The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Because there is suffering in your heart, it is possible for you to enter my heart.”

“I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering.”

When we recognize and acknowledge our own suffering, the Buddha — which means the Buddha in us — will look at it, discover what has brought it about, and prescribe a course of action that can transform it into peace, joy, and liberation.

To suffer is not enough. Please don’t be imprisoned by your suffering.

Without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve.

Embrace your suffering, and let it reveal to you the way to peace.

“This is suffering. Life is suffering. Everything is suffering.”

When we are attached to a certain table, it is not the table that causes us to suffer. It is our attachment.

all of our suffering is caused by craving.

We are at war within ourselves,

We have to learn the art of stopping — stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us.

With mindfulness, we have the capacity to recognize the habit energy every time it manifests.

Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.

Calming allows us to rest, and resting is a precondition for healing.

Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing.

Our suffering is us, and we need to treat it with kindness and nonviolence.

Much of our suffering comes from not eating mindfully. We have to learn ways to eat that preserve the health and well-being of our body and our spirit.

We don’t want to suffer, but our deep-seated habit energies drag us into the fire of suffering.

Every time we think about being abused, we are abused once again.

We are happy as we walk, happy as we sit, and happy as we eat when we know how to stay in the present moment and stop the thinking.

Every time we ruminate on the past, it is like stabbing ourselves with a sharp knife.

We suffer, and our suffering spills out to those around us.

Looking deeply requires courage.

When we are able to identify our suffering and see its causes, we will have more peace and joy, and we are already on the path to liberation.

Mindfulness is the energy that can help us stop.

There are many practices that can help us face our suffering, including mindful walking, mindful breathing, mindful sitting, mindful eating, mindful looking, and mindful listening.

you only have to be yourself.

With mindfulness, we treasure our happiness and can make it last longer.

Don’t run away from things that are unpleasant in order to embrace things that are pleasant.

If we are afraid to touch our suffering, we will not be able to realize the path of peace, joy, and liberation.

But it is often our very idea of happiness that prevents us from being happy.

Touching reality deeply — knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves — is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is caused by wrong perceptions.

When we practice mindful living, our Right View will blossom, and all the other elements of the path in us will flower, also.

Mindfulness is remembering to come back to the present moment.