Quotes about Reality
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old. I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. They are the ground upon which I stand. To
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Your dream can be realized right in the present moment. You live your life in such a way that every step in the right direction and every breath along the way becomes the realization of your dream. Your dream does not take you away from the present; on the contrary, your dream becomes reality in the present moment.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
When conditions are sufficient, we manifest. When conditions are no longer sufficient, we no longer manifest. It does not mean that we do not exist. Like radio waves without a radio, we do not manifest.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
The fear, the anger and the despair is born on the ground of wrong perception.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
In this very moment all of us are dying. Some of us are dying more slowly and some of us more quickly. If we can be alive now, it is because we're dying at every moment. We might think that someone else is dying and we're not. But we shouldn't be fooled by appearances.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
With nonattachment, we see both being and nonbeing as creations of our mind, and we ride the wave of birth and death. We don't mind birth. We don't mind death. [...] Reality transcends both birth and death.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
We tend to focus on the object and call it reality. We don't notice how our mind intervenes in our perception.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
What we lack is not an ideology or a doctrine that will save the world. What we lack is awareness of what we are, of what our true situation really is.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
In the experience [of drinking tea], you are one with the tea, there is no distinction between subject and object, there is no evaluation, there is no discrimination. This pure sensation can be presented as an example of non-discriminative knowledge. It is that which introduces us to the heart of reality.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
To reach truth is not to accumulate knowledge, but to awaken to the heart of reality. Reality reveals itself complete and whole at the moment of awakening. In the light of this awakening, nothing is added and nothing is lost; but emotions that are based on concepts can no longer affect a man.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
The reality of the Eucharistic sacrifice has always been at the heart of Catholic faith; called into question in the 16th century, it was solemnly reaffirmed at the Council of Trent against the backdrop of our justification in Christ.
— Pope Benedict XVI