reflection

Meditation is the soul's perspective glass.

Owen Felltham

   

Some people think that meditation takes time away from physical accomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that's true.  Most people, however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.

Peter McWilliams

      

We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose.  In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing.  When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition.  If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best.  Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey.  When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point.  And exactly the same thing is true in meditation.  Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.

Alan Watts

  

The more intense the nature of a person, the more readily will he or she find meditation, and the more successfully will he or she practice it.

James Allen

   

It is not the number of books you read, nor the variety of sermons you hear, nor the amount of religious conversation in which you mix, but it is the frequency and earnestness with which you meditate on these things till the truth in them becomes your own and part of your being, that ensures your growth.

Frederick William Robertson

   

Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time,
we can learn to direct attention where we choose.

Eknath Easwaran

   

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A wise teacher, instructing his students to meditate, told them, "The process is like filling a sieve with water."  All of the students were confused by this statement.  How was it possible to fill a sieve with water?  Some thought it meant meditation was very difficult, and others thought it meant they could only expect temporary gains from their practice.  Discouraged, they stopped meditating.  One student, however, approached the teacher and asked him to explain.

The teacher took the student to the edge of the ocean, gave him a sieve, and told him to try to fill it with water.  The student scooped the water into the sieve, but it immediately ran out.  The teacher took the sieve from the student and said, "I will show you how."  The teacher threw the sieve into the water, where it sank almost immediately.  He told the student, "The sieve is full of water now and will stay that way forever.  Meditation works the same way.  It's not about scooping small amounts of Spirit into your individual life, but about dropping yourself into the ocean of Spirit and merging with that Spirit more and more each day."

unattributed, told by Marci Shimoff
   
Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet.  It's a way of
entering into the quiet that's already there— buried under
the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.

Deepak Chopra
  

Sleep is the best meditation.

the Dalai Lama

   

Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come  
back to ourselves and see what is going on.  Once there is  
seeing, there  must be acting.  With mindfulness, we know 
what to do and what not to  do to help.

Thich Nhat Hanh

What's the point of walking meditation?  Why do I practice sitting
meditation?  Because I like it.  There's no point doing these practices
if you don't enjoy them.  It's not hard labour.  Every breath
can bring us peace, joy and freedom.

   

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.

Diana Robinson

reflection

Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world.  It gives you
the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a
good way.  A form of meditation, some form of communion with levels
of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.


Ted Hughes

   

A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding,
is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises.


Johannes Tauler

  

  
Meditation is not some strange technique that we have to learn with
great effort and difficulty.  Whatever we accomplish in this world we
accomplish through the power of concentration, which is nothing but
meditation.  Above all, meditation stills the wandering mind
and establishes us forever in a state of peace.

Muktananda
  

We spend a great deal of time telling God what we think should be done,
and not enough time waiting in the stillness for God to tell us what to do.

Peace Pilgrim

  

Meditation provides a way of learning how to let go.  As we sit,
the self we've been trying to construct and make into a nice,
neat package continues to unravel.

John  Welwood

  

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If I had not been already been meditating, I would certainly have had to start.
I've treated my own depression for many years with exercise and meditation,
and I've found that to be a tremendous help.


Judy Collins
    

The idea is not to become a mere sloth, sitting on your behind
with a vacant mind.  It is rather to get into the position of being
able to concentrate enormously, so that you can, so to speak,
look with all your energy--so that you do not miss a thing.

Paul Weinpahl

  

The practice of reflective meditation, which consists of holding certain
ideas in the mind long enough to enable them to form emotional connections,
tends to break up the crust of habit and to create a new will.

Walter M. Horton

   
Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss or
tranquility, nor is it attempting to be a better person.  It is simply the
creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our
neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes.

Chögyam Trungpa
  

There is no necessity for a technique or formula for meditation.  Inner
feeling, or inner knowing, is the Silent Voice of inspiration.

Walter Russell

  

The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention
even at extraordinary times, to be of the present, nothing-but-in-the-present,
to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life.

Peter Matthiessen

  

   

I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of
meditation anyone has so far found.  By reading the writings of the
most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own
minds and theirs as well.  This to me is a miracle.

Kurt Vonnegut
Palm Sunday

   reflection

It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit
or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift
in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view.
   When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether its been dark
for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades.
   The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see
the things you couldn't see before.
   Its never too late to take a moment to look.

Sharon Salzberg
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

  

Make your judgment trustworthy by trusting it.  Cultivate regular periods
of silence and meditation.  The best time to build judgment is in solitude,
when you can think out things for yourself without the probability of interruption.

Grenville Kleiser

   

Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our own territory so we can
know what is going on.  With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm
things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting
elements inside us.  If we can learn ways to touch the peace, joy, and
happiness that are already there, we will become healthy and strong,
and a resource for others.

