Beginning anew - ...if you have not suffered, there is no way you can learn

By: Tom Cloyd - 1 minute read

(Published: 2025-10-08; reviewed: 2025-10-08:1830 Pacific Time (USA))

“Of course we have made mistakes. Of course we have not been very skillful. Of course we have made ourselves and the people around us suffer, but that does not prevent us from improving, from transforming, from beginning anew. To begin anew is look deeply and honestly at ourselves, our past actions, speech, and thoughts, And to create a fresh beginning within ourselves and in our relationships with others. The Buddha said that if you have not suffered, there is no way you can learn. We learn by making mistakes. We can begin a new at the last moment of the day and even at the last moment of our life. In one day, and 24 hours, you have hundreds of chances to begin anew.”

from: Hạnh, T.N. (2017). How to fight, Parallax Press, p. 85,

Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the best known Zen teachers of our time. Martin Luther King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in trying to bring peace to the Viet Nam conflict in the mid-20th century.

 

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