Your True Home – Thich Nhat Hanh: Review and Summary

All we need is a little training to experience the positive changes that come from bringing the energy of authentic presence into our lives. This treasure trove of 365 daily motivational nuggets is for anybody who wants to train to give every moment of life their full attention.

Using his best-selling books, beloved spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh offers profound and life-changing advice that reflects the main ideas of his teachings: how mindfulness practice improves our relationships through love, presence, and attentive listening; how to transcend fear and other negative emotions; and how to cultivate peace for the world.

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Inspiring, delightful, and profoundly enlightening, Your True Home demonstrates how mindfulness may enhance many aspects of our lives and how its advantages extend beyond us to impact others and the wider world.

About the Author

One of the most renowned and significant spiritual leaders in the world, Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) was a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, and peace campaigner. He was born in 1926, and at sixteen years old, he became a Zen Buddhist monk.

In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts to promote peace and reconciliation during the Vietnam War. Thich Nhat Hanh established a corps of Buddhist peace workers in Vietnam called the School of Youth for Social Service, together with Van Hanh Buddhist University.

After being exiled for his peace activism, he carried on with his humanitarian activities, saving boat people and assisting refugees in their resettlement. He founded Plum Village France, the biggest Buddhist monastery in Europe and the centre of the global Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, in 1982.

He wrote a hundred books over his seven decades as a teacher, and they have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into over forty languages.

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Review

This book is fantastic, akin to one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s best-selling works. The Shambhala Sun’s editor, Melvin McLeod, has chosen the 365 excerpts in this book after searching through over 30 of Thich Nhat Hanh’s publications or interviews. Thich Nhat Hanh’s books cover over 40 years of his wisdom.

From brief explanations of deep Buddhist teachings to straightforward yet genuine and practical everyday inspirations to do good in the world, the book covers a wide variety. This book was probably written with the intention of having readers finish it in a year, absorbing one section per day for 365 days.

Since I’ve owned this book for some time, I’ve come to realise that it’s a book for life. I take days at a time to meditate on or practice a single section, and I take my time going through the book. Very strongly advised. Let me end with this quotation. Just today, I randomly opened the book and found this brief gem: One Contains All, #246.

You touch everything when you deeply and mindfully touch one item. Time is no exception. You touch all moments when you really and mindfully touch one. “The one contains the all,” says the Avatamsaka Sutra. Everything from the past to the future is contained in a single moment if you experience it fully.

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Summary

Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Your True Home” is a compilation of daily tips that inspire readers to practice mindfulness and presence at all times. The book highlights that acknowledging the interconnection of all things and living in the present are the genuine paths to pleasure and tranquillity, rather than pursuing outside goals.

It emphasises how crucial compassion, mindfulness, and attentive listening are to changing our relationships and lives.

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