Thich Nhat Hanh
Living Buddha, Living Christ

   
  
And when you try too hard, it doesn't work.  Try grabbing something
quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it
again.  Try doing something with a tense mind.  The surest way to
become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind
that tries too hard--one that thinks too much.

Benjamin Hoff
   

Once, at a seminar, I heard a Westernized lama say that a meditator's state
of mind should be like that of a hotel doorman.  A doorman lets the guests
in, but he doesn't follow them up to their rooms.  He lets them out, but he
doesn't walk into the street with them to their next appointment.  He greets
them all, then lets them go on about their business.  Meditation is, in its
initial stages, simply accustoming oneself to letting thoughts come and go
without grasping at their sleeves or putting up a velvet rope to keep them out.

Marc Barasch

   

Learn how to meditate on paper.  Drawing and writing are forms of meditation.
Learn how to contemplate works of art.  Learn how to pray in the streets or
in the country.  Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your
hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.

Thomas Merton

  

  
Remember one thing: meditation means awareness.  Whatsoever you do
with awareness is meditation.  Action is not the question, but the quality
that you bring to your action.  Walking can be a meditation if you walk
alertly.  Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alertly.  Listening to the
birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness.  Just listening
to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation if you
remain alert and watchful.

Osho
  

There is no meditation without wisdom, and there is no wisdom without meditation.
When one has both meditation and wisdom, that person is indeed close to nirvana.

The Buddha

  

Meditation is not a means to an end.  It is both the means and the end.

Jiddu Krishnamirti

   
The beauty of meditative work is that it is possible to rely on
the practice itself to guide us through the maze.  It keeps us
on the path, even in the darkest of moments, facing the most
terrifying of our own mind states and external circumstances.
It reminds us of our options.  It is a guide to human development,
a roadmap to our radiant selves, not to the gold of a childhood
innocence already past, but to that of a fully developed adult.
But, for meditation to do its work, we have to be willing to do
ours.  We must be willing to encounter darkness and despair when
they come up and face them, over and over again if need be,
without running away or numbing ourselves in the thousands
of ways we conjure up to avoid the unavoidable.

Jon Kabat-Zinn
Wherever You Go, There You Are
  

Those who are striving for knowledge will not get very far on the
highway of life unless some time is given to meditation and
contemplation; meditation on the past, that mistakes may not be
repeated--contemplation on the future, that the learning and
experience of today may be profitably applied to tomorrow.

Fred van Amburgh

  

   

Meditation is a rich and powerful method of study for anyone who knows
how to examine his or her own mind, and to employ it vigorously, I would
rather shape my soul than furnish it.  There is no exercise that is either feebler
or more strenuous, according to the nature of the mind concerned, than that
of conversing with one's own thoughts.  The greatest people make it their
vocation, "those for whom to live is to think" [Cicero].  Moreover, nature
has favoured it with this privilege, that there is nothing we can do for so long
at a time, nor any action to which we can apply ourselves more frequently
and easily.  It is the occupation of the gods, says Aristotle,
the source from which comes their beatitude and ours.

Michel de Montaigne
Essays

  
Meditation is pure space, undisturbed by knowledge.

Osho
Discourses

Meditation is nothing but coming back home, just to have a little
rest inside.  It is not the chanting of a mantra, it is not even a
prayer, it is just coming back home and having a little rest.
  

Fortunately we live in a time when all over the world many people are
becoming familiar with meditation.  It is being increasingly accepted as
a practice that cuts through and soars above cultural and religious
barriers, and enables those who pursue it to establish a direct contact
with the truth of their being.  It is a practice that at once transcends
the dogma of religions and is the essence of religions.

Sogyal Rinpoche
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

  

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Meditation helps keep us from identifying with the "movies of the mind."

Joan Borysenko
  

Meditation needs an awake mind, not an unconscious one. . . . Meditation
is not something that should be done in a particular position at a particular
time.  It is an awareness and an attitude that must persist throughout the day.

Annamalai Swami

  

Meditating means bringing the mind back to something again and again.
Thus, we all meditate, but unless we direct it in some way, we meditate
on ourselves and on our own problems, reinforcing our self-clinging.

Yeshe Dorje

   

         
     

Alone in his car heading west, it's easy for Jason
to feel sorry for himself and mad at the world.  But
then he gives a ride to Hector and learns that life
isn't nearly as negative as we sometimes see it,
and that the prejudice and discrimination that
he's experiencing aren't unique to him--and aren't
impossible to overcome.  The friendship between
this young man and his 70-year-old passenger is
an inspiring story of love and dealing with
obstacles in our lives.    
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