathing in a relaxed way, you are already cultivating an inner strength. (Location 688)

Insight is seeing what is there. It is the clarity that can liberate us from afflictions such as jealousy or anger, and allow true happiness to come. (Location 693)

Often, we just bite onto our craving or grudge, and let the hook take us. We get caught and attached to these situations that are not worthy of our concern. (Location 699)

If we remember that suffering, not letting ourselves get carried away by it, we can use it to remind ourselves, “How lucky I am right now. I’m not in that situation. I can be happy.”— that is insight; (Location 706)

If we are able to enjoy walking, we can invite our ancestors to walk with our feet. (Location 713)

This body is not yours alone. It is also the body of your ancestors. Your body is a collective product of your nation, of your people, of your culture, of your ancestors. So you are not strictly an individual. You are partly collective. (Location 716)

If your suffering is so great, you can’t concentrate, you can’t study, and you can’t focus. The suffering of each of us affects others. (Location 719)

There are times when a case of suffering is so great, it needs recognition from more than just one person. (Location 723)

If we can take the time to sit together and allow the collective energy of mindfulness to recognize and embrace our pain, we become a drop of water flowing in the river of awakened energy and we feel much better. (Location 726)

If we have loved ones who are suffering, one of the best things that we can do is to offer to sit or walk with them, and offer them our energy of mindfulness and peace. (Location 730)

When you are truly there, you can go to the person you love, look into her eyes and say to her, “I am here for you.” (Location 739)

The most precious thing you can offer the person you love is your presence. (Location 739)

When a whole community is afraid or angry, their energy is very strong which can create a desire to strike back right away. But action pushed by the collective energy of anger and fear is not usually right action. We can start a devastating war very easily. (Location 748)

Combining our experiences and insights leads to a collective insight that can be wiser than the sum of its parts. (Location 752)

Everyone needs a mindful community for support. (Location 757)

Our family, our classroom, and our workplace can all be mindful communities. (Location 757)

In our daily lives, many of us are in toxic environments of mutually reinforcing suspicion, competition, greed, and jealousy. (Location 759)

The best way to help others lessen their fear, craving, and violence is to show them there is another way. (Location 765)

If love has degenerated into hate, it’s possible for you to turn the garbage of that hate into a kind of compost to nourish the flower of love to bloom again. (Location 766)

In the collective we can see the individual, and in the individual there is the collective. There is no absolute individuality; there is no absolute collectivity. (Location 771)

Anything you can do to lessen suffering in your community and in the world is known in Buddhism as Right Action. (Location 773)

We are part of the collective whole, and even these individual decisions about what to consume affect the collective consciousness. (Location 775)

This Earth is not just the territory of Mara, but also the territory of the Buddha. (Location 804)

transforming suffering into happiness. It’s not a complicated practice, but it requires us to cultivate mindfulness, concentration, and insight. (Location 806)

It requires first of all that we come home to ourselves, that we make peace with our suffering, treating it tenderly, and looking deeply at the roots of our pain. It requires that we let go of useless, unnecessary sufferings, release the second arrow, and take a closer look at our idea of happiness. Finally, it requires that we nourish happiness daily, with acknowledgment, understanding, and compassion for ourselves and for those around us. (Location 807)

the body is always manifesting together with feelings and the mind. (Location 818)

Joy still has some of the element of excitement or anticipation in it. In happiness, there is ease and freedom. (Location 843)

Each exercise makes the next one possible. (Location 847)

There’s loneliness, fear, anger, and despair in us. Mostly we try to cover it up by consuming. (Location 855)

Concentration, samadhi in Sanskrit, is a powerful force that you can generate to make a breakthrough, to see clearly what is there and understand its true nature. (Location 870)

With the insight of impermanence, we see the interdependent and selfless nature of all that exists— that nothing has a separate, independent self. (Location 876)

When we’re no longer grasping at notions, we experience the freedom and joy that comes from the cessation of illusion. (Location 881)

The more we let go, the happier we become. Letting go doesn’t mean we let go of everything. We don’t let go of reality. But we let go of our wrong ideas and wrong perceptions about reality. (Location 884)

