Phan Dan

“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, No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life

“[T]he flower is made of non-flower elements. We can describe the flower as being full of everything. There is nothing that is not present in the flower. We see sunshine, we see the rain, we see clouds, we see the earth, and we also see time and space in the flower.
A flower, like everything else, is made entirely of non-flower elements. The whole cosmos has come together in order to help the flower manifest herself, The flower is full of everything except one thing: a separate self, a separate identity.
The flower cannot be by herself alone. The flower has to inter-be with the sunshine, the cloud and everything in the cosmos. If we understand being in terms of inter-being, then we are much closer to the truth. Inter-being is not being and it is not non-being. Inter-being means being empty of a separate identity, empty of a separate self,”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life

“Things cannot stay the same because they are influenced by everything else, everything that is not itself.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life

“Nothing can exist by itself alone. It has to depend on every other thing. That is called inter-being. [...] There is no being; there is only inter-being.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life