Quotes About Meditation

if we are free of the past, free of the future, we can touch the kingdom of God, the Pure Land of the Buddha, with every step.

Are you sure of your perceptions?" he asked us. I urge you to write this phrase down on a card and put it up on the wall of your room: "Are you sure of your perceptions?" There is a river of perceptions in you. You should sit down on the bank of this river and contemplate your perceptions.

When we're first learning sitting meditation, it can be useful to count our breaths. Count one for the first in- and out-breath. Count two for the second, and so on. If your mind wanders and you lose count, go back to one and begin again. This exercise helps develop concentration. You may think counting to ten is easy, but counting to ten while breathing mindfully takes a lot of focus.

Mara personifies the inner hindrances to the practice, the opposite of the Buddha nature in each person.

Keep looking into the truth in order to have the understanding that nirv??a is the greatest happiness.

You can take one step with each in-breath and one step with each out-breath.

We breathe all the time, but we rarely pay attention to our breathing. We rarely enjoy our breathing.

The past is just a ghost.

You guys get up too early for one thing, you should get up a little later. And your practice is too grim. I have just two instructions for you this week. One is to breathe, and one is to smile.

In - out Deep - slow. Breathing in I feel fine, breathing out I feel light. Breathing in, my mind is still. Breathing out, my lips are smiling. Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment. Breathing out I know this is a wonderful moment.

When you think, The sun of awareness has gone out in me, at that moment it relights itself, faster than the speed of light.

We don't say that we "hit the bell" or "strike the bell." Rather, we say we "invite the bell" to sound, because the bell is a friend, an enlightened friend that helps us wake up and guides us home to ourselves. Gentleness and nonviolence are characteristics of the sound of the bell. Its sound is gentle but very powerful. When you hear the sound of the bell, take the opportunity to come home to yourself

Even if you only stop and focus on your breathing for a few breaths, or for a minute or two, it's very valuable.

Can I realize my deepest aspiration if I pursue this path?" "What is really preventing me from taking the path I most deeply desire?

Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing.

The Buddha taught that when we call up and get in touch with the truth that we cannot escape old age and death, our fear—and the foolish things we do to try not to feel it—will cease.

Suppose you are in the desert, and you only have one glass of muddy water. You have to transform the muddy water into clear water to drink, you cannot just throw it away. So you let it settle for a while, and clear water will appear. In the same way, we have to convert anger into some kind of energy that is more constructive, because anger is you. Without anger you have nothing left. That is the work of meditation.

It is a kind of luxury to be a monk or a nun, to be able to sit quietly and look deeply into the nature of suffering and the way out.

If you want to experience what the end of suffering will feel like, it is in the here and the now with this breath. If you want nirvana, it's right here.

The Heart Sutra says that there is "nothing to attain." We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already in us.

Your breathing is a stable, solid ground where you can take refuge. No matter what thoughts, emotions, and perceptions are going on inside you, your breath is always there, like a faithful friend.

Whenever you're carried away by thinking, overwhelmed by strong emotions, or feeling restless and dispersed, return to your breathing. Bring body and mind together and anchor your mind. Become aware of the air coming in and going out of your body.

Repeating a phrase like "Life is suffering" might help you notice when you are about to become attached to something, but it cannot help you understand the true nature of suffering or reveal the path shown to us by the Buddha.

We "kill" our anger by smiling to it, holding it gently, looking deeply to understand its roots and transforming it with understanding and compassion.