Meditation Quotes

We have collected and put the best meditation quotes. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others.

Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.

Keep your heart clear
And transparent,
And you will never be bound.
A single disturbed thought
Creates ten thousand
Distractions. – Ryokan Taigu

What is Meditation?

Mediation and concentration are the way to a life of serenity – Baba Ram Dass

Mediation applies the brakes to the mind – Rama Maharshi

Mediation is a vital way to purify and quiet the mind, thus rejuvenating the body – Deepak Chopra

Mediation is not spacing out or running away. In fact, it is being totally honest with ourselves – Kathleen McDonald

Mediation means dissolving the invisible walls that unaware has built – Sadhguru

Meditate. Let the light of the heart engulf you. – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

Meditation allows us to deal with life as it is rather than looking at it and comparing it with how we think it’s supposed to be. – Jeff Kober

Meditation allows us to directly participate in our lives instead of living life as an afterthought. – Stephen Levine

Meditation and concentration are the way to a life of serenity. – Baba Ram Dass

Meditation and prayer are one of the most efficient tools we can use to inspire our world. – Frank Arrigazzi

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. – Buddha

Meditation can cleanse the thought process, control emotional bondage of greed, hatred and jealousy and brings with it tranquillity of mind and the power of concentration and inner strength. – DR. P. S. RAMANI

Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditation can reintroduce you to the part that’s been missing. – Russell Simmons

Meditation has become a very popular subject, and for good reason. Everybody is feeling the pressure to succeed and do great in their lives, but the work involved in becoming successful can be enough to make anyone exhausted. – Venkat

Meditation helps slow the mind down and enables it to focus calmly on the here and now, and therefore is the chief, conscious route to achieving a state of mindfulness. – Corinne Sweet

Meditation is a method to transform your mind. It is finding your mental place of serenity, peace, and calmness. – James O’Donnell

Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realizing that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are and what we’re doing rather than trying to improve or change or get rid of who we are or what we’re doing. The key is to wake up, to become more alert, more inquisitive and curious about ourselves. – Pema Chodron

Meditation is a process through which we get to know how our mind works and train our attention to remain where we place it. – Michael Smith

Meditation is a silent heart, a peaceful mind which can make life more lovable, more livable. – Anonymous

Meditation is a vital way to purify and quiet the mind, thus rejuvenating the body. – Deepak Chopra

Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divine within you. – Amit Ray

Meditation is about viewing the world with great clarity so you can make wise decisions. It will help you make the appropriate action with regard to things that you have to change. – Mia Conrad

Meditation is absolute comfort and getting back to the serenity which is your original nature. – Sri Sri

Meditation is all about the pursuit of nothingness. It’s like the ultimate rest. It’s better than the best sleep you’ve ever had. It’s a quieting of the mind. – Hugh Jackman

Meditation is allowing what is – Victor Davich

Meditation is another dimension of natural beauty. People talk about appreciating natural beauty—climbing mountains, seeing giraffes and tigers in Africa, and all sorts of things. But nobody seems to appreciate this kind of natural beauty of ourselves. This is actually far more beautiful than flora and fauna, far more fantastic, far more painful and colorful and delightful. – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Meditation is being in tune with our inner energy source. – Anonymous

Meditation is bringing the mind home. – Sogyal Rinpoche

Meditation is choosing not to engage in the drama of the mind but elevating the mind to its highest potential. – Amit Ray

Meditation is for moms what eyesight is for pilots. It allows us to see where we’re headed, respond to conditions in our environment, and make adjustments when necessary – Amber Trueblood

Meditation is hanging out with your soul. – Rachel Ritlop

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight. – Ajahn Brahm

Meditation is like giving a hug to ourselves, getting in touch with that awesome reality in us. While meditating we feel a deep sense of intimacy with God, a love that is inexplicable. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Meditation is listening to the divine within. – Edgar Cayce

Meditation is medicine to quiet the chaotic mind, and it allows us to listen to the wisdom of our souls. – Dr. Romie

Meditation is meeting eternity in the present moment. It is resolving every problem as it comes. It is resolving every tension as it creeps in. It is facing the challenges of life in a non-fearful way. – Vimala Thakar