The Six Mantras are ways to express love and compassion. They can be very effective in transforming suffering and producing happiness in a relationship with a loved one, a friend, or a colleague. Children can practice them too. (Location 887)

you can only love and understand another when you have practiced love and understanding for yourself. (Location 889)

Learn it so you can recite it when the time is appropriate. What makes the mantra effective is your mindfulness and concentration. (Location 891)

The first mantra is “I am here for you.” (Location 895)

To love someone means to be there for him or for her. This is an art and a practice. (Location 896)

Before you can be there for someone else, you have to be there for yourself. (Location 900)

That person may be lost in thinking or worries about the past or the future. When you are truly there and you produce the mantra powerfully, you help the other person to come back to himself or herself, to be present here and now. (Location 904)

In order to love you have to be there, body and mind united. A true lover knows that the practice of mindfulness is the foundation of true love. (Location 907)

“Darling, I know you are there, and I am very happy.” You have already produced your true presence, and so you are in a position to recognize the presence of another person, someone who is very precious to you. (Location 910)

First you practice breathing, sitting, or walking to restore your presence. Then you are ready to go to him and say, “Darling, I know you suffer, and that is why I am here for you.” (Location 919)

When you suffer and your beloved one ignores your suffering, then you suffer even more. But if the other person is aware of your suffering and offers his presence to you during these difficult moments, you suffer less right away. (Location 923)

When we suffer we think that the other person has caused our suffering. “She doesn’t love me. So why do I have to love her?” Our natural tendency is to want to punish the other person. And the way we do that is to show her that “I can survive very well without you.” This is an indirect way of saying: “I don’t need you.” But that’s not true love. (Location 931)

There is pride in you. But in love, there is no place for pride. This is why we need the fourth mantra: “Darling, I suffer; please help.” (Location 937)

“Darling, I suffer. I don’t understand why you have said such a thing to me. I don’t understand why you have done such a thing to me. I suffer. Please explain. I need your help.” This is true love. (Location 944)

Please write the mantra on a piece of paper the size of a credit card and put it in your wallet. The next time you suffer and you believe that he or she is the cause of your suffering, remember to take it out and read it, and you will know exactly what to do. (Location 947)

According to this practice, you have the right to suffer twenty-four hours, but not more. That’s the deadline. Then you have to practice the fourth mantra. (Location 949)

“Darling, I suffer, and I want you to know.” That is sharing; you share your happiness and your suffering. (Location 953)

I am a practitioner of mindfulness, so when I get angry I don’t say or do anything that can cause damage to myself or to you. (Location 955)

“I am doing my best” is a kind of reminder, and it’s also an invitation for the other person to do the same. (Location 960)

When we love each other, we need each other, especially when we suffer. Your suffering is her suffering. Her happiness is your happiness. Looking deeply into the situation, we may have an insight as to how we can reconcile and reestablish harmony between us. (Location 965)

“I suffer, and I want you to know it. I’m doing my best. Please help.” (Location 968)

The fifth mantra is “This is a happy moment.” (Location 970)

Sitting with him, walking with her, you may like to pronounce the fifth mantra, for us to remember how lucky we are to have so many conditions of happiness. (Location 972)

It is mindfulness that makes the present moment into a wonderful moment, into a happy moment. The practitioner is an artist; she knows how to bring happiness into the here and the now, (Location 977)

The sixth mantra is perfect for dealing with the suffering that comes from the complexes: thinking we are equal to, worse than, or better than another person. (Location 979)

When someone congratulates you or criticizes you, you can use the sixth mantra: “Darling, you are partly right.” This means that “Your criticism or praise is only partly right, because I have both weaknesses and strengths in me. If you congratulate me, I shouldn’t get lost and ignore the negative things in myself.” (Location 981)

When we see something beautiful in the other person, we tend to ignore the things that aren’t so beautiful. As human beings we have both positive and negative qualities. (Location 984)

When the other person criticizes you or says you have nothing to offer or, that you’re worthless, you can say the same thing, “Darling, you are only partly right, because I do have good things in me too.” (Location 987)

