Selections from “Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers” by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Listen, Listen, the sound of the bell

brings me back to my true home.”

“Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me

begin to dissolve. My mind is calm and my body

is relaxed. A smile is born on my lips. Following

the sound of the bell I go back to the island of

Mindfulness and in the garden of my heart the

flowers of peace bloom beautifully.”

“In Buddhism we speak of the world of phenomena (dharmalakshana).

You, me, the trees, the birds, squirrels, the creek, the air, the stars are all phenomena. There is a relationship between one phenomenon and another.  If we observe things deeply, we will discover that one thing contains all the other things. If you look deeply into a tree, you will discover that a tree is not only a tree.  It is also a person. It is a cloud. It is the sunshine. It is the Earth. It is the animals and the minerals. The practice of looking deeply reveals to us that one thing is made up of all other things.  One thing contains the whole cosmos.

When we hold a piece of bread to eat, if mindfulness is there, if the Holy Spirit is there, we can eat the bread in a way that will allow us to touch the whole cosmos deeply.  A piece of bread contains the sunshine. That is not something difficult to see. Without the sunshine, the piece of bread cannot be. A piece of bread contains a cloud. Without a cloud, the wheat cannot grow. So when you eat the piece of bread, you eat the cloud, you eat the sunshine, you eat the minerals, time, space, everything.”

This next excerpt is from the book, “Happiness Now” by Robert Holden, in which he speaks of being in the “now”.  

“The gift of happiness is wrapped in your heart, not the world.  thus, your happiness will never be mailed to you! In truth, your happiness has already been delivered, sitting in your inner mailbox - your heart – waiting to be opened.  This is what the sacred now is really all about.  In essence, then, you are the key to happiness.

                  “Now has enough wisdom to last you forever,

                  because within you, right now, there is all the

                  wisdom you listen for in others.

                  Now has enough love to last you a lifetime,

                  because within you, right now, thereis the

                  love you continually cry out for.

                  Now has enough peace to last you an eternity,

                  because within you, right now, peace of mind

                  is one though away at most.

                  And Now has enough joy to outlast the world,

                  because within you, right now, the joy you chase

                  is not in things – it is in you.”