Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm

by Thich Nhat Hanh

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously.

We need to free ourselves from these ideas that we are just our bodies, which die.

we didn’t come from nothingness and will not disappear into nothingness, we are liberated from fear.

A daily practice of mindfulness can be of enormous help.

When you touch nonfear, you are free.

Then the day of your birth arrived.

This is original fear.

We were born, and with that birth, our fear was born along with the desire to survive. This is original desire.

We haven’t taken the time to care for the wounded child, the helpless child within.

Every one of the fears and desires that you have today is a continuation of original fear and desire.

When you practice meditation, you begin to see things that other people do not see.

You can sit down with that fearful child inside and be gentle with him or her.

All her childhood wounds are still there, and we have been so busy that we have had no time to go back and help the child heal.

if we revisit these memories without mindfulness or awareness, every time we watch those images we suffer again.

if we root ourselves in the present moment, we can look at the past in a different way and transform its suffering.

The infant, with his fear and his desire, is always alive in us.

And the future you constantly worry about is nothing other than a projection of fear and desire from the past.

What we have thought, said, and done is called karma, which in Sanskrit means action.

karma, the fruit of our actions,

All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, or feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet, to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time.

her nature is truly the nature of no-birth, no-death. There is manifestation, and there is the cessation of manifestation in order to have another manifestation.

I have arrived, I am home In the here, in the now I am solid, I am free In the ultimate I dwell

I have run all my life; I am not going to run anymore; now I am determined to stop and really live my life.

To represent the two dimensions of reality, we use the images of the wave and water.

being in touch with our no-birth, no-death nature, like a wave being in touch with its true nature of water.

We can ask metaphorically, “Where does the wave come from, and where will it go?” And we can answer in the same manner, “The wave comes from water and will return to water.” In reality, there is no coming and going.

The wave is always water; it doesn’t “come from” water, and it doesn’t go anywhere. It is always water; coming and go...

Birth and death, coming and going, are just concepts. When we are in touch with our no-birth, no-death nature, we have no fear.

The cloud appearing in the sky is a new manifestation. Before assuming the form of a cloud, the cloud was water vapor, produced from water in the ocean and the heat of sunlight.

So being a cloud is only a continuation. A cloud has not come from nothing. A cloud always comes from something. So there is no birth; there is only a continuation. That is the nature of everything: no-birth, no-death.

Everything is impermanent; everything is changing. Nothing can be the same forever.

To die means that from something, you suddenly become nothing at all. To die means that from someone, you suddenly become no one. But we’ve seen that this is not the case.

We think that we have lost him forever, but that person has not died, has not disappeared. He continues in new forms.

I enjoy just walking, even in busy places like airports and railway stations. Walking like that, with each step caressing our Mother Earth, we can inspire other people to do the same. We can enjoy every minute of our lives.

Nonfear is the cream of the Buddha’s teaching.

“This is because that is. This is not because that is not.”

Watering the seeds of happiness is a very important practice for those who are sick or dying.

there should be a friend sitting with us to help us touch those seeds. Otherwise seeds of fear, regret, or despair can easily sprout into big formations that overwhelm us.

But the disintegration of the body cannot affect the dying person’s true nature. That’s why it’s very important for us to be able to look deeply to see the ways in which we are not just our bodies.

everything that is arises because of causes and conditions. Everything that is has the nature not to be born and not to die, not to arrive and not to depart.

You have to know the true nature of dying to understand the true nature of living.

The basis of suffering is ignorance about the true nature of self and of the world around you.

So many of us are afraid of nonbeing, and because of this fear, we suffer a lot. That is why the reality that we are a manifestation, and a continuation of many manifestations, should be revealed to the dying person.

if we realize that coming and going are just ideas, and if our presence is solid and peaceful, we help the dying person to not be scared and not suffer much.

Breathing in, Breathing out. Buddha is my mindfulness Shining near and shining far.

Refuge inside myself

It’s possible to walk in the city and still be in the island of yourself.

he was trying to tell his disciples that they should look for the teacher within rather than relying on the teacher outside

the body of the teacher may disintegrate, but the teaching has already entered the student.

Like Bob and his teachings are in me.

Mindfulness is a kind of energy that can help bring our minds back to our bodies so that we can be established well in the here and now, so that we can get deeply in touch with life and its many wonders and truly live our lives.

The first part of meditation is stopping.