When a painful emotion comes up, stop whatever you’re doing and take care of it. (Location 990)

Lie down, put your hand on your belly, and begin to breathe. Or you may sit on a cushion or on a chair. Stop thinking, and bring your mind down to the level of the navel. (Location 991)

But when you direct your attention down to the trunk of the tree, there’s not so much movement. You see the stability of the tree, and you see that the tree is deeply rooted in the soil and can withstand the storm. (Location 995)

When we experience a strong emotion, the mind is agitated like the top of the tree. We have to bring our mind down to the trunk, to the abdomen, and focus all our attention on the rise and fall of the abdomen. (Location 996)

Breathing in, you notice the rising of your abdomen. Breathing out, notice the falling of your abdomen. Breathe deeply and focus your attention only on your in-breath and out-breath. (Location 998)

an emotion is only an emotion, and that you are much more than one emotion. You are body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. The territory of your being is large. One emotion is very little. An emotion is something that comes and stays for a while and eventually goes away. (Location 999)

We shouldn’t wait until the strong emotion comes to begin learning. That may be too late; the emotion may carry you away. (Location 1003)

Inviting the bell to sound is inviting happiness to enter our bodies and take root there. Every time we hear the sound of the bell, we have the chance to practice mindful breathing, calm our body, and notice our happiness. (Location 1006)

We can invite all the cells in our body to join us in listening to the bell and allowing the sound of the bell to penetrate into us. Listening deeply, we know that our ancestors are fully present in every cell of our body. We listen in such a way that all our ancestors are listening at the same time. (Location 1008)

Metta meditation is a practice of cultivating understanding, love, and compassion by looking deeply, first for ourselves and then for others. (Location 1013)

To love is, first of all, to accept ourselves as we actually are. That is why in this love meditation, “Know thyself” is the first practice of love. (Location 1016)

see the conditions that have caused us to be the way we are. This makes it easy for us to accept ourselves, including our suffering and our happiness at the same time. (Location 1017)

Metta means loving kindness in Pali. (Location 1019)

We look deeply at our body, our feelings, our perceptions, our mental formations, and our consciousness, and in just a few weeks, our aspiration to love will become a deep intention. Love will enter our thoughts, our words, and our actions, and we will notice that we have become “peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit; safe and free from injury; and free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety.” (Location 1022)

Anger, fear, anxiety, craving, greed, and ignorance are the great afflictions of our time. By practicing mindful living, we are able to deal with them, and our love is translated into effective action. (Location 1031)

Sitting still, you are not too preoccupied with other matters, so you can look deeply at yourself as you are, cultivate your love for yourself, and determine the best ways to express this love in the world. (Location 1035)

May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May she be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May he be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May they be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May I be safe and free from injury. May she be safe and free from injury. May he be safe and free from injury. May they be safe and free from injury. May I be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety. May she be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety. May he be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety. May they be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety. (Location 1037)

Begin practicing this love meditation on yourself (“ I”). Until you are able to love and take care of yourself, you cannot be of much help to others. After that, practice on others (“ he/ she,” “they”)— first on someone you like, then on someone neutral to you, then on someone you love, and finally on someone the mere thought of whom makes you suffer. (Location 1050)

According to the Buddha, a human being is made of five elements, called skandhas in Sanskrit. They are: form (body), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. (Location 1053)

To know the real situation within yourself, you have to know your own territory, including the elements within you that are at war with each other. In order to bring about harmony, reconciliation, and healing within, you have to understand yourself. (Location 1055)

Begin this practice by looking deeply into your body. Ask: How is my body in this moment? How was it in the past? How will it be in the future? Later, when you meditate on someone you like, someone neutral to you, someone you love, and someone you hate, you also begin by looking at his physical aspects. Breathing in and out, visualize his face; his way of walking, sitting, and talking; his heart, lungs, kidneys, and all the organs in his body, taking as much time as you need to bring these details into awareness. But always start with yourself. (Location 1057)

