Today’s Teacher: Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926 – 2022)
The Teaching
“Wash the dishes to wash the dishes.”
— Thích Nhất Hạnh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
Who Was Thích Nhất Hạnh?
Thích Nhất Hạnh (pronounced “Tick Naught Han”) was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, poet, and one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the modern era. Born in central Vietnam in 1926, he became a monk at age 16 and dedicated his life to practicing and teaching mindfulness—the art of being fully present in each moment.
During the Vietnam War, Thích Nhất Hạnh refused to take sides. Instead, he created a movement called “Engaged Buddhism,” which combined meditation practice with active compassion and peace work. He and his fellow monks helped rebuild bombed villages, set up schools and medical centers, and rescued boat people fleeing the war. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr., who called him “an apostle of peace and nonviolence.”
His activism got him exiled from Vietnam for 39 years. He eventually settled in France, where he founded Plum Village, a mindfulness practice center that became the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe.
What made Thích Nhất Hạnh extraordinary wasn’t just his peace work—it was his ability to make profound Buddhist wisdom accessible to modern people through the simplest activities. He taught that washing dishes, walking, breathing—these ordinary moments are where enlightenment actually happens.
His teaching is radically simple: Be here now. Fully. That’s the miracle.
Understanding the Wisdom
The Deceptive Simplicity
“Wash the dishes to wash the dishes” sounds almost absurd in its simplicity. Of course you wash dishes to wash dishes. What else would you do?
Yet Thích Nhất Hạnh observed: almost no one actually does this.
Instead, we wash dishes to:
- Get them over with so we can do something more important
- While thinking about the past (replaying conversations, dwelling on regrets)
- While worrying about the future (tomorrow’s meeting, next month’s bills)
- While mentally elsewhere (planning, fantasizing, ruminating)
- With resentment (why do I always have to do this?)
- While distracted (mind wandering anywhere but here)
We wash dishes while being anywhere except washing dishes.
Thích Nhất Hạnh asks: What if you washed the dishes just to wash the dishes? Fully present to the warm water, the soap, the feeling of the plate, the miracle of clean dishes emerging from dirty ones?
This simple shift is revolutionary.
The Tyranny of “In Order To”
Modern life is dominated by “in order to” thinking:
- I wake up in order to get to work
- I eat in order to not be hungry
- I exercise in order to lose weight
- I work in order to make money
- I talk to people in order to network
- I spend time with family in order to fulfill obligation
- I meditate in order to reduce stress
Everything is instrumental—a means to some future end.
The problem: You’re never actually living. You’re always postponing life until you reach the goal. And when you reach one goal, there’s immediately another one, so you never arrive at the present moment.
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teaching: Some things should be done just to do them. Not as means to an end, but as ends in themselves.
Wash the dishes to wash the dishes. Walk to walk. Breathe to breathe. Live to live.
This moment is not a means to the next moment. This moment is life itself.
The Miracle of the Ordinary
Thích Nhất Hạnh wrote a book called The Miracle of Mindfulness. The miracle isn’t supernatural—it’s the ordinary made extraordinary through presence.
The miracle is:
- Washing dishes and actually experiencing it
- Walking and feeling your feet on the earth
- Drinking tea and tasting it fully
- Breathing and knowing you’re alive
- Being here, now, completely
We think the miracle is somewhere else:
- On vacation
- In achievement
- In the future when everything is perfect
- In extraordinary experiences
- Anywhere but here, now, doing ordinary things
Thích Nhất Hạnh says: The miracle is already here. You’re just not present to it.
When you wash dishes to wash dishes, the ordinary becomes sacred. The mundane becomes miraculous. Life stops being something to get through and becomes something to experience.
How to Practice This Wisdom Today
1. Morning Mindfulness Setting (5 minutes)
Start your day with Thích Nhất Hạnh’s approach to presence.
Choose one morning routine activity:
- Making coffee or tea
- Brushing teeth
- Showering
- Getting dressed
- Walking to your car
Today, do it just to do it:
Before you start: Set intention: “I will do this activity completely, not to get it over with, but to actually experience it.”