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

Meditation is not a way of making the mind go 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

Meditation is not about feeling a certain way. It’s about feeling the way you feel. – Dan Harris

Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but recognizing that we are more than our thoughts and our feelings. – Arianna Huffington

Meditation is not evasion, it is a serene encounter with reality – Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditation is not spacing-out or running away. In fact, it is being totally honest with ourselves. – Kathleen McDonald

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

Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake. – Thomas Merton

Meditation is relatively simple, very inexpensive, does not take any special equipment, and can be done anywhere and anytime. – Michael Smith

Meditation is silence, energising and fulfilling. Silent is the eloquent expression of the inexpressible. – Sri Chinmoy

Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. – Alan Watts

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in eternal awareness or pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity. – Voltaire

Meditation is the secret of all growth in spiritual life and knowledge. – James Allen

Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit. – Anonymous

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively. – Sharon Salzberg

Meditation is to the mind what exercise is to the body – it warms and invigorates. – John Thornton

Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind. Too much sugar leads to a heavy body, and too many distractions lead to a heavy mind. Time spent undistracted and alone, in self-examination, journaling, meditation, resolves the unresolved and takes us from mentally fat to fit. – Naval Ravikant

Meditation means the recognition or the discovery of one’s own true self. – Sri Chinmoy

Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better, it’s about befriending who we are. – Ani Pema Chodron

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

Meditation should not be regarded as a learning process. It should be regarded as an experiencing process. You should not try to learn from meditation but try to feel it. Meditation is an act of nonduality. The technique you are using should not be separate from you; it is you, you are the technique. Meditator and meditation are one. There is no relationship involved. – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Meditation speaks. It speaks in silence. – Sri Chinmoy

Meditation speeds up the evolutionary process by gradually purifying negative tendencies. – Master Choa Kok Su

Meditation stills the wandering mind and establishes us forever in a state of peace. – Muktananda

Meditation takes discipline, just like learning how to play the piano. If you want to learn how to play the piano, it takes more than just a few minutes a day, once in a while, here and there. – Jack Kornfield

Meditation teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.Go within every day and find the inner strength, so that the world cannot blow your candle out. – Katherine Dunham

Meditation that focuses on compassion generates affection, empathy, and the desire to help, and thus changes the way the brain functions in an enduring way. – Dr Patrizia Collard

Meditation will bring you more and more intelligence, infinite intelligence, a radiant intelligence. Meditation will make you more alive and sensitive; your life will become richer. – Osho

Meditation will help to chase away self-doubts and hatred, inferiority complexes, and negative feelings that inhibit our creative expressions and happiness. – Sam Reddington

Meditation will not carry you to another world, but it will reveal the most profound and awesome dimensions of the world in which you already live. Calmly contemplating these dimensions and bringing them into the service of compassion and kindness is the right way to make rapid gains in meditation as well as in life. – Zen Master Hsing Yun

… photography can serve as a medium for reflection and meditation, perhaps as a form of prayer. – Howard Zehr

A most useful approach to meditation practice is to consider it the most important activity of each day. Schedule it as you would an extremely important appointment, and unfailingly keep your appointment with the infinite – Roy Eugene Davis

All forms of mindfulness are actually a form of meditation, but not all forms of meditation are mindfulness. – Neal Hoffman

All of man’s difficulties are caused by his inability to sit, quietly, in a room by himself. – Blaise Pascal

All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit is to stop seeking something more or better or different, and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are. – Adyashanti

All you are trying to do through meditation is to limit the thoughts but as soon as you close your eyes, there is a barrage of thoughts. They come racing to you from all corners. – John Marcus

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. – Unknown

As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality. – Adi Shankara

As long as your heart remains, an ever-mounting aspiration-flame. It makes no difference what your weaknesses are. – Sri Chinmoy

At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I’ve made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills. – Ringo Starr

Be conscious of yourself as consciousness alone, watch all the thoughts come and go. Come to the conclusion, by direct experience, that you are really consciousness itself, not its ephemeral contents. – Annamalai Swami

Be free like a balloon is. Let go of all the weights (negativity) to fly to the highest of skies – Aman Khurana