When you see your own five skandhas clearly, understanding and love arise naturally, and you know what to do and what not to do to take care of yourself. (Location 1061)

Look into your body to see whether it is at peace or is suffering from illness. Look at the condition of your lungs, your heart, your intestines, your kidneys, and your liver to see what the real needs of your body are. When you do, you will eat, drink, and act in ways that demonstrate your love and your compassion for your body. (Location 1063)

Usually you follow ingrained habits. But when you look deeply, you see that many of these habits harm your body and mind, so you work to transform your habits in ways conducive to good health and vitality. (Location 1065)

Feelings flow in us like a river, and each feeling is a drop of water in that river. Look into the river of your feelings and see how each feeling came to be. (Location 1067)

Practice touching the wondrous, refreshing, and healing elements that are already in you and in the world. (Location 1069)

The Buddha observed, “The person who suffers most in this world is the person who has many wrong perceptions, and most of our perceptions are erroneous.” (Location 1071)

You have to know which wrong perceptions cause you to suffer. Please write beautifully the sentence, “Are you sure?” on a piece of paper and tape it to your wall. (Location 1073)

mental formations, the ideas and tendencies within you that lead you to speak and act as you do. (Location 1075)

Practice looking deeply to discover the true nature of your mental formations— how you are influenced by your individual consciousness and also by the collective consciousness of your family, ancestors, and society. (Location 1076)

According to Buddhism, consciousness is like a field with every possible kind of seed in it: seeds of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity; seeds of anger, fear, and anxiety; and seeds of mindfulness. (Location 1079)

To live in peace, you have to be aware of your tendencies— your habit energies— so you can exercise some self-control. This is the practice of preventive health care. (Location 1082)

May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love. May I learn to look at her with the eyes of understanding and love. May I learn to look at him with the eyes of understanding and love. May I learn to look at them with the eyes of understanding and love. May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself. May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in her. May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in him. May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in them. May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in myself. May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in her. May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in him. May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in them. (Location 1086)

“May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.” (Location 1101)

During her practice, she began to see him more clearly and she realized that he is less perfect than she imagined. She began to love him in a way that had more understanding in it, and therefore it was deeper and healthier. (Location 1104)

She also had fresh insights into the person she disliked the most. She saw some of the reasons he was like that, and she saw how she had caused him to suffer by reacting to him harshly. (Location 1106)

As long as we reject ourselves and continue to harm our own body and mind, there’s no point in talking about loving and accepting others. (Location 1108)

Whenever we see or hear something, our attention can be appropriate or inappropriate. With mindfulness we can recognize which it is and release inappropriate attention and nurture appropriate attention. (Location 1111)

Appropriate mental attention, yoniso manaskara in Sanskrit, brings us happiness, peace, clarity, and love. Inappropriate attention, ayoniso manaskara, fills our mind with sorrow, anger, and prejudice. (Location 1112)

we use mindfulness to illuminate our speech, so we can use loving speech and stop before we say anything that creates conflict for ourselves and others. (Location 1115)

look into our physical actions. Mindfulness illuminates how we stand, sit, walk, smile, and frown, and how we look at others. We recognize which actions are beneficial and which bring harm. (Location 1116)

Understanding of oneself and others is the key that opens the door of love and acceptance of oneself and others. (Location 1118)

We are the gardeners who identify, water, and cultivate the best seeds. Touching the seeds of joy, peace, freedom, solidity, and love in ourselves and in each other (Location 1120)

We practice mindfulness in our daily lives to be aware that such poisons as craving, anger, delusion, arrogance, and suspicion are present in us. We can look and see how much suffering they have caused ourselves and others. (Location 1123)

Arguing with others only waters the seeds of anger in us. When anger arises, return to yourself and use the energy of mindfulness to embrace, soothe, and illuminate it. (Location 1126)

Don’t think you’ll feel better if you lash out and make the other person suffer. The other person might respond even more harshly and anger will escalate. (Location 1127)

The Buddha taught that when anger arises, close your eyes and ears, return to yourself, and tend to the source of anger within. (Location 1128)

Transforming your anger is not just for your personal liberation. Everyone around you and even those more distant will benefit. (Location 1129)

