Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes

Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act.

A quiet mind cureth all.

First, meditation should be of a negative nature. Think away everything. Analyse everything that comes in the mind by the sheer action of the will. Next, assert what we really are-existence, knowledge, and bliss-being, knowing, and loving.

Meditation is not to get out of society, to escape from society, but to prepare for a reentery into society.

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.

You should stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your original face will appear. If you want to attain just this, immediately practice just this.

There is no meditation without wisdom, and there is no wisdom without meditation. When a man has both meditation and wisdom, he is indeed close to nirvana.

There's no substitute for the practice of meditation.

Well, when you're relaxed, your mind takes you to the whole reality. There's no such thing as time when you're really relaxed. That's why meditation works.

Meditation was a turning point for me. It helped me deal with a lot of stress and has given me a lot of relaxation.

I had a friend who introduced me to a meditation practice which involves a couple of half-hours a day of meditation, where essentially you try to achieve a stillness that allows you to just be there in the moment.

One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.

When we cultivate mystical awareness or transcendent identity - which is a natural outgrowth of meditation and other practices - what happens is that we begin to take a witness position on our own lives, and that includes our minds.

I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

I decided years ago that if I'm going to keep teaching contemplation, then the last years of my life should be contemplative.

I always try meditation. Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind.

Silence, you know, is the best place to get close to spirit for me.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

I feel like I'm calmer, I'm kinder, I'm more patient the more I do my own meditation.

Let your mind alone, and see what happens.

I can be stressed, or tired, and I can go into a meditation and it all just flows off of me. I'll come out of it refreshed and centered and that's how I'll feel and it'll carry through the day.

You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

I am a firm believer that one way to become enlightened is to be so relaxed, as relaxed as you possibly can be.

Self-Realization Fellowship seemed like training. It was the training ground for finding a sense of peace in myself. Because that's my job. It's no one else's.