Bieu Huynh

“Precepts in Buddhism are not imposed by some outside authority. They arise from our own insight based on the practice of mindfulness. To be attached to the form without understanding the essence is to fall into what Buddhism calls attachment to rules.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh

“Bụt đã ghi dấu chân trên mọi nẻo đường hành hóa. Đi đâu đại đức cũng sẽ dẫm lên dấu chân của người. Đường xưa còn đó, những đám mây trắng vẫn còn, nếu mình bước một bước trên con đường nầy, bước với tâm trạng an hòa và tỉnh thức, thì con đường xưa và những đám mây trắng cũ sẽ mầu nhiệm biến thành con đường hôm nay và những đám mây trắng trong hiện tại. Những đám mây trắng ngày xưa còn đó và con đường ngày xưa hiện thực nằm dưới chân ta. (trích ĐXMT, trang 675)”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha

“The lion is king of the beasts. When he leaves his den, he stretches and gazes out over all the directions. Before seeking his prey, he lets forth a mighty roar that causes the other creatures to tremble and flee.
- Birds fly high, crocodiles dive beneath the water, foxes slip into their holes. Even village elephants, decked in fancy belts and ornaments and shaded by golden parasols, run away at the sound of that roar.
-Community, the proclamation of the Way of Enlightenment is like that lion’s roar! …..False doctrines fear and tremble. When Impermanence, Non-self, and Dependent Co-arising are proclaimed, all those who have long sought false security in ignorance and forgetfulness must awaken, celestial beings as well as human beings. When a person sees the dazzling truth, he exclaims, ‘We embraced dangerous views for so long, taking the impermanent to be permanent, and believing in the existence of a separate self. We took suffering to be pleasure and look at the temporary as if it were eternal. We mistook the false for the true. Now the time has come to tear down all the walls of forgetfulness and false views.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha

“Life is miraculous, even in its suffering. Without suffering, life would not be possible. There is nothing permanent, and there is no separate self. Neither is there impermanence or no-self. When we see life deeply, there is no death. Therefore, it isn’t necessary to say “everlasting life.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966