Look deeply at your anger, as you would look at your own child. Don’t reject it or hate it. The point of meditation is not to turn yourself into a battlefield, one side opposing the other. (Location 1130)

Anger is just an energy, and all energies can be transformed. Meditation is the art of using one kind of energy to transform another. (Location 1132)

May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day. May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in her every day. May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in him every day. May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in them every day. May I be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May she be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May he be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May they be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent. May she be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent. May he be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent. May they be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent. (Location 1134)

The notions we entertain about what will bring us happiness are just a trap. We forget that they are only ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from being happy. (Location 1148)

When we believe that happiness should take a particular form, we fail to see the opportunities for joy that are right in front of us. (Location 1149)

Happiness is not an individual matter; it has the nature of interbeing. When you are able to make one friend smile, her happiness will nourish you also. (Location 1150)

What do you do to nourish yourself? It’s important to discuss this subject with dear friends to find concrete ways to nourish joy and happiness. When you succeed in doing this, your suffering, sorrow, and painful mental formations will begin to transform. (Location 1153)

“Fresh” is a translation of the Vietnamese word for “cool, without fever.” Jealousy, anger, and craving are a kind of fever. (Location 1155)

“Solid” refers to stability. If you aren’t solid, you won’t be able to accomplish much. (Location 1156)

Each morning, you rededicate yourself to your path in order not to go astray. Before going to sleep at night, take a few minutes to review the day. “Did I live in the direction of my ideals today?” If you see that you took two or three steps in that direction, that is good enough. If you didn’t, say to yourself, “I’ll do better tomorrow.” Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look to yourself to see whether you are going in the direction you cherish. (Location 1157)

Take refuge in things that are solid. If you lean on something that isn’t solid, you will fall down. (Location 1161)

“Freedom” means transcending the trap of harmful desires and being without attachments— whether to an institution, a diploma, or a certain rank. (Location 1163)

When we are indifferent, nothing is enjoyable, interesting, or worth striving for. (Location 1165)

If you find yourself in a state of indifference, ask your friends for help. Even with all its suffering, life is filled with many wonders. (Location 1167)

All of us, young and old, have a tendency to become attached. As soon as we are born, attachment to self is already there. (Location 1169)

In wholesome love relationships, there is a certain amount of possessiveness and attachment, but if it’s excessive, both lover and beloved will suffer. (Location 1170)

Attachment obstructs the flow of life. And without mindfulness, attachment always becomes aversion. (Location 1173)

Look deeply to discover the nature of your love, and identify the degree of attachment, despotism, and possessiveness in your love. Then you can begin untangling the knots. (Location 1174)

The seeds of true love— loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity— are already there in our store consciousness. (Location 1175)

We can transform attachment and aversion and arrive at a love that is spacious and all-encompassing. (Location 1176)

mind and body are not separate, and suffering is not just an emotion. (Location 1179)

The practice of deep relaxation is a way to acknowledge and soothe the suffering in the body and the suffering in the mind. (Location 1180)

Deep relaxation begins with observing our bodies. You can start with your eyes. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my eyes. Breathing out, I smile to my eyes with gratitude and love.” Then bring your awareness down to your nose, your mouth, your throat, and continue down to your toes. (Location 1181)

You know exactly what you should consume and what you should not consume to be kind to your heart, which is an essential condition of your happiness. You go through all your organs, all the parts of your body in this way. (Location 1188)

There’s a basic text in Buddhism that teaches us how to meditate on our body. It’s called the Kayagatasati Sutta, Mindfulness of the Body in the Body. (Location 1190)

The body is an important object of meditation. It contains the cosmos, the Kingdom of God, the Pure Land of the Buddha, and our ancestors both spiritual and genetic. Meditating on the body we can get in touch with all these things and nourish our happiness and well-being as well as the happiness and well-being of those around us. (Location 1191)

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are guidelines for how to live our daily lives in a way that nourishes happiness and transforms ill-being. The Five Mindfulness Trainings are also the kind of thinking and acting that have the power to heal. (Location 1195)

