Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm

by Thich Nhat Hanh

When we’re in a sangha, we’re like a drop in a great river. We allow the sangha to hold us and transport us, and our fear, pain, and suffering are recognized, embraced, and transformed.

A feeling is just a feeling. And you are much more than that feeling. We shouldn’t let ourselves be carried away by a feeling, even a pleasant one, much less an unpleasant one. We just practice recognition of the feeling.

If you’re a beginner and your energy of mindfulness is not yet solid enough to be able to recognize and embrace suffering, please ask a friend to help.

When a seed is touched or watered, it manifests in mind consciousness as a mental formation. To gladden the mind, we use a practice called selective watering.

What we need for our liberation is the insight of impermanence.

Impermanence is just one type of concentration. But if we do it well, we also succeed in other concentrations at the same time. Going deeply into impermanence, we discover no-self, emptiness, and interbeing. So impermanence represents all concentrations.

Manas contains a lot of delusion and therefore has the tendency to grasp; it is the part of our mind that is always seeking pleasure and ignoring the dangers of pleasure seeking. It is manas that carries our original fear and desire.

Look into the river of your feelings and see how each feeling came to be. See what has been preventing you from being happy, and do your best to transform those things.

We are aware that blaming and arguing never help us and only create a wider gap between us. Only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow.

Our happiness is their happiness; our suffering is their suffering. If we look deeply, we will know what our children and grandchildren expect of us.

Now is the time to liberate our parents and ancestors within. We can offer them joy, peace, freedom, and harmony at the same time as we offer joy, peace, freedom, and harmony to ourselves, our children, and their children. This reflects the teaching of interbeing. As long as our ancestors within are still suffering, we cannot really be happy.

The willingness to love is not enough. When people do not understand each other, it is impossible for them to love each other.

Goodwill is not enough; we need to learn the art of making others happy. Art is the essence of life, and the substance of art is mindfulness.