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8 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

Practitioners of both these religions aim to reach a place
Six Practices of peace: the Pure Land of the Buddha or the Kingdom
of God. Both can be reached through mindfulness and
for cultivating contemplation: “the kingdom is available to us, but we
might not be available to the kingdom, so the practice
is to make ourselves available to the Pure Land, to the
happiness Kingdom that is already there. And that practice is not
too difficult.”
By Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh
(based on a Dharma Talk given in 2004) “Mindfulness helps us to be established in the here and
now and that is the basic condition for us to touch life,
to touch the Kingdom of God, to touch the Pure Land of
the Buddha.”

Here are a few quick takeaways from this Dharma talk,
to help us understand and practice cultivating peace
and happiness in every moment:

1. Be more like children
Paying attention to how the children around us
unknowingly practice being happy and joyful is a certain
way to understand living deeply in the present moment.

Children are much better than adults at enjoying the
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) was a here and now: “They don’t think too much about the
global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, future, they don’t make a lot of projects like we do, and
revered around the world for his pioneering they are not caught in the past.”
teachings on mindfulness, global ethics and
peace. Thich Nhat Hanh has published more than So, “learning to be more like children is good practice.”
100 books, including classics like The Miracle of To practice mindfulness as children also means fully
Mindfulness and Peace is Every Step. enjoying doing so.

2. Look for happiness in the ordinary
When Buddhist teachers mention achieving ‘peace
We needn’t consume anything special in order to be
in every moment’ or ‘living deeply in the present
happy. By nourishing our joyful feelings and using the
moment’, they don’t refer only to sitting meditation,
practice of mindfulness to remain aware of the miracle
deep relaxation, or contemplation, which are intentional
of life, we can find happiness in the present moment:
moments of mindfulness. Instead, they refer to every
moment of our lives.
“You don’t need to consume anything: no alcohol, no
cigarette, no wine, no expensive car – and yet there’s a
Buddhism and Christianity both teach about living
lot of pleasant wonderful joyful feelings nourishing us.
deeply in the present moment, and “getting in touch
Mindfulness helps us to get in touch with the joy inside,
with the wonders of life within and around us” without
with the wonders of life that are all around us. And Buddha
worrying about the future. During this Dharma
advised us to nourish us with healthy, joyful, pleasant
talk from 2004, Thich Nhat Hanh quotes the Gospel of
feelings, because if we are happy enough then we’ll be able
Matthew, which says that “you should take care of today
to handle the negative, the unpleasant feeling.
because tomorrow will take care of itself.”