You can recite them daily or monthly, alone or with a group, to renew your intentions and as inspiration to practice. (Location 1197)

Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, nondiscrimination, and nonattachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world. (Location 1201)

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. (Location 1205)

I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. (Location 1209)

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. (Location 1213)

Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. (Location 1215)

Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy, and inclusiveness— which are the four basic elements of true love— for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. (Location 1217)

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. (Location 1222)

Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully, using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. (Location 1224)

When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. (Location 1225)

I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. (Location 1227)

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. (Location 1231)

I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. (Location 1233)

I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing, and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. (Location 1235)

I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society, and the Earth. (Location 1237)

In our daily lives we have the habit of running. We seek peace, success, and love— we are always on the run— and our steps are one means by which we run away from the present moment. (Location 1241)

It would be a pity to let a whole day pass without enjoying walking on the Earth. (Location 1245)

Usually, our in-breath tends to be a little shorter than our out-breath. When you breathe in, you may take two steps and say: “I have arrived, I have arrived.” When you breathe out, you might like to take three steps and say: “I am home, I am home, I am home.” “Home” means being at home in the present moment where you can touch all the wonders of life. (Location 1246)

We should be able to walk with a lot of tenderness and happiness on this beautiful planet. “I have arrived, I am home,” is not a statement, but a practice. (Location 1248)

life is available only in the present moment, and you know that you have the capacity to touch life in the present moment, in the here and the now. (Location 1250)

We have to recover our sovereignty and reclaim our freedom and walk like a free person on Earth. Freedom doesn’t mean political freedom. It means freedom from the past, from the future, from our worries and our fear. (Location 1253)

The Buddha said that freedom and solidity are the two characteristics of nirvana. (Location 1255)

Let your steps follow your breath, not the other way around. Let your breathing be natural, never forced. (Location 1258)

Sometimes it’s helpful to practice in a park or some other beautiful, quiet place. This nourishes our spirit and strengthens our mindfulness. (Location 1261)

We walk slowly but not too slowly, so we don’t stand out and make people feel uncomfortable. This is a kind of invisible practice. We can enjoy nature and our own serenity. When we see something we want to touch with our mindfulness— the blue sky, the hills, a tree, or a bird— we just stop, but while we do so, we continue breathing in and out mindfully. (Location 1262)

Practice stopping while you’re walking. If you can stop while walking, then you’ll be able to stop when doing your other daily activities, (Location 1265)

If you suffer from depression, your depression won’t be able to go away until you know how to stop. (Location 1267)

You’ve been running and not allowed yourself the time to rest, to relax, and to live your daily life deeply. Spending time each day doing mindful walking can help. (Location 1268)

Even if your surroundings are full of noise and agitation, you can still walk in rhythm with your breathing. Even in the commotion of a big city, you can walk with peace, happiness, and an inner smile. (Location 1275)

Walking in walking meditation is walking just to enjoy walking. You don’t have any desire to arrive anywhere. (Location 1278)

Walking and not arriving, that is the technique. And you enjoy every step you make. Every step brings you home to the here and the now. (Location 1278)

According to Master Linji the miracle is not to walk on water or in thin air, but to walk on Earth. Walk in such a way that you become fully alive and joy and happiness are possible. (Location 1281)

If you have mindfulness, concentration, and insight then every step you make on this Earth is performing a miracle. (Location 1283)

Parallax Press is the publishing division of Unified Buddhist Church, Inc. (Location 1287)

Awakening Joy James Baraz and Shoshana Alexander Deep Relaxation Sister Chan Khong Happiness Thich Nhat Hanh Healing Sister Dang Nghiem Love Letter to the Earth Thich Nhat Hanh Mindfulness Survival Kit Thich Nhat Hanh Not Quite Nirvana Rachel Neumann Pass It On Joanna Macy Present Moment Wonderful Moment Thich Nhat Hanh Solid Ground Sylvia Boorstein, Norman Fischer, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche Ten Breaths to Happiness Glen Schneider Understanding Our Mind Thich Nhat Hanh (Location 1299)