Quotes About Meditation

This teaching of O Yomei reminds me of "Kyosho Dofu (Ching-ch'ing Tao-fu) and the voice of rain drops" as told in Article 46 of the Hekigan Roku (Pi-yen Lu).

Running after things is called attachment; following the Heavenly Principle is samadhi.

When I speak about zazen, what comes to mind first is the following passage from the Dan-gyo, a record of the life and sayings of the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, Eno Daikan (Hui-neng Ta-chien):30 Za (sitting) means to not give rise to thoughts (no dualism) under any circumstance. Zen (meditation) means to see your original nature and not become confused.

The distinction between samadhi and attachment (following forms) depends on whether we are completely one with objects, liberated from mind and body, or whether we remain even slightly attached to the duality of subject and object.

Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.

One who prays ceaselessly is one who combines prayer with work and work with prayer.

I'm going somewhere where there aren't any women.

Zen lives in the present. The Whole teaching is: how to be in the present; how to get out of the past which is no more and how not to get involved in the future which is not yet, and just to be rooted, centered, in that which is.

Zen says: be empty. Look without any idea. Look into the nature of things but with no idea, with no prejudice, with no presupposition.

You can enter yoga, or the path of yoga, only when you are totally frustrated with your own mind as it is. If you are still hoping that you can gain something through your mind, yoga is not for you.

If you can become a mirror you have become a meditator. Meditation is nothing but skill in mirroring. And now, no word moves inside you so there is no distraction.

One has to reach to the absolute state of awareness: that is Zen. You cannot do it every morning for a few minutes or for half an hour and then forget all about it. It has to become like your heartbeat. You have to sit in it, you have to walk in it. Yes, you have even to sleep in it.

Zen is not a philosophy, it is poetry. It does not propose, it simply persuades. It does not argue, it simply sings its own song.

Don't look for God in the sky; look within your own body.

My whole teaching consists of two words, meditation and love.

Nobody can teach you love. Love you have to find yourself, within your being, by raising your consciousness to higher levels.

It is a meaningful thing for a scientist of the stature of Ibn Sina, certainly one of the best scientific minds in the whole history of mankind, to often resort to prayer to seek God's help in solving his philosophical and scientific problems. And it is also perfectly understandable why the purification of the soul is considered an integral part of the methodology of knowledge.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have, Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship.

allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you. Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Gazing on the Crucified.

If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood--darkness is the time to listen.

One of the reasons of stultification in prayer is that there is no imagination, no power of putting ourselves deliberately before God.

Reflected peace is the proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to Him.

Lord, how I desire to see Thee, to hear Thee, to meditate on Thee and to manifestly grow like Thee! And Thou hast said, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside.