The Art of Living summary

Imagine looking up at a cloud drifting overhead. After turning away for a moment, you look back at the sky and notice that the cloud is gone. You conclude that the cloud no longer exists. But, of course, this isn’t true. The cloud didn’t disappear. It simply changed into something else, like mist or rain.

This is in line with the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed – it can only be transformed. Similarly, a cloud can never stop being. Instead, the cloud you saw yesterday might end up being water you’ll someday drink.

Our ancestors developed the ability to run so they could escape danger and hunt animals for food. Although most humans no longer need to run in the same way to survive, the impulse to hunt is still hardwired into our cells. All that’s changed is our target. Instead of chasing wildlife, we pursue money, love, health, and even helping others.

But in our effort to achieve these goals, we sacrifice the wonders of the present moment because our eyes are fixed on the future. We tell ourselves that there’s a reward for all our effort – that one day we’ll reach our version of heaven and be happy. But heaven is already available to us. And if we stopped running, we could enjoy it right now.

As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “You can never bathe in the same river twice.” The water you first swam in will have moved on by the time you come back for a second dip. Similarly, you’re not the same person you were yesterday because cells in your body have died and been replaced.

People tend to fear change. We think it signals difficult times, forgetting that it also has the potential to bring happiness. Thanks to change, diseases are cured and tyrannical regimes come to an end. Even in terrible times like war, when it seems like there’s no end in sight, we can take comfort in knowing that nothing lasts forever.

Picture a fish swimming in a river and coming upon a delicious piece of bait. The fish, of course, snaps up the bait in an instant, without realizing there’s a hook inside. And just like that, the fish has lost its freedom.

Cravings are just like that fish bait. They resemble everything we dream of, but we can’t see how deeply they hook us. And instead of making us happy, all they ultimately do is cause suffering. So, if we want to feel content, we have to stop chasing the bait.

When a newborn baby cries, his mother will hurry to the crib and gently take him in her arms. This very act of holding the baby eases his suffering, even though his mother doesn’t yet know the cause of his pain. If the baby’s mother left him alone as he cried, he would only become more upset.

The pain we carry is like that baby – it’s crying out for comfort. But unlike a loving mother, we often turn our back on it. Instead of tending to our pain, we distract ourselves with busyness. We use our phones, our work, and our cravings to block out the sound of our pain. 

When Thich Nhat Hanh was in Kuala Lumpur on a teaching tour, he saw billboards advertising a company called Nirvana, which provided Buddhist funeral services. He didn’t think it was a good choice of name because the Buddha never associated nirvana with death.

Western Buddhist scholars have misleadingly defined nirvana as the eternal death that occurs after the final cycle of reincarnation. But this definition doesn’t align with the Buddha’s teachings; you can’t have eternal death if existence is continuous.