THICH NHAT HANH HOW TO DREAM
‘THE MONK WHO TAUGHT
THE WORLD MINDFULNESS’ TIME
HOW TO DREAM
THICH NHAT HANH
RIDER
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia India | New Zealand | South Africa
Rider is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
Penguin Random House UK One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London SW11 7BW
penguin.co.uk global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published by Parallax Press in 2025
First published by Rider in 2025
Copyright © 2025 Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism 2025
Illustrations © Jason DeAntonis 2025
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Penguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes freedom of expression and supports a vibrant culture. Thank you for purchasing an authorised edition of this book and for respecting intellectual property laws by not reproducing, scanning or distributing any part of it by any means without permission. You are supporting authors and enabling Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for everyone. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Penguin Random House expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.
Typeset by Six Red Marbles UK, Thetford, Norfolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
The authorised representative in the EEA is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781846048906
Penguin Random House is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet. This book is made from Forest Stewardship Council® certified paper.
Notes on Dreaming 1
A North Star for Dreamers 105
Notes on Dreaming
A Fire in Your Heart
What is our greatest hope and aspiration if not a dream? Each moment of our daily lives, our dreams can slowly become reality.
Only faith, aspiration, awakening—only a big dream—can generate a collective energy powerful enough to bring our society to the shore of safety and hope. I know there is fire in your heart. Allow your dreams to carry you far and break free from the walls that limit you.
The Deepest Kind of Desire
A deep desire, or aspiration, is necessary for us to live. The Buddha had a name for this kind of desire: volition. A person’s life is motivated by volition; it is the deepest kind of desire that we have in ourselves.
A Ball of Energy
Volition is the driving motivation behind our thinking, speech, and actions. It determines everything. Every one of us has a strong goal for our life. We want to achieve something. We feel a ball of energy in us, a tremendous, powerful source of energy. We want to feel truly alive.
The Buddha’s Deepest Desire
Before Siddhartha became the historical Buddha, he undertook six years of practice to become a free person, enlightened and emancipated. He had witnessed much suffering in his family, his society, and his country. He left his family and his position as a prince in his father’s kingdom, but he was motivated by love, not by a desire to run away from his responsibilities. Siddhartha wanted to uproot the suffering in himself in order to offer others a way out. This was his deepest desire, and it brought him tremendous happiness. It gave him the courage and strength to go through many hardships.
