No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering

by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Why do I have to suffer?” Thinking we should be able to have a life without any suffering is as deluded as thinking we should be able to have a left side without a right side.

The rainy day that ruins your plans for a picnic is a boon for the farmer whose field is parched.

If you can recognize and accept your pain without running away from it, you will discover that although pain is there, joy can also be there at the same time.

The way to suffer well and be happy is to stay in touch with what is actually going on; in doing so, you will gain liberating insights into the true nature of suffering and of joy.

Both suffering and happiness are of an organic nature, which means they are both transitory; they are always changing. The flower, when it wilts, becomes the compost. The compost can help grow a flower again. Happiness is also organic and impermanent by nature. It can become suffering and suffering can become happiness again.

shouldn’t discriminate against the mud. We have to learn how to embrace and cradle our own suffering and the suffering of the world, with a lot of tenderness.