I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.
Even if we cannot be completely non-voilent, by being vegetarian we are going in the direction of non-voilence.
Enlightenment, peace, and joy will not be granted by someone else. The well is within us, And if we dig deeply in the present moment, The water will spring forth.
In one sheet of paper, we see everything else, the cloud, the forest, the logger. I am, therefore you are. You are, therefore I am. That is the meaning of the word “interbeing.” We interare.
In each of us is a seed of understanding. The seed is God.
Without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people to smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement.
Most of your suffering comes from the lack of understanding of yourself and others.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive.
Anger and hatred are the materials from which hell is made.
In every country in the world, killing human beings is condemned. The Buddhist precept of non-killing extends even further, to include all living beings.
When you hold a child in your arms, or hug your mother, or your husband, or your friend, if you breathe in and out three times, your happiness will be multiplied at least tenfold.
When you produce peace and happiness in yourself, you begin to realize peace for the whole world. With the smile that you produce in yourself, with the conscious breathing you establish within yourself, you begin to work for peace in the world.
When we live in the spirit of gratitude, there will be much happiness in our life. The one who is grateful is the one who has much happiness while the one who is ungrateful will not be able to have happiness.
There are always some people who are ready to embrace a doctrine, a notion, a dogma, and they miss the real teaching.
It’s like growing lotus flowers. You cannot grow lotus flowers on marble. You have to grow them on the mud. Without mud you cannot have lotus flowers. Without suffering, you have no way to learn how to be understanding and compassionate.
Go slowly, breathe and smile.
A smile can change the situation of the world.
Meditation is not to avoid society; it is to look deep to have the kind of insight you need to take action. To think that it is just to sit down and enjoy the calm and peace, is wrong.
In all the practice centers in the tradition of Plum Village whenever the phone rings or the clock chimes in the dining hall, people stop everything they are doing and breathe consciously, releasing all thinking and any tension.
Don’t think you have to be solemn to meditate. To meditate, well, you have to smile a lot.