Abhidharma, Buddhism’s map of the mind, is sometimes treated as a topic of merely intellectual interest. In fact, says Thich Nhat Hanh, identifying the different elements of consciousness, and understanding how they interact, is essential to our practice of meditation. The Vietnamese Zen Master Thuong Chieu said, “When we understand how our mind works, our practice becomes [...]
Awakening My Heart: On Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh
Andrea Miller attends a transformational six-day retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh. The War Memorial Gym is a sea of eight hundred prone people. When I finally find an empty patch of floor, I unfurl my yoga mat. Then I lie down on top of it, covering myself with the itchy yellow blanket I carted here from my dorm room. This is the evening of the first full day of Thich Nhat [...]
Five Mindfulness Trainings
The five mindfulness trainings are an expression of the five precepts, the core of Buddhist ethics, and offer a down-to-earth method of practicing mindfulness in daily life. As Thich Nhat Hanh wrote in his book Good Citizens, "The five mindfulness trainings are offered without dogma or religion. Everybody can use them as an ethics for their life without becoming Buddhist or [...]
Beginning Anew
Thich Nhat Hanh on how to make the meaningful ceremony of "Beginning Anew" part of your life — including his unique practice of mindfulness, "hugging meditation." Beginning Anew is not to ask for forgiveness. Beginning Anew is to change your mind and heart, to transform the ignorance that brought about wrong actions of body, speech, and mind, and to help you cultivate your [...]
The Miracle of Everyday Mindfulness
When we practice mindfulness in our daily lives, says Thich Nhat Hanh, we open to the wonders of life and allow the world to heal and nourish us. Everyone has the seed of suffering inside. Sometimes it slumbers in the depths of our consciousness and sometimes it manifests as a very noticeable energy. When suffering manifests, it’s difficult to feel joy or happiness. The [...]
The Best of Thich Nhat Hanh: Life, Teachings, Quotes, and Books
The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life. -Thich Nhat Hanh "We gauge the greatness of spiritual teachers by the depth, breadth, and impact of their teachings, and by the example their lives set for us. By all these measures, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the leading spiritual masters [...]
How to Be a Bodhisattva
It may seem like an unattainable ideal, but you can start right now as a bodhisattva-in-training. All you need is the aspiration to put others first and some inspiration from helpful guides like the Buddhist teachers found here. ("How to Be a Bodhisattva" is also the cover theme of the Fall 2016 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. We hope you'll check that out [...]
Is Nothing Something?
Illustration by Jessica McClure. Thich Nhat Hanh answers children’s questions. Children have a special place in the Plum Village tradition of Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. There are special practices, vows, and programs designed especially for children and teens, and Thich Nhat Hanh often fashions the first part of his dharma talks with them in mind. He regularly takes [...]
Loosening the Knots of Anger Through Mindfulness Practice
Thich Nhat Hanh teaches you how to relax the bonds of anger, attachment, and delusion through mindfulness and kindness toward yourself. To be happy, to me, is to suffer less. If we were not capable of transforming the pain within ourselves, happiness would not be possible. Many people look for happiness outside themselves, but true happiness must come from inside of us. Our [...]
Buddhahood in Three Dimensions
In these teaching on chapters one and twenty of the Lotus Sutra, Thich Nhat Hanh discusses the three dimensions in which all beings and things reside – the ultimate dimension, the historical dimension, and the dimension of action, represented here by the bodhisattva Never Disparaging. Chapter 1 of the Lotus Sutra takes us to Vulture Peak, near the city of Rajagriha in the [...]