The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now

by Thich Nhat Hanh

A meditator is both an artist and a warrior.

“Letting go is the action of heroes.”

Each one of us needs to identify our ropes so we can cut ourselves free. We have to make time to sit down and ask ourselves honestly what is entangling us. Wanting to untie the ropes is not enough; we need to understand why those ropes entangled us in the first place before we can free ourselves from them.

We should not be afraid of suffering. We should be afraid of only one thing, and that is not knowing how to deal with our suffering. Handling our suffering is an art. If we know how to suffer, we suffer much less, and we’re no longer afraid of being overwhelmed by the suffering inside. The energy of mindfulness helps us recognize, acknowledge, and embrace the presence of the suffering, which can already bring some calm and relief.

Now in our mind consciousness there are two energies: the energy of mindfulness and the energy of suffering. The work of mindfulness is first to recognize and then to embrace the suffering with gentleness and compassion. You make use of your mindful breathing to do this. As you breathe in, you say silently, “Hello, my pain.” As you breathe out, you say, “I am here for you.” Our breathing contains within it the energy of our pain, so as we breathe with gentleness and compassion, we are also embracing our pain with gentleness and compassion.

When we go home to ourselves with the energy of mindfulness, we’re no longer afraid of being overwhelmed by the energy of suffering. Mindfulness gives us the strength to look deeply and gives rise to understanding and compassion.

When you stay present with your body, present with your breathing, and present with your suffering, you allow Mother Earth and your cosmic body to embrace your pain. You allow the wonders of life to comfort and refresh you and bring you some relief.

If you have the energies of calm and compassion yourself, then you can be a source of those energies for someone else. When you sit next to them, they can feel the energy of your presence. They can feel your compassion and care. You don’t need to do or say anything.

The tree has an energy. It simply stands there, being itself, and that is so refreshing, nourishing, and healing.

Offering a high quality of presence for someone who is suffering can already be very supportive and healing for the other person.

Many of us want to do something to help the world suffer less. We see so much violence, poverty, and environmental destruction all around us. But if we’re not peaceful, if we don’t have enough compassion, then we can’t do much to help. We ourselves are the center. We have to make peace and reduce the suffering in ourselves first, because we represent the world. Peace, compassion, and well-being begin with ourselves. When we can reconcile with ourselves and embrace and transform our suffering, we are also taking care of the world. Don’t think that you and the world are two separate things. Anything you do for yourself, you are also doing for the world. PRACTICE: THE ART OF SUFFERING If you want to understand your suffering, you first need to calm yourself down. You need to embrace your suffering with compassion. Then you have a chance to look deeply into it, in order to understand its roots and transform it.

Nothing can survive without food. This is just as true for suffering as it is for love. If your suffering, sorrow, or depression has been going on for some time, there must be something that is feeding it. Every day we are consuming our thoughts, we are consuming TV, movies, music, conversations, and even the collective consciousness and environment around us, which may be toxic. So be attentive and reflect deeply to see whether these elements are feeding your suffering at the roots. As we start to change our habits of thinking, speaking, behaving, and consuming, we cut off and uproot these sources of food, and our suffering will steadily begin to die. As it dies it becomes compost, nourishing new flowers of understanding and compassion in the garden of our heart.

If we don’t experience suffering, how can we ever generate understanding and compassion? Compassion is born from understanding suffering, and without understanding and compassion, we cannot be a happy person.

After a fire has completely gone out, if you sink your hands into the ashes, it feels pleasantly cool. The Buddha used the word “nirvana” to describe the pleasant experience of the cooling of the flames of our afflictions. Many of us are burning in the fire of our craving, fear, anxiety, despair, or regret. Our anger or jealousy, or even our ideas about death and loss, can burn us up inside. But when we transform our suffering and remove our wrong ideas, very naturally, we can touch a refreshing peace. This is nirvana.

Suppose you’re walking barefoot and you accidentally step on a briar, and a dozen thorns pierce your foot. Immediately you lose all peace and happiness. But as soon as you’re able to remove one thorn, and then another, you begin to get some relief—you get some nirvana. And the more thorns you remove, the greater the relief and peace. In the same way, the removal of afflictions is the presence of nirvana.

When we cool the flames of our anger and, having understood its roots, the anger transforms into compassion, this is the experience of nirvana. When we experience the peace and freedom of walking meditation, we are touching our cosmic body; we are touching nirvana. When we stop running, let go of all our worries about the future and regrets about the past, and come back to enjoy the wonders of life in the present moment, that is when we touch nirvana.

Why would millions of people follow a religion that teaches eternal death? The very idea of eternal death is still caught in notions of being and nonbeing, birth and death, but the true nature of reality transcends all these notions. It is only when we are alive that we can touch nirvana.