Th铆ch Nh岷 H岷h was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who then lived in southwest France where he was in exile for many years. Born Nguy峄卬 Xu芒n B岷, Th铆ch Nh岷 H岷h joined a Zen (Vietnamese: Thi峄乶) monastery at the age of 16, and studied Buddhism as a novitiate. Upon his ordination as a monk in 1949, he assumed the Dharma name Th铆ch Nh岷 H岷h. Th铆ch is an honorary family name used by all Vietnamese monks and nuns, meaning that they are part of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan. He was often considered the most influential living figure in the lineage of L芒m T岷� (Vietnamese Rinzai) Thi峄乶, and perhaps also in Zen Buddhism as a whole.
Such a short book, but it took me forever to read because there is so much to think about. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything I learned. I don't feel like writing a huge review for this one, but it was a life-changing read for me. There is a lot of insight in these pages--and a lot of genuine, practical advice for calming yourself down and finding general peace with life. I really enjoyed it.
Thich Nhat Hanh has a very simple writing style, so it makes one feel as though the concepts he conveys are simple too. In some ways, they are. To paraphrase: Be present, now, with your in breath and your out breath. Bring your attention to this moment, and acknowledge what you feel. If you suffer, recognize it. Listen to your own suffering as deeply as you can. Whatever the nature of your suffering it, by knowing it and embracing it, you can transform it into greater compassion. Is someone you love suffering? Be present for them, and immediately ease their suffering by offering your presence and compassion.
This slim little volume could be read in an hour or two, but ought very much not to be. Instead, it is best consumed in smallish pieces over a longer time, the better to fully absorb the practices and try them out and see what speaks to you most effectively. In particular, the end section of the book, called Practices for Happiness, can be overwhelming if read all at once. Each of these practices, sets of mantras, or philosophies could spawn a book of its own.
I hope, for myself, to read this book many times and absorb more of it into my own mindfulness practices each time.
Like all other Thich Nhat Hanh books I鈥檝e had the pleasure of listening to, No Mud, No Lotus is a book that brought me back to my center and helped me. It felt more like a validation and growth of my own internal ideas, especially on self and love, which is the thing that has kept pulling me in towards Buddhism.
鈥淢any of us slog through life without conscious awareness or intention. We set ourselves a course and we barrel ahead, without stopping to ask whether this path is fulfilling our most important goals. That鈥檚 partly because many of us believe that happiness is not possible in the here and now. We think we need to struggle now so that we will be happy in the future, so we postpone happiness and try to run into the future and attain the conditions of happiness that we don鈥檛 have now. If you breathe in and bring your mind home to your body you can recognize immediately the many conditions of happiness that you already have. You can look deeply at your true aspiration and get the insight 鈥業 don鈥檛 need to run into the future in order to be happy.鈥� We all have the habit of running, every one of us. That habit creates tension, not only in the body, but in the mind, and it鈥檚 a major source of our suffering.鈥�
鈥淚f we haven鈥檛 taken the time to stop, come home to ourselves, and look deeply we may not know what brings us our deepest happiness.鈥�
鈥淟ooking without judgement, we can understand, and compassion is born, transformation is possible.鈥�
鈥淗olding our suffering, looking deeply into it, and transforming it into compassion, we find a way to happiness.鈥�
鈥淭he best way to help others lessen their fear, craving, and violence is to show them there鈥檚 another way. If love has degenerated into hate, it鈥檚 possible for you to turn the garbage of that hate into a kind of composite to nourish the flower of love to bloom again.鈥�
鈥淚n the collective, we can see the individual. And in the individual, there is the collective.鈥�
鈥淓verything is in endless transformation, and all things are without an independent self.鈥�
鈥淲ith the insight of impermanence, we see the interdependent and selfless nature of all that exists, that nothing has a separate, independent self.鈥�
鈥淲e recognize the true nature of desire and recognize that everything is already in the process of coming into being and disintegrating. With this insight, we no longer hold on to any object of desire or see any phenomenon as a changeless, separate entity.鈥�
鈥淲hen we鈥檙e no longer grasping at notions, we experience the freedom and joy that comes from the cessation of illusion.鈥�
鈥淲hen you love someone, you have to offer that person the best you have. The best we can offer another person is our true presence. Before you can be there for someone else, you have to be there for yourself.鈥�
鈥淭he first definition of love is to be there. This is a practice. How can you love if you are not there? In order to love, you have to be there. Body and mind united. A true lover knows that the practice of mindfulness is the foundation of true love.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檝e already produced your true presence and so you鈥檙e in a position to recognize the presence of another person, someone who is very precious to you. When you say, 鈥楧arling, I know you are there,鈥� you are also saying, 鈥榊our presence is very precious to me and is crucial to my happiness.鈥� You can鈥檛 make the second step unless you have made the first step. 鈥� 鈥業 am here, I recognize my presence, I offer my presence to you, my beloved one.鈥� This is the best gift a lover can make to her beloved one. Nothing is more precious than your presence.鈥�
鈥淭here is pride in you, but in love there is no place for pride.鈥�
鈥淲hen we love each other, we need each other, especially while we鈥檙e suffering.鈥�
鈥淚f there鈥檚 anything to be aware of, it鈥檚 that an emotion is only an emotion and that you are much more than one emotion. You are body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. The territory of your being is large. One emotion is very little.鈥�
鈥淭o love is first of all to accept ourselves as we actually are.鈥�
鈥淭he willingness to love is not yet love.鈥�
鈥淭o know the real situation within yourself, you have to know your own territory.鈥�
鈥淭he person who suffers most in this world is the person who has many wrong perceptions, and most of our perceptions are erroneous. 鈥� you have to know which wrong perceptions cause you to suffer.鈥�
