Discover Top Posts Tagged with #thich nhat

"The real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle."

Thich Nhat Hahn

(1926)

Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and peace activist.

#miracle #life #Thich Nhat #Lisa English #Keller Williams

“When you are able to silence all views and words, when you get free from views and words, reality reveals itself to you and that is Nirvana, Nirvana is cessation, is the extinction. First the extinction of views and then the extinction of the suffering that is born from these views.

Otherwise, we can be trapped by our perceptions. We may be very concerned about our well being and the well being of our beloved ones. We want to be happy, we want our children, our partner, our friends to be happy; we don’t have any doubt about that kind of good will.

But when we are not free, we think that our son can only be happy if he does this, if he does not do that… our daughter can be happy only if she does this and she did not do that… so we impose our views on our beloved ones and destroy them because of our good will.

To love is to offer freedom, to offer the conditions for the other person to be free and to get the right understanding about his or her happiness.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

…All of this is so, so true. I especially love that last part! Love is not about molding someone into something that perfectly accommodates our wishes but, rather, embracing someone for all he or she is, imperfections and all, while encouraging that person to be the best version of him or herself. Often times, people try to live their own perceived happiness through the ones around them but, if they took a step back and discarded their mind’s thoughts, they would come to realize that their concept of happiness may very well be someone else’s creation for unhappiness. And, if someone were to truly disregard their mind’s thoughts, see the bigger picture, and feel the truth of their heart, they would also find themselves freed from seeing happiness as an achievement through shallow measures and, instead, come to realize what it really means to be happy.