Be here now. Be someplace later. Is that so complicated? – David M. Bader

Be still and know yourself as the Truth you have been searching for. Be still and let the inherent joy of that Truth capture your drama and destroy it in the bliss of consummation. Be still and let your life be lived by the purpose you were made for. Be still and receive the inherent truth of your heart. – Gangaji

Be the master OF mind rather than mastered BY mind. – Japanese Proverb

Begin each day with a positive morning routine. Allow yourself time for meditation (or at least a moment of reflection), a healthy breakfast and some exercise. You can then move into your day calm and happy. – Lucy Lane

By spending time meditating on what is important to you, what opens your soul and allows you to flourish, you begin to develop the map you need to direct you to the place of your dreams. – Ginny West

Chasing after the world brings chaos. Allowing it all to come to me, brings peace. – Zen Gatha

Clarity is part of the mind from the beginning, a natural awareness. Just acknowledge it, simply notice that you’re aware. At any given moment, you can choose to follow the chain of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that reinforce a perception of yourself as vulnerable and limited or to remember that your true nature is pure, unconditioned, and incapable of being harmed. – Mingyur Rinpoche

Detach yourself from all that makes your mind restless. Renounce all that disturbs its peace. If you want peace, deserve it. By being a slave to your desires and fears, you disturb peace. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Devote the mind to confusion and we know only too well, if we’re honest, that it will become a dark master of confusion, adept in its addictions, subtle and perversely supple in its slaveries. Devote it in meditation to the task of freeing itself from illusion, and we will find that, with time, patience, discipline, and the right training, our mind will begin to unknot itself and know its essential bliss and clarity. – Sogyal Rinphoche

Discard your misperceptions. Stop being jerked like a puppet. Limit yourself to the present. – Marcus Aurelius

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. – Buddha

Do one thing at a time, and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else. – Swami Vivekananda

Don’t hate the arising of thoughts or stop the thoughts that do arise. Simply realize that our original mind, right from the start, is beyond thought, so that no matter what, you never get involved with thoughts. Illuminate original mind, and no other understanding is necessary. – Zen Master Bankei Yotaku

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. – Bruce Lee

Even in the midst of disturbance, the stillness of the mind can offer sanctuary. – Stephen Richards

Everywhere I go, I still have time to meditate. People think meditating is sitting there, nobody bothering you, but you can even talk and still meditate. – Jet Li

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. – Thich Nhat Hahn

Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being. – Sogyal Rinpoche

Give the child a taste of meditation by creating a climate and atmosphere of love, acceptance and silence. – Swami Dhyan Giten

Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out. – Katherine Dunham

Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed. – Saint Francis de Sales

I am divinely guided at all times. – Louise Hay

I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats. – Eckhart Tolle

I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I meditate so that I can inundate my entire being with the omnipotent power of peace. – Sri Chinmoy

I meditate so that I can sit and inundate my entire being with the omnipotent power of peace- Sri Chinmoy

I meditate so that my mind cannot complicate my life. – Sri Chinmoy

I sit therefore I am. – Niraj

I thought when I started meditation that I was going to get real calm and peaceful and it’s going to be over. It’s not that way; it’s so energetic. That’s where all the energy and creativity is. – David Lynch

If every eight-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation. – Dali Lama

If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, “As one thinks, so one becomes”. – Ashtavakra Gita

If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the natural (real) state. – Ramana Maharshi

If we can make just 1% of the population meditative, this world will be a different place. – Sadhguru

If we can reach the understanding of what we actually are, there is no better remedy for eliminating all suffering. This is the heart of all spiritual practices. – Kalu Rinpoche

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. – Marcus Aurelius

If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Happiness lies ahead. Meditation is key. – Buddha

If you have time to breathe you have time to meditate. You breathe when you walk. You breathe when you stand. You breathe when you lie down. – Ajahn Amaro

If you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate. – Ajahn Amaro

If you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate. – Ajahn Chah

If you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate. You breathe when you walk. You breathe when you stand. You breathe when you lie down. – Ajahn Amaro

If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. It means to think of something over and over.” Joyce Meyer

