“In Buddhism the word “suchness” is used to mean “the essence of particular characteristics of a thing or a person, its true nature.” If we want to live in peace and happiness with a person, we have to see the suchness of that person. Once we see it, we understand him or her, and there will be no trouble. We can live peacefully and happily together.
When we bring natural gas into our homes for heating and cooking, we know the suchness of gas. We know that gas is dangerous—it can kill us if we are not mindful. But we also know that we need the gas in order to cook, so we do not hesitate to bring it into our homes. The same is true of electricity…A person is the same. If we do not know enough about the suchness of that person, we may get ourselves into trouble. But if we know, then we can enjoy each other very much and benefit a lot from one another. The key is knowing a person’s suchness. We do not expect a person always to be a flower. We have to understand his or her garbage as well.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, in “Peace Is Every Step”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.
