Why does the world exist? What should you do when you feel sad? These questions are basic but the answers are elusive. Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist Zen Master and best–selling author, answers these questions and others posed by children in his new book Is Nothing Something? published by Parallax Press going on sale April 15.
The questions the children ask Hanh are the same ones asked by many of the adults I know, but the questions themselves, as Hanh states on the first page of his book, don’t need to be complex to be meaningful, “A good question doesn’t need to be long. If it comes from the heart, it can help a lot of people.” Wisdom knows no age, and neither does curiosity, or dissatisfaction. You can spend your life and life’s saving trying to find answers to the future, but you will miss out on the present, and be no happier.
The answer Hanh gives to the question “Why does the world exist?” is “Nobody knows why the world exists, but we can still appreciate it.” You don’t need to find the answers to all, or any of life’s hardest questions to be happy, you just need to be satisfied with living right now. Living in the present is something some people never learn how to do, if you can understand that as a child, your life will be as enjoyable as possible.
Find out more on Thich Nhat Hanh or order the book on amazon.
Book cover design by Debbie Berne | Illustration by Jessica McClure
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