If you can accept your body, then you have a chance to see your body as your home. You can rest in your body, settle in, relax, and feel joy and ease. If you don’t accept your body and your mind, you can’t be at home with yourself. You have to accept yourself as you are. This is a very important practice. As you practice building a home in yourself, you become more and more beautiful. – Thich Nhat Hanh.
In addition to his many accomplishments, beloved Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh has created beautiful calligraphy. These works of art are reminders to stay in the present moment, to feel our connection with the natural world, and to love and accept ourselves.
The five Buddha families provide a method to work with emotional energy in Tibetan Buddhism. Each Buddha family represents a particular emotion that can manifest in an enlightened way (like spaciousness), or a clouded way (spaciness). Together the Dhyani or wisdom Buddhas create a mandala or a complete circle of existence. By working with the Buddha families, we can explore our own personality, how we relate to others, and come to recognize the mandala that exists within us.
In this teaching, Lama Tsultrim Allione explains each of the Buddha families and how you may see them in yourself.