During:
- Notice every sensation
- Feel the temperature, texture, movement
- Be aware of your body performing the action
- When your mind wanders to past or future, gently return to the activity
- Do it slowly enough to actually experience it
Example – Making coffee: Not: Rush through it while thinking about your emails But: Feel the coffee grounds, smell the aroma, hear the water, witness the transformation, experience the first sip
Notice: How does it feel to be fully present to something ordinary? This is the practice.
2. The One-Thing-at-a-Time Practice (Throughout the Day)
Thích Nhất Hạnh taught: When you walk, walk. When you eat, eat. When you work, work.
Modern life pulls us into constant multitasking:
- Eating while scrolling
- Walking while on phone
- Talking while thinking about something else
- Working while worried about home
- Being physically present while mentally absent
Today’s practice:
Pick three activities and do them single-pointedly:
- One meal: Eat without phone, TV, reading, or conversation. Just eat. Taste each bite. Notice texture, flavor, temperature. Experience eating.
- One walk: Even if just to the bathroom or car. Walk just to walk. Feel your feet. Notice your breath. Experience movement.
- One work task: Give it complete attention for 15 minutes. No email checking, no phone, no multitasking. Just the task.
Notice the difference: When you do one thing completely vs. splitting attention across many things, how does it feel? More peaceful? More satisfying? More alive?
This is washing the dishes to wash the dishes—applied to everything.
3. The Breathing Anchor (Multiple times today)
Thích Nhất Hạnh taught a simple practice: mindful breathing as an anchor to the present moment.
Throughout your day, pause and practice:
Breathe in: “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.” Breathe out: “Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.”
Or simply: In: “I am here.” Out: “I am now.”
Do this:
- When you’re anxious (brings you from future back to now)
- When you’re ruminating (brings you from past back to now)
- When you’re rushing (brings you from “getting through it” back to experiencing it)
- Before each transition (car to office, office to home)
Three mindful breaths—fully present to breathing—brings you back to life.
You’re not breathing in order to relax (though you might). You’re breathing to breathe. You’re being alive to being alive.
4. Evening Dishwashing Practice (Literal or Metaphorical)
End your day with Thích Nhất Hạnh’s actual practice: mindful dishwashing.
If you have dishes to wash:
Do it slowly, completely:
- Feel the water temperature
- Notice the texture of soap
- Experience the act of cleaning
- Be present to the transformation
- Don’t rush to finish—wash to wash
If you don’t have dishes:
Choose any mundane end-of-day task:
- Tidying your space
- Preparing tomorrow’s clothes
- Brushing teeth
- Skin care routine
Do it completely, not to get it done, but to do it.
Then reflect:
Journal briefly:
- When today was I most present? What was that like?
- When was I most absent, treating life as means to an end?
- What did I miss by not being present?
- What did I experience when I was present?
- Tomorrow, what one activity will I commit to doing just to do it?
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s promise: The more you practice presence, the more alive you become. Life isn’t somewhere else. It’s here.
A Modern Application: The Commute
Let’s apply Thích Nhất Hạnh’s wisdom to something many people experience: the daily commute.
The situation: You commute to work daily—30 minutes each way. That’s an hour of your life, five hours a week, 250 hours a year.
The conventional approach (washing dishes to get them done):
What you do:
- Rush through traffic, irritated
- Check phone at every red light
- Replay yesterday’s conflicts
- Worry about today’s meetings
- Listen to podcasts to “make use of the time”
- Text, plan, stress
- Treat the commute as dead time to get through
What you’re thinking: “This is wasted time. I need to get through this so I can start my real life at work (or home).”
What’s actually happening: You’re missing an hour of your life every day. You’re treating 250 hours a year as something to endure rather than live. You’re reinforcing the pattern: life is something that happens later, somewhere else, not now.
The result: Chronic stress, never feeling present, always “getting through” life rather than living it. And when you arrive at work or home, you’re still not present—you’ve trained yourself to always be somewhere else mentally.
