Raph

“There may be a time when a country will have to wake up from a vision of happiness, when they have to realize that theirs is not the perfect idea, that there are many aspects that do not correspond to the reality of what is there, the real need and aspirations of the people. A country might want the people to become heroes, but maybe they don’t want to be heroes. The moment they release that notion of happiness, the country will again have another chance. But if people do not learn from the suffering of the past, they will repeat exactly the same mistake and adopt another notion of happiness. And we don’t know how long they will keep this new notion of happiness. So a notion is always something dangerous.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers

“the mind poet stays in the house / the house is empty and it has no walls / the poem is seen from all sides / everywhere / at once.”
― Gary Snyder, Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places

“We have to believe that by engaging in dialogue with the other person, we have the possibility of making a change within ourselves, that we can become deeper.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

“that we may see ourselves more accurately on this continent of watersheds and life-communities—plant zones, physiographic provinces, culture areas; following natural boundaries. The “U.S.A.” and its states and counties are arbitrary and inaccurate impositions on what is really here.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island