You have probably heard of the passing of Thich Nhat Hahn. He was a Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet, teacher, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism.
There are many quotes from him over the years that have resonated with me. Today in a newsletter from the director of the film “Walk With Me” – Marc J Francis, came these quotes that I would like to share with you:
“You carry Mother Earth within you,”
“When you wake up and you see that the Earth is not just the environment, the Earth is in you, you are the Earth, you then touch the nature of interbeing. At that moment you can have real communication with the Earth. We need a real awakening, a real enlightenment. We have to change our way of thinking and seeing things – and this is possible.”
Here is what he said when he heard that someone had built a temple in Hanoi to commemorate his life, he sent a letter to the Tu Hieu temple in central Vietnam, where he trained as a novice monk, making it clear he does not want a shrine built in his honor when he dies:
“I said, don’t waste the land of the temple in order to build me a stupa. Do not put me in a small pot and put me in there. I don’t want to continue like that. It is better to put the ash outside to help the trees to grow. That is meditation. I recommend that they make the inscription outside on the front:
“I am not in here”
and then if people do not understand, you add a second sentence;“I am not out there either”
and if still they don’t understand on the third and the last;“‘I may be found maybe in your way of breathing or walking.”