Quotes About Meditation

When your mind is stable, move into shikantaza by just sitting. Allow whatever comes up to come up, whether it is a sound or a thought or a physical sensation. Observe it until it drops away. Just let whatever is present be present. Continue this way until the end of your sitting period.

Maybe getting to know a child wasn't entirely unlike meditation. You kept going at it from all different angles, and once in a while something clicked.

Talk about it only enough to do it. Dream about it only enough to feel it. Think about it only enough to understand it. Contemplate it only enough to be it.

Sunday. I contemplate my books, piled up on the windowsill to constitute a small library: a rather useless one, for today no one will come to read them for me. Seneca, Zola, Chateaubriand, and Valery Larbaud are right there, three feet away, just out of reach. A very black fly settles on my nose. I waggle my head to unseat him. He digs in. Olympic wrestling is child's play compared to this. Sunday.

introduction, shaking his head.

Why must one talk? Often one shouldn't talk, but live in silence. The more one talks, the less the words mean. (Nana Kleinfrankenheim, Vivre Sa Vie)

Mirrors should reflect before sending an image.

I hope the amazed reader will be patient for a while—in order simply to read.

The inward turning to Him is easy, natural and effortless, because He is at your centre. He is drawing you.

Solitude my solace, wrapped around me like layers of golden hair. Stacks of books and I can sing as loud as I please all day and night. [from the poem, Rapunzel: I like the Quiet ]

And yet that's the best way to watch television actively: with your eyes closed.

Écrire, c'est fermer les yeux en les gardant ouverts.

The meditative mind sees disagreeable or agreeable things with equanimity, patience, and good-will. Transcendent knowledge is seeing reality in utter simplicity. (146)

Lead us toward a speech, which is as beautiful as silence, and toward a silence, which is as beautiful as the sweetest and truest of words. (119)

May sleep envelop you as a bed sheet floating gently down, tickling your skin and removing every worry. Reminding you to consider only this moment.

A little meditation in the morning or evening, an hour of church on the occasional Sunday morning, sponsor a hungry kid, a little reading or discussion now and then, and our spiritual itch is adequately scratched. No one gets hurt or does anything crazy; certainly no one unplugs themselves from the great hive and wanders off on their own.

Here's all you need to know to become enlightened: Sit down, shut up, and ask yourself what's true until you know.

A poem by Ryokan comes to mind: Too lazy to be ambitious, I let the world take care of itself. Ten days worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs by the fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment? Listening to the night rain on my roof, I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out. One of my favorites.

An objective observer might look at the vast majority of spiritual seekers today and classify them as spiritually self-lobotomized. They set out to find life and discover truth, and wind up sitting in a dark room repeating a meaningless syllable, eyes closed, brain silenced, convinced that they're actually making a great journey.

examination. "Sometimes

Turn your head away from the screen, my friend. It will tell you nothing more.

Back in those days it was just me swimming around in the dark, doing back flips and taking naps whenever I want.

Your happiness is affected by 1) your outlook, that is, how you choose to view the events and circumstances of your everyday life; 2) specific actions with positive impact—things like writing down three things your grateful for, or sending appreciative emails, doing random acts of kindness, practicing forgiveness, meditating, and exercising; and 3) where you put your time and energy, and especially investing more time into important relationships and personally meaningful pursuits.

Every morning write down three new things you're grateful for. Journal for two minutes a day about a positive experience from the past 24 hours. Meditate daily for a few minutes. At the start of every day, write an email to someone praising or thanking them. Get fifteen minutes of simple cardio exercise a day.