If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath. – Amit Ray

In fact, my New Year’s resolution every year, and I’m Jewish so I get two New Years a year, is to meditate, and I fail every time. – Sheryl Sandberg

In meditation, where other distractions are minimized, we can learn to use peripheral awareness effectively, and become skilled at using attention and awareness together. – Mathew Immurgut

In sum, meditation empowers you to tap into what lies beneath or beyond the ego. Call it creativity. Call it your innate wisdom. Some people call it your heart. – Dan Harris

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. – Mahatma Gandhi

In the beginning you will fall into the gaps in between thoughts – after practicing for years, you become the gap. – J. Kleykamp

In the same way that rain breaks into a house with a bad roof, desire breaks into the mind that has not been practicing meditation. – Anonymous

In the same way that rain breaks into a house with a bad roof, desire breaks into the mind that has not been practicing meditation. – Buddha

In the silence of the breath, is peace. – Ntathu Allen Author

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. – Buddha

Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. – Pema Chodron

Inner stillness is the key to outer strength. – Jared Brock

Instead of fixating on how you think your meditation session should go, just let go and immerse yourself in the experience, no matter what may unfold. – Kristine Ally

It feels good. Kinda like when you have to shut your computer down, just sometimes when it goes crazy, you just shut it down and when you turn it on, it’s okay again. That’s what meditation is to me. – Ellen DeGeneres

It is good for us to meditate on His greatness, knowing that we will never fully understand Him. – Michael Garland

It is indeed a radical act of love just to sit down and be quiet for a time by yourself – Jon Kabat-Zinn

It is not a matter of cultivating or finding something you do not have, but about bringing your awareness to what you already have. – Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

It’s about opening the heart and mind to the difficulties and the joys of life—just as it is. – Pema Chödrön

It’s helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing. – Pema Chodron

It’s helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing. – Pema Chödrön

I meditate in the morning, I have my centering, I need that. For me, training is also my meditation. – Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson

Just as the ocean has waves or the sun has rays, so the mind’s own radiance is its thoughts and emotions. – Sogyal Rinpoche

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. – Aristotle

Learn to be calm and you will always be happy. – Paramahansa Yogananda

Learn to enjoy the way as much as you would enjoy when you reach the destination. – Sakshi Chetana

Learn to enjoy the way as much as you would enjoy when you reach the destination. – Sakshi Chetana

Learn to slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself and those around you. – Tim Ferriss

Let not future things disturb you, for you will come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with you the same reason which you now use for present things. – Marcus Aurelius

Let’s be honest, it’s hard to hear the word ‘meditation’ without thinking of a yogi in a loincloth on a mountain-top somewhere in the Himalayas. – Andy Puddicombe

Many traditions use walking as a meditation to calm the mind, to connect to nature, and for healing. – Gurucharan Singh Khalsa

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self. – Sharon Salzberg

Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it. – Sharon Salzberg

Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now. – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. – Lao Tzu

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. – Marcus Aurelius

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. – Marcus Aurelius

Only in my deep meditation do I come to know who I truly am. – Sri Chinmoy

Peace begins with a smile. – Mother Teresa

Peace cannot be kept by force it can be achieved by understanding. – Albert Einstein

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. – Buddha

People who work under constant stress must take time off to be in complete silence and meditate even if it is for ten minutes during tea or lunch breaks. – Dianne Kane

Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. – Swami Sivananda

Quiet the mind and the soul will speak. – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

Quiet the mind and the soul will speak. – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak. – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man. – Benjamin Franklin

Remember the blue sky. It may at times be obscured by clouds, but it is always there. – Andy Puddicombe

Rule your mind or it will rule you. – Buddha

SEX! Now that I have your attention… Please try to meditate at least 15 minutes, every day. You know it’s good for you. – Marcelo Alves

Silence is not an absence but a presence. – Anne D. LeClaire

Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world. – Lao Tzu

Sleep is the best meditation. – Dalai Lama

So what is a good meditator? The one who meditates. – Allan Lokos

Some effective ways of managing stress include practicing yoga, meditation, exercising, engaging in a relaxing activity or having a few minutes daily for play time to avoid burning out. – Roger Collmar