The Thích Nhất Hạnh approach (commuting to commute):
What you practice: “This commute is not dead time. This is my life. These 30 minutes are as much life as any other 30 minutes. I will be present to them.”
How:
Morning commute—Mindful driving/riding:
- Feel your hands on the wheel
- Notice your breathing
- Actually see the scenery (the sky, trees, buildings you’ve never really looked at)
- When stopped, feel yourself sitting, breathing, being alive
- Listen to music if you want—but actually listen, not as background
- Or drive in silence, present to the experience
Practice the teaching: “I am driving. I am not driving in order to get to work. I am driving.”
Evening commute—Transition practice:
- The commute home is the transition between work and home
- Don’t bring work stress home by dwelling on it
- Use the commute to release the day
- Breathe, notice, be present
- Arrive home actually present, not still mentally at work
The result:
You just transformed 250 hours of “dead time” into 250 hours of life. You’re less stressed because you’re not fighting reality (“I shouldn’t have to commute!”). You’re more present when you arrive because you’ve practiced presence.
The commute is the same. Your experience of it is completely different.
This is washing the dishes to wash the dishes: accepting what is and being fully present to it.
The Deeper Philosophy
Mindfulness as Revolution
Thích Nhất Hạnh taught that mindfulness is revolutionary in a culture built on absence and distraction.
The culture teaches:
- Past and future matter; present is just transition
- Productivity is king; experience is secondary
- Achievement is the goal; the journey is just means
- Multitasking is virtue; single-pointed attention is inefficient
- Entertainment is necessary; boredom must be avoided
Mindfulness teaches:
- Only the present is real; past and future are mental constructs
- Presence is primary; productivity follows naturally
- The journey is life; there is no destination that matters more
- Doing one thing completely is sanity; multitasking is fragmentation
- Full presence to the ordinary is the deepest satisfaction
To be mindful in a culture of distraction is an act of rebellion.
Interbeing
Thích Nhất Hạnh coined the term “interbeing”—the interconnectedness of all things.
When you wash dishes mindfully, you see:
- The water came from clouds, mountains, rivers
- The dish was made by human hands
- The food on it came from earth, sun, rain, farmers
- Your hands washing it are made of food, water, ancestors
- This simple act connects you to everything
Presence reveals interconnection. Absence creates illusion of separation.
When you rush through washing dishes to “get to something important,” you miss the truth: everything is important. Everything is connected. This moment is the whole universe expressing itself.
Peace Practice
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s peace work wasn’t separate from his mindfulness teaching. He believed mindfulness IS peace work.
Why?
- You cannot make peace while being absent to the present
- You cannot love while not being present to those you love
- You cannot act wisely while lost in thoughts
- You cannot respond skillfully while reactive
Mindfulness—being present to washing the dishes—is training for being present to:
- Difficult conversations (responding rather than reacting)
- Suffering (your own and others’)
- Conflict (seeing clearly rather than through projection)
- Life (experiencing it rather than missing it)
The person who can wash dishes to wash dishes can also:
- Listen to listen
- Love to love
- Live to live
- Make peace to make peace
It’s all the same practice: Be here now. Fully. This is the path.
Your Practice for Today
Here’s your challenge based on Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teaching:
Today, do one ordinary thing completely—just to do it, not to get it done.
The Practice:
1. Choose one mundane activity:
- Washing dishes
- Taking a shower
- Eating a meal
- Walking somewhere
- Making your bed
- Drinking tea
- Brushing teeth
- Any ordinary activity
2. Set the intention: “I will do this completely. Not to finish it, not to get somewhere else, but to actually experience doing it.”
3. Before you begin: Take three conscious breaths. Say to yourself: “I am here. I will do this just to do it.”
4. During the activity:
- Move slowly enough to actually feel what you’re doing
- Notice sensations (temperature, texture, movement, sound)
- When your mind wanders to past, future, or elsewhere, gently return to the activity
- No phone, no podcast, no multitasking
- Just this, completely
5. Notice what happens:
- How does it feel to be fully present?
- Does the activity change when you’re not rushing through it?
