Quotes About Meditation

As long as you are conscious of your wish to be empty, you will never succeed in becoming empty.

The concrete methods of adjusting the mind are called susoku-kan and koan kufu21 in Japanese.

in the true sense of the word, "no-thought and no-thinking" means flowing steadily and endlessly in the pure experience of the oneness of self and other.

it is important to take care to adjust our breathing to our koan as we inhale and exhale properly, saying to ourselves, "Mu." This method is what is called "nentei.

In the Jiki-shinkage-ryu (the Straight-Mind-Shadow school of swordsmanship) there is a basic set of movements called Hojo which is indeed the most magnificent I have ever known. It is accompanied by deep breathing marked by the sound "Ah" when inhaling and "Um" when exhaling.

We should sit so that our energy increases of itself and brims over instead of putting physical pressure on the lower abdomen by force.

Now, when we go into samadhi through meditation, our thoughts become pacified. This means that the first five kinds of consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness have stopped their operations. When the operation of the conscious mind stops, that of the seventh consciousness called Mana-vijnana prevails to create makyo. Therefore, makyo may be regarded as something resulting from the power of concentration.

To sit in order to cure neurosis or to develop hara42 so as not to be frightened by things is really up to each person and probably is not bad. Whether such people will be guided from there to training according to the true way of Zen discipline depends on the ability of the instructor. But, if we recall the original aim of zazen, it is correct to say that zazen has no purpose other than zazen.

The concentration power of zazen, enabling you to walk through a place as busy as downtown Tokyo as if you were walking alone through an uninhabited desert, springs from a deep principle cultivated only in the practice of samadhi with one's eyes open. It is this point that only a person of attainment would know. You must never make light of opening or shutting your eyes.

Zen Master Dogen said that to transmit Dharma means to transmit zazen.

it goes without saying that since time immemorial it has been forbidden to practice Zen as a means of accomplishing some purpose or other, for Zen should be without purposes and without acquisitions.

Zazen should never become a means of making yourself feel good nor should it be a tranquilizer to settle excitement and wild thoughts. What is of primary importance is what the ancients called "no gaining and no merit." Indeed, zazen consists in awakening us to our own essence so as to secure and express our true selves in our everyday conduct.

When we refer to the classic text Zazen-gi regarding the method of sitting, we find the following written about the essential technique of zazen, "Once the posture has been stabilized and the breath regulated, push forth the lower abdomen; one thinks not of good or evil.

As we become advanced in meditation, sometimes phenomena appear during our meditation. Some of them are favorable while others are not. As a whole, they have always been called makyo (disturbing conditions). For

Master Harada Sogaku writes, "For beginners it is adequate to sit for about thirty minutes at a time.

When people with only a shallow experience define Zen simply as a way to promote health or a way for human development, it is an embarrassment for Zen even though Zen has these aspects.

Kinhin means walking in the Zen hall after sitting in Zen meditation for some time. We walk meditatively with our hands held against our chests. The closed right hand held lightly against the chest is covered with the left hand, and both of the arms are held up horizontally.

of their brain waves quickly changed to an astonishing degree 50 seconds after the start of zazen. Even after the finish, the effect remained. This could not be seen at all when amateurs tried to imitate it.2 Thus, zazen has recently begun to be recognized as something contributing to the mental health of some patients suffering from neuroses.

On one hand, kinhin is a kind of exercise to ease our fatigue after sitting, and on the other, it is training to bring about the oneness of movement and calmness.

You cannot become a Buddha unless you kill the Buddha which is dualistically conceived as an object.

It has long been said that breathing becomes well regulated, blood circulation becomes normalized, the abdomen becomes filled with energy in a way that creates self-composure, and insomnia can be cured as the result of zazen. The unprecedented research of Professor Kasamatsu has succeeded in demonstrating theses empirical effects scientifically.

True "no-thought, no-mind" zazen is just one thing—to have a dauntless mind.

If possible, we should sit as often as we can every day. In case it is impossible for us to sit many times a day, we must find ways to sit in the intervals of our work or while riding buses and trains on our way to and from work in addition to sitting once a day before going to bed.

In the distinguished book Zazen no Shokei by the lay Zen Master Kawajiri Hogin, he writes, "Because zazen is training to realize the One Mind of yourself, it is a mistake to set up an aim outside of yourself … Not setting up an aim is the true aim.