鈥淭he soil of our mind contains many seeds, positive and negative. We are the gardeners who identify, water, and cultivate the best seeds. Touching the seeds of joy, peace, freedom, solidity, and love in ourselves and in each other is an important practice that helps us grow in the direction of health and happiness.鈥�
鈥淢ay I be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May she be able to live fresh, solid, and free. May they be able to live fresh, solid, and free.鈥�
鈥淢ay I be free from attachment and aversion but not be indifferent. May she be free from attachment and aversion but not be indifferent. May he be free from attachment and aversion but not be indifferent. May they be free from attachment and aversion but not be indifferent.鈥�
鈥淭he notions we entertain about what will bring us happiness are just a trap. We forget that they are only ideas. Our idea of happiness can prevent us from being happy. When we believe that happiness should take a particular form, we fail to see the opportunities for joy that are right in front of us. Happiness is not an individual matter, it has the nature of inter-being. When you鈥檙e able to make one friend smile, her happiness will nourish you also. When you find ways to foster peace, joy, and happiness, you do it for everyone.鈥�
鈥淔reedom means transcending the trap of harmful desires and being without attachments.鈥�
鈥淎ttachment obstructs the flow of life and, without mindfulness, attachment always becomes aversion.鈥�
鈥淧racticing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.鈥�
鈥淟ife is available only in the present moment. Peace is available only in the present moment. Taking a step, and taking refuge in your step, means to stop running. 鈥� It would be a pity to let a whole day pass without enjoying walking on the earth.鈥�
鈥� 鈥業 have arrived. I am home.鈥� is not a statement, but a practice.鈥�
鈥淓very step brings you home to the here and the now. Your true home is the here and the now because only in this moment, in this place called the here and the now, is life possible. Every step you take should bring you back to peace, to the present moment. 鈥� The miracle is not to walk on water or on thin air, but to walk on Earth. Walk in such a way that you become fully alive and joy and happiness are possible. That is the miracle everyone can perform.鈥�
This is a distillation of teachings into very direct statements and recommendations. As such, it's not all that great for reading but is fine as a reference book. Excerpt: "The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk. You have an opportunity to practice deep, compassionate listening. If you can listen to the other person with compassion, your listening is like a salve for her wound. In the practice of compassionate listening, you listen with only one purpose, which is to give the other person the chance to speak out and to suffer less. ... Hold on to your true purpose and remind yourself: 'Listening like this, my sole aim is to help the other person suffer less. She may be full of wrong perceptions, but I won't interrupt her. If I jump in with my perspective on things or correct her, it will become a debate, not a practice of deep listening. Another time, there may be a chance for me to offer her a little information so that she can correct her wrong perception. But not now.' That kind of mindfulness helps you to keep your compassion alive and protects you from having the seed of anger in you touched off. Who knows, you may be the first one who has listened to her deeply like that."
This is the 2nd book of Thich Nhat Hanh I have read. Every time I read him, it's like someone is applying balm on my emotional pain. His writing is so soothing.
No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering is a book written by the Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, which focuses on various aspects surrounding the concept of transforming suffering. The meaning behind the title is that without mud, the beautiful lotus flower could not grow. This is an analogy to life鈥攚ithout suffering, there cannot be happiness. The key is to develop a keen ability to transform one's own suffering, for which Hanh lays out a detailed plan with various helpful techniques.
In the very beginning of the book is a quote and approach which resonated with me that can be used when someone asks a difficult question about suffering that has no end in sight. Hanh explains that during the Vietnam war, when someone would ask when the war would be over, he knew that he could not tell a lie and say that it will be over soon, nor could he say "I don't know", which would only cause the person to despair even more. So he would answer, "Everything is impermanent, even war. It will end some day." I appreciated this advice and will try to put it into practice when addressing others' suffering.
Hanh discusses the question of whether or not the Buddha suffered by saying that since he had a body, feelings, and perceptions (like all of us) he also experienced suffering. Although both physical suffering and suffering of the mind is inevitable, we can suffer much less by "not watering the seeds of suffering inside us." The act of consuming in order to cover up our suffering does not work; we need a spiritual practice to develop the skill and strength necessary to look deeply into our suffering and make a breakthrough.
There are many mantras, meditations, and techniques in the book that can help address suffering. For example, there is the concept of being a mindfulness bell for a loved one鈥攇ently squeezing their hand whenever there is something that may trigger their anger or sadness during a difficult conversation with someone else. Or the morning verse for happiness, which is a daily reminder to breathe and become aware that we have twenty-four new hours to live each morning when we wake up.
According to my records, this is the sixth book by Hanh that I have completed. I enjoy his books a lot, and have gotten much benefit from them. However, I do feel that they borrow a lot of content from one another (granted, he has written a myriad of books, so this is to be somewhat expected) and have a lot of overlapping stories and advice between them. I enjoyed this book, although there wasn't much in it that I couldn't have gotten from reading one or two of his other books. I do plan to continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh's works, and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest his books to anyone else. They are very quick and easy to read, and are very helpful. Please do check one of them out when you get a chance.