- Do you notice things you’ve never noticed?
- Does time feel different?
- How does presence affect your sense of peace?
6. Extend the practice: If you enjoy the experience, try one more activity today with full presence.
The goal: Not to become perfectly mindful (impossible), but to taste what it’s like to actually be present to your life—even for five minutes.
Thích Nhất Hạnh would say: Those five minutes of true presence are more valuable than hours of absent-minded rushing.
Because those five minutes are life. The rest is just thinking about life.
Essential Reading: Dive Deeper into Thích Nhất Hạnh
If this teaching resonates with you, explore these books:
Primary Sources:
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- His most essential book
- Source of today’s teaching
- Simple, profound, practical
- Perfect introduction to mindfulness
- Short and accessible
Peace Is Every Step by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Mindfulness in daily life
- Short chapters perfect for daily reading
- Practical exercises and meditations
- Gentle, accessible wisdom
Being Peace by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Mindfulness and peace work
- How presence creates peace
- Engaged Buddhism explained
- Beautiful, inspiring
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Comprehensive guide to Buddhist practice
- Clear explanation of core teachings
- Mindfulness in Buddhist context
- For those wanting deeper understanding
Practical Applications:
- Mindful eating practice
- Short, practical guide
- Part of his “Mindful Essentials” series
- Perfect for beginners
How to Walk by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Walking meditation
- Transform ordinary walking into practice
- Simple, profound
- Companion to How to Eat
You Are Here by Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Discovering the magic of the present moment
- Practices for daily mindfulness
- Beautiful insights on being present
- Accessible and practical
Related Wisdom:
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Mindfulness meditation in plain English
- Scientific approach to Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teachings
- MBSR founder’s perspective
- Western lens on mindfulness
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- Present moment awareness
- Similar teaching from different tradition
- More psychological approach
- Complements Thích Nhất Hạnh
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
- Buddhist wisdom for difficult times
- Presence in the midst of chaos
- Compassionate, practical
- Western Buddhist perspective
- Science of rest and presence
- Why doing less mindfully beats doing more frantically
- Research-based approach to “washing dishes to wash the dishes”
- Modern productivity through presence
Closing Reflection
Thích Nhất Hạnh spent decades teaching one simple practice: Be here now.
Not later. Not when conditions are perfect. Not after you’ve achieved your goals. Not somewhere else.
Here. Now.
He taught this while rebuilding villages destroyed by bombs. While rescuing refugees. While in exile from his homeland. While dying of a stroke that left him unable to speak his final years.
If he could be present through all that, what’s your excuse for being absent while washing dishes?
Today, you will wash dishes—literal or metaphorical. Clean things, move from place to place, do ordinary tasks that seem like dead time, obstacles between you and “real life.”
But there is no real life somewhere else. This is it.
These dishes. This breath. This step. This moment.
You have two choices:
Treat it as something to rush through, endure, get past—always living in anticipation of some future moment when life will finally begin.
Or be here now. Experience it. Wash the dishes to wash the dishes.
Thích Nhất Hạnh discovered: The miracle is not somewhere else. The miracle is being alive, here, now, experiencing this moment fully.
Wash the dishes to wash the dishes.
Simple. Profound. Revolutionary.
How will you wash your dishes today?
Reflection Questions
Take a moment to journal or contemplate:
- How much of my day do I spend “getting through” activities rather than experiencing them?
- What am I waiting for before I allow myself to be fully present to my life?
- When was the last time I did something just to do it, not as means to an end?
- What would change if I brought complete presence to one ordinary activity today?
Tomorrow’s Wisdom
Join us tomorrow as we explore a teaching from Anne Frank, the young diarist who found beauty, hope, and humanity while hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust, on the power of holding onto goodness even in the darkest circumstances.
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Essential Reading: 📚 The Miracle of Mindfulness – Essential guide to present-moment awareness 📖 Peace Is Every Step – Mindfulness in daily life 🎯 How to Eat – Practical mindful eating guide 💫 Being Peace – Mindfulness and peace work
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