You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment

by Thich Nhat Hanh

You are here for life; and if you are here for life, life will be here for you. It’s simple.

The Buddha said, “The past no longer exists, and the future is not yet here.” There is only a single moment in which we can truly be alive, and that is the present moment. Being present in the here and now is our practice.

The present moment is the destination, the point to arrive at. Every time you breathe in and take a step, you arrive:

You have to realize that happiness is not something you find at the end of the road. You have to understand that it is here, now.

So what is death? It is simply the cessation of manifestation, followed by other forms of manifestation. In wintertime, we do not see dragonflies or butterflies. So we think that everything is dead. But suddenly spring comes, and the dragonflies and butterflies manifest again.

You already are everything you are seeking. Do not try to become something else. The flower does not try to become the sun; it already is the sun.

You are a manifestation. You are impermanent. Yet you are full of all the elements of the cosmos.

Birth and death are very close friends, and collaboration between the two of them is necessary for life to be possible.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.

We will meet at the source at every moment. We meet each other in all forms of life.

We should never forget that dying is as important as living.