I Have Arrived, I am Home | Thich Nhat Hanh, 2014 07 20

I have arrived, I am home.

It's very simple,
but that is the practice.

And walk in such a way that you arrive,
and you feel like home.

You do not walk like a sleep walker
anymore,

you are walking as a free person,
you are walking like a Buddha.

To be a Buddha and walking on Earth
is possible.

And Buddha is a man who is awake,
who can be in the here and the now,

who can enjoy the present moment.

You can be a Buddha,
walking on this beautiful planet.

Is very important that you feel at home
in the here and the now,

only when you feel at home
in the here and the now

that you really have peace.

Without peace, there's no happiness.
Enjoy.

Peace is the absence of conflict.

When you deny the here and the now,
when you are not satisfied with yourself,

what is there when you are
searching for something else,

you are not at peace with yourself.

When you breathe in and you bring
your mind back to your body,

you make peace within mind and body.

Very often, in the early life,
you left your body alone.

When you spend two hours
with your computer,

you forget completely
that you have a body.

In that moment, body and mind
are not together,

we are not truly alive,

our body and mind
are away from each other.

So, breathing in mindfully
you ride your in breath

and you go home to yourself.

You bring your mind home
to your body,

and eternally, you are fully present
in the here and the now.

And that's only two seconds,
three seconds for breathing in,

to bring the mind home to your body.

And there, mind and body together,
you are established in the here and the now

and you get in touch with the wonders
of life.

That's simple enough.

So, every breath you take,
every step you make,

should be able to bring you home
to the here and the now,

that is the basic practice.

And you don't have to struggle,
to force yourself to do that,

because breathing in like that
can be very pleasant,

and making a step like that
can be very pleasant,

there is no violence, no force,
just awaken, a wake up from a long dream,

from a long sleep.

You wake up to the fact that life
is available in the here and the now,

that you are alive, of the wonders
of life in you and around you,

that you can enjoy being alive,
right here and right now.

And you have more than enough
conditions in order to be happy,

so that is insight, that is mindfulness
and concentration.

That back the value of your breath
and you step;

a breath made like that,
a step made like that can bring you

a lot of freedom and happiness.

I have arrived, I am home.

You feel comfortable in your home,
your true home is not in Germany,

in Holland, in Singapore, your true home
is the there and the now,

where you can touch the wonder of life,
your ancestors are available

in the here and the now.

I have arrived, I am home,
in the here and the now.

The here and the now
is where I arrived,

is my true home.

I am solid, I am free.

This is not wishful thinking,
solidity is what you cultivate by walking.

Every step helps you cultivate
your solidity.

To be solid means to be established,
to be in the here and the now.

The past cannot pull you away,
the future cannot pull you away,

you are established in the here
and the now,

solidly established
in the here and the now.

And with one step, breathing in,
you can contemplate that solidity,

and you are free, I am solid,
I am free,

you are free because the past
and the future,

your projects, your sorrows
cannot pull you away anymore.

So, while walking you can cultivate
more solidity and freedom,

and that has the power to heal you,

and to bring you happiness.

So that's one song I like to memorize
and to practice walking or breathing,

"I have arrived, I am home,
in the here, in the now.

I am solid, I am free
in the ultimate, I go.

In the ultimate means that
you see that

this physical body of yours
is not the only body you have.

You have a cosmic body,

and you have to recognize
your cosmic body,

and you look into your physical body,
you see your cosmic body,

the air, the water, the heat, the soil,

and you are made of stars.

You know very well that
without the sunshine,

there would be no life on Earth.

So you are made of sunshine.