Nhat Hanh Quotes About Past

Quotes about: Past

• Some people live as though they are already dead. There are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses.

  Nhat Hanh

  Moving, Past, People

  Thich Nhat Hanh, Sherab Chodzin Kohn (2012). “You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment”, p.8, Shambhala Publications

• The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.

  Nhat Hanh

  Past, Live In The Moment, Mindfulness

  Twitter post from Aug 09, 2016

• When you sit in a café, with a lot of music in the background and a lot of projects in your head, you're not really drinking your coffee or your tea. You're drinking your projects, you're drinking your worries. You are not real, and the coffee is not real either. Your coffee can only reveal itself to you as a reality when you go back to your self and produce your true presence, freeing yourself from the past, the future, and from your worries. When you are real, the tea also becomes real and the encounter between you and the tea is real. This is genuine tea drinking.

  Nhat Hanh

  Real, Drinking, Coffee

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2001). “Anger”, p.45, Penguin

• To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment.

  Nhat Hanh

  Buddhist, Regret, Mean

• Meditation is not meant to help us avoid problems or run away from difficulties. It is meant to allow positive healing to take place. To meditate is to learn how to stop—to stop being carried away by our regrets about the past, our anger or despair in the present, or our worries about the future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Running, Regret, Anger

  Thich Nhat Hanh, Nguyen Anh-Huong (2006). “Walking Meditation”, p.9, Sounds True

• Wisdom and joy arise when you learn to exist now rather than in the nonexistent past or future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Past, Joy, Arise

• Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

  Nhat Hanh

  Inspirational, Life, Change

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2012). “Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm”, p.4, Harper Collins

• I will practice coming back to the present moment...not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past or letting anxieties, fears, or cravings pull me out.

  Nhat Hanh

  Regret, Past, Practice

• There are some people who eat an orange but don't really eat it. They eat their sorrow, fear, anger, past, and future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Fear, Anger, Future

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2013). “The Path of Emancipation: Talks from a 21-day Mindfulness Retreat”, p.8, Parallax Press

• Each minute we spend worrying about the future and regretting the past is a minute we miss in our appointment with life - a missed opportunity to engage life and to see that each moment gives us the chance to change for the better, to experience peace and joy.

  Nhat Hanh

  Motivational, Regret, Past

  Thich Nhat Hanh, Lilian Cheung (2010). “Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life”, p.2, Harper Collins

• If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. When a child presents himself to you with his smile, if you are not really there - thinking about the future or the past, or preoccupied with other problems - then the child is not really there for you. The technique of being alive is to go back to yourself in order for the child to appear like a marvellous reality. Then you can see him smile and you can embrace him in your arms.

  Nhat Hanh

  Buddhist, Children, Past

• When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the ocean. But as the creek moves down through the fields, it becomes larges and calmer and it can enjoy the reflection of the sky. It's wonderful. You will arrive at the sea anyway so enjoy the journey. Enjoy the sunshine, the sunset, the moon, the birds, the trees, and the many beauties along the way. Taste every moment of your daily life.

  Nhat Hanh

  Ocean, Moving, Sunset

• In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden and they abandon their values.

  Nhat Hanh

  Beautiful, Past, Garden

  "Zen and the art of protecting the planet" by Jo Confino, www.theguardian.com. August 26, 2010.

• By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better & prepare for a better future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Past, Moments, Better Future

• Inside every one of us is a garden, and every practitioner has to go back to their garden and take care of it. Maybe in the past, you left in untended for a long time. You should know exactly what is going on in your own garden, and try to put everything in order. Restore the beauty; restore the harmony in your garden. If it is well tended, many people will enjoy your garden.

  Nhat Hanh

  Garden, Past, Order

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2004). “Taming the Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions”, p.51, Penguin

• Suppose you are drinking a cup of tea. When you hold your cup, you may like to breathe in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. And when you are truly there, something else is also there - life, represented by the cup of tea. In that moment you are real, and the cup of tea is real. You are not lost in the past, in the future, in your projects, in your worries. You are free from all of these afflictions. And in that state of being free, you enjoy your tea. That is the moment of happiness, and of peace.

  Nhat Hanh

  Real, Drinking, Past

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com.

• The present moment contains past and future. The secret of transformation, is in the way we handle this very moment.

  Nhat Hanh

  Past, Secret, Way

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2008). “Understanding Our Mind”, p.226, ReadHowYouWant.com

• I am in the present. I don't think of the past. I don't think of the future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Past, Thinking

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com.

• If you have a friend who suffers, you have to help him.«My dear friend, you are on safe ground. Everything is okay now. Why do you continue to suffer? Don't go back to the past. It's only a ghost; it's unreal». And whenever we recognize that these are only movies and pictures, not reality, we are free. That is the practice of mindfulness.

  Nhat Hanh

  Movie, Friends, Past

• As you walk, you touch the ground mindfully, and every step can bring you solidity and joy and freedom. Freedom from your regret concerning the past, and freedom from your fear about the future.

  Nhat Hanh

  Regret, Past, Joy

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com.

• Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

  Nhat Hanh

  Running, Regret, Past

• No thought about the past or future can pull you away from your present peace and joy. The universe exists in this present moment. No desire can pull you away from this present peace, not even the desire to become a Buddha or the desire to save all beings. Know that to become a Buddha and to save all beings can only be realized on the foundation of the pure peace of the present moment.

  Nhat Hanh

  Peace, Future, Past

  Various, Ledi Sayadaw, Bhikkhu Khantipalo, Nyanaponika Thera, Padmasiri de Silva (2012). “Collected Wheel Publications Volume XVI: Numbers 231–247”, p.109, Buddhist Publication Society

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