When you first fall in love and you feel attached to the other person, that is not yet real love. Real love means loving-kindness and compassion, the kind of love that does not have any conditions. You form a community of two in order to practice love—taking care of each other, helping your partner blossom, and making happiness something real in that small community. Through your love for each other, through learning the art of making one person happy, you learn to express your love for the whole of humanity and all beings.

♦

Excerpted from Touching Peace © 2025 by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Inc., with the permission of Parallax Press.

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