One.

My right hand has written all the poems that I have composed.

My left hand has not written a single poem.

But my right hand does not think,

"Left Hand, you are good for nothing."

My right hand does not have a superiority complex.

That is why it is very happy.

My left hand does not have any complex at all.

In my two hands there is the kind of wisdom

called the wisdom of nondiscrimination.

One day I was hammering a nail

and my right hand was not very accurate

and instead of pounding on the nail

it pounded on my finger.

It put the hammer down and took care

of my left hand in a very tender way,

as if it were taking care of itself.

It did not say, "Left Hand, you have to remember

that I have taken good care of you

and you have to pay me back in the future."

There was no such thinking…

And my left hand did not say,

"Right Hand, you have done me a lot of harm

— give me that hammer, I want justice."

My two hands know that they are members

of one body; they are in each other.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Attentive.

Homer, Pond and Willows, Houghton Farm, 1878

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

Thich Nhat Hanh, from Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Gratefulness.

Thich Nhat Hanh and David Steindl-Rast discuss gratefulness ...

Understand.

Practice.

Practice until you see yourself in the cruelest person on Earth, in the child starving, in the political prisoner.

Continue until you recognize yourself in everyone in the supermarket, on the street corner, in a concentration camp, on a leaf, in a dewdrop.

Meditate until you see yourself in a speck of dust in a distant galaxy.

See and listen with the whole of your being. If you are fully present, the rain of Dharma will water the deepest seeds in your consciousness, and tomorrow, while you are washing the dishes or looking at the blue sky, that seed will spring forth, and love and understanding will appear as a beautiful flower.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Courage.

The Truth is the Truth whether anyone believes it or not. Though a million people may believe a lie, it is still a lie. You must have great courage to live according to the Truth.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you, hopeleslie.

Beginning.

You.

At one time you were a mountain,

you were a cloud.

This is not poetry,

this is science.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Presence.

Karr, Floating Trees VII, 2011

God is a sound.  The Creator of the cosmos is a sound.  Everything begins with a sound.

The practice of mindfulness is very simple.  You stop, you breathe, and you still your mind.  You come home to yourself so that you can enjoy the here and now in every moment.

Silence is essential.  We need silence, just as much as we need air, just as much as plants need light.  If our minds are crowded with words and thoughts, there is no space for us.

We are what we feel and perceive.  If we are angry, we are the anger.  If we are in love, we are the love.  If we look at a snowy mountain peak, we are the mountain.  While dreaming we are the dream.

To fully experience this life as a human being, we all need to connect with our desire to realize something larger than our individual selves.  This can be motivation enough to change our ways so we can find relief from the noise that fills our heads.

We are continued by our views and our thinking.  Those are the children we give birth to in every moment.

Take a just few minutes for yourself to calm your body, your feelings, and your perceptions.  In this way, joy becomes possible.  The joy of true quiet becomes a daily healing food.

Realize that silence comes from your heart and not from the absence of talk.

In order to practice right speech, we need to first take time to look deeply into ourselves and into whoever is in front of us so that our words will be able to create mutual understanding and relieve suffering on both sides.

If we listen from the mind of silence, every birdsong and every whispering of the pine branches in the wind will speak to us.

With the act of breathing in mindfully, you go inside.  Your body breathing; and your body is your home.  In each breath you can come home to yourself.

You are released; you gain freedom.  And with that freedom, with that kind of release, healing becomes possible.  Life becomes possible.  Joy becomes possible.

If we never suffer, there is no basis or impetus for developing understanding and compassion.  Suffering is very important.  We have to learn to recognize and even embrace suffering, as our awareness of it helps us grow.

Our true home is the island of self, the peaceful place inside us.  Oftentimes we don’t notice it’s there, we don’t even really know where we are, because our outer or inner environment is filled with noise.  We need some quietness to find that island of the self.

Being able to stop and be aware of the present moment is part of the definition of happiness.  It is not possible to be happy in the future.  This is not a matter of belief; this is a matter of experience.

Real solitude comes from a stable heart that does not get carried away by the pull of the crowd, nor by sorrows about the past, worries about the future, or excitement or stress about the present.

The most precious thing we can give to one another is our presence, which contributes to the collective energy of mindfulness and peace.  We can sit for those who can’t sit, walk for those who can’t walk, and create stillness and peace within us for people who have no stillness or peace.

It’s okay to make a wish, to have an aim.  But we shouldn’t allow it to become something that prevents us from living happily in the here and now.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you, Jessica.

Respond.

CRY OUT YOUR WEAKNESS

A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth

A courageous man went and rescued the bear.

There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save

anyone who cries out. Like mercy itself,

they run toward the screaming.

And they can't be bought off.

If you were to ask one of those, "Why did you come

so quickly?" he or she would say, "Becuase I heard your helplessness."

Where lowland is,

that's where water goes. All medicine wants is pain to cure.

