Quotes About Meditation

Meditation is the tool you use to "upgrade your operating system," to move from that "either/or" thinking of the binary mind into the more spacious heart awareness that sustains the wisdom way of knowing.

If only there weren't so many other people in the world,' he said lugubriously.

He had reached the point where all he wanted on earth was to be alone.

All our troubles, says somebody wise, come upon us because we cannot be alone.

She waited patiently till she could go upstairs and think her own thoughts.

There is visible labor and invisible labor. To contemplate is to labor, to think is to act. Folded arms toil, clasped hands work. A gaze fixed on heaven is a work. Thales remained motionless for four years. He founded philosophy.

In the end, the soul is alone brooding on the face of the uncreated flux, as a bird on a dark sea...

To contemplate the extermination of the human species and the long pause that follows before some other species crops up, it calms you more than anything else.

Focus your mind on one thing, absorb the old examples, study the actions of the masters- penetrate deeply into a single form of practice.

This dew-like life will fade away; avoid involvement in superfluous things.

Because mountains are high and broad, the way of riding the clouds is always reached in the mountains; the inconceivable power of soaring in the wind comes freely from the mountains

There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Seek nothing else.

Like the sun illuminating and refreshing the world, this sitting removes obscurities from the mind and lightens the body so that exhaustion is set aside.

So our practice is not to eliminate our delusion, but to see or to become aware of the fact that we are deluded. Just become aware of it and let go of it. Do not be pulled by the delusions.

See the pot as your own head; see the water as your lifeblood.

as long as there is a hope or expectation of some result to be derived from zazen, then zazen is tainted.

Uchiyama R?shi helped me a great deal in not allowing me to use zazen as an escape. He said, "You must know that behind zazen are the teachings of Buddhism, and behind them, your own life experience." These words went a long way in clarifying for me a passage in the Sh?b?-genz?: Genj? K?an (Actualizing the Koan): "To study Buddhism is to study the Self.

Looking deeply into the writings and sutras of past teachers does not mean to learn something that is unrelated to us. Studying ancient writings means to study our lives. To study the Tenzo Ky?kun came to mean for me that I would be studying my own life.

Qué es en definitiva esta Clara Luz? Cualquier cosa que se diga no es más que el dedo que señala la luna. Por ello, el silencio de Bunko parece ser la respuesta más acertada, la que mejor refleja la vacuidad de la Clara Luz, la ausencia de sustancia, la ausencia de luz de la Clara Luz.

jijuy?-zammai, or zazen

shikan-taza (just doing zazen)

Sawaki R?shi also used to say frequently, "Just sit?that's all there is," and "No matter how many years you sit doing zazen, you will never become anything special.

Sh?b?-genz?: Genj? K?an (Actualizing the Koan):

D?gen says here that to study Buddhism means to study one's Self; to learn Buddhism is to learn one's Self.