And don't just ask for one mercy.

Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.

Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton

of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music.

Push the hair out of your eyes.

Blow the phlegm from your nose,

and from your brain.

Let the wind breeze through.

Leave no residue in yourself from that bilious fever.

Take the cure for impotence,

that your manhood may shoot forth,

and a hundred new beings come of your coming.

Tear the binding from around the foot

of your soul, and let it race around the track

in front of the crowd. Loosen the knot of greed

o tight on your neck. Accept your new good luck.

Give your weakness

to one who helps.

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.

A nursing mother, all she does

is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning-whimper,

and she's there.

God created the child, that is , your wanting,

so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

Cry out! Don't be stolid and silent

with your pain. Lament! And let the milk

of loving flow into you.

The hard rain and wind

are ways the cloud has

to take care of us.

Be patient.

Respond to every call

that excites your spirit.

Ignore those that make you fearful

and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.

Rumi

Understand.

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for 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 family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. 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

Resolve.

Rengetsu, Flowing Stream, 1870

Whatever the tasks, do them slowly with ease, in mindfulness, so not do any tasks with the goal of getting them over with. Resolve to each job in a relaxed way, with all your attention.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Going.

When you practice walking meditation, you go for a stroll.  You have no purpose or direction in space or time.  The purpose of walking meditation is walking meditation itself.  Going is important, not arriving.  Walking meditation is not a means to an end; it is an end.  Each step is life; each step is peace and joy.  That is why we don’t have to hurry.  That is why we slow down.  We seem to move forward, but we don’t go anywhere; we are not drawn by a goal.  Thus we smile while we are walking.

Thich Nhat Hanh

CONNECT

Rest.

Whenever animals in the forest are wounded, they rest.  They look for a very quiet place and just stay there without moving for many days.  They know it's the best way for their body to heal.  During this time they may not even eat or drink.  The wisdom of stopping and healing is still alive in animals, but we human beings have lost the capacity to reest.

We human beings have lost confidence in the body knowing what to do.  If we have time alone with ourselves, we panic and try to do many different things.  Mindful breathing helps us to relearn the art of resting.  Mindful breathing is like a loving parent cradling a baby, saying, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you; just rest.

Your breathing is a stable, solid ground where you can take refuge.  No matter what thoughts, emotions, and perceptions are going on inside you, your breath is always there, like a faithful friend.  Whenever you're carried away by thinking, overwhelmed by strong emotions, or feeling restless and dispersed, return to your breathing.  Bring body and mind together and anchor your mind.  Become aware of the air coming in and going out of your body.  With awareness of the breath, our breathing naturally becomes light, calm, and peaceful.  At any time of the day or night, whether you're walking, driving, working in the garden, or sitting at the computer, you can return to the peaceful refuge of your own breath.

Resting Poem
At any moment, we can say this small poem to ourselves and take a mini-rest.  This poem is like a tiny vacation, except that it brings you back to your true home instead of taking you away from it.

Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.
Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.

You can even shorten this poem; it works just as well:

In.
Out

Thich Nhat Hanh

Going.

Going is important, not arriving.

Thich Nhat Hanh

CONNECT

Insight.

The Heart Sutra

Avalokiteshvara,
while practicing deeply with
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore,
suddenly discovered that
all of the five Skandhas are equally empty,
and with this realisation
he overcame all Ill-being.

“Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings,
Perceptions, Mental Formations,
and Consciousness.

“Listen Sariputra,
all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness;
their true nature is the nature of
no Birth no Death,
no Being no Non-being,
no Defilement no Purity,
no Increasing no Decreasing.

“That is why in Emptiness,
Body, Feelings, Perceptions,
Mental Formations and Consciousness
are not separate self entities.

The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena
which are the six Sense Organs,
the six Sense Objects,
and the six Consciousnesses
are also not separate self entities.

The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising
and their Extinction
are also not separate self entities.
Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being,
the End of Ill-being, the Path,
insight and attainment,
are also not separate self entities.

Whoever can see this
no longer needs anything to attain.

Bodhisattvas who practice
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
see no more obstacles in their mind,
and because there
are no more obstacles in their mind,
they can overcome all fear,
destroy all wrong perceptions
and realize Perfect Nirvana.

“All Buddhas in the past, present and future
by practicing
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
are all capable of attaining
Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.

“Therefore Sariputra,
it should be known that
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
is a Great Mantra,
the most illuminating mantra,
the highest mantra,
a mantra beyond compare,
the True Wisdom that has the power
to put an end to all kinds of suffering.
Therefore let us proclaim
a mantra to praise
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore.

Translation by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank You, Jessica.

Silence.

Wyeth, Cooling Shed, 1968

Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence. There are moments when you think you’re silent and all around is silent, but talking is going on all the time inside your head. That’s not silence. The practice is how to find silence in all the activities you do.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

CONNECT.