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

Take charge of your thoughts. You can do what you will with them. – Plato

The act of meditation is being spacious. – Sogyal Rinpoche

The best mediation is effortless. The best meditation is a gentle awareness – Maxime Lagacé

The best way to meditate is through meditation itself. – Ramana Maharshi

The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness. – Sakyong Mipham

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. – Rumi

The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do. – Unknown

The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master and not its slave. – Remez Sasson

The goal of mediation is not to get rid of thoughts or emotions. The goal is to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions and learn how to move through them without getting stuck. – Dr. P Goldin

The goal of meditation is not to get rid of thoughts or emotions. The goal is to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions and learn how to move through them without getting stuck. – Dr. P. Goldin

The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts, it’s to stop letting them control you. – Anonymous

The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation. In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. – Swami Vivekananda

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. – Marcus Aurelius

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms. – Thich Nhat Hanh

The mind is definitely something that can be transformed, and meditation is a means to transform it – Dalai Lama

The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness. – Buddha

The mind that is alone is not only innocent but young—not in time or age, but young, innocent, alive at whatever age—and only such a mind can see that which is truth and that which is not measurable by words. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large. – Confucius

The more regularly and the more deeply you mediate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a center of inner peace. – J. Donald Walters

The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a center of inner peace. – J. Donald Walters

The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a center of peace. – J. Donald Walters

The more regularly and the more deeply you meditate, the sooner you will find yourself acting always from a centre of inner peace. – J. Donald Walters

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. – James Allen

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious; it is the source of all true art and science. – Albert Einstein

The nature of illusion is that, when you see through it, it disappears. – Mooji

The quieter you become the more you can hear. – Anonymous

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear – Rumi

The reason why I meditate and pray in general is just to remind myself that it is not about me. – Macklemore

The reasons and ultimate aims of meditation have differed through time and space; some cultures have prioritized transcendental awareness of body and mind, others on a closer union with a divine being. – Jonathan Shells

The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind. – Caroline Myss

The soul loves to meditate, for in contact with the spirit lies its greatest joy. – Paramhamsa Yogananda

The spirit of meditation is the combating against the weight of one’s feelings. – Hakuin Ekaku

The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. – Ramana Maharshi

The thing about meditation is you become more and more you. – David Lynch

The thing about meditation is: You become more and more you. – David Lynch

The thing about meditation is…you become more and more you. – David Lynch

The things that trouble our spirits are within us already. In meditation, we must face them, accept them, and set them aside one by one. – Christopher L. Bennett

The things that trouble our spirits are within us already. In meditation, we must face them, accept them, and set them aside one by one. – Cristopher L Bennett

The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself, everything that you want, you already are. – Rumi

The whole of meditation practice can be essentialized into these 3 crucial points: Bring your mind home. Release. And relax!” – Sogyal Rinpoche

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting. – Buddha

There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind. – Buddha

There is something very special about sitting meditation. It aligns your spine in a particular way that you can come to a point of stillness very quickly. – Deirdre O’Reilly

This is universal. You sit and observe your breath. You can’t say this is a Hindu breath or a Christian breath or a Muslim breath. – Charles Johnson

This withdrawal from the day’s turmoil into creative silence is not a luxury, a fad, or a futility. It dissolves mental tensions and heals negative emotions. – Paul Brunton

Through meditation, we can wash away the mud so that our crystal can shine. If deep down, the mind is more than just its thoughts and emotions, this signifies freedom, which is complete happiness. – Gelong Thubten

Through proper and effective meditation, we will be able to develop positive thinking. – Stephens Hyang

Thе gоаl оf meditation iѕ nоt tо shut оff уоur mind. Onе of thе gоаlѕ of mindfulnеѕѕ mеditаtiоn iѕ tо recognize thе belief thаt if we are unable tо shut off оur mind, wе are nоt a “gооd mеditаtоr”. – Skeptics Self-Healing Academy

To a mind that is still. The whole universe surrenders. – Anonymous

To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and things go on their own – Jack Kornfield

To maintain mental clarity whether the mind is calm or agitated is the best form of meditation. – Traleg Kyabgon

To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Touch your inner space, which is nothingness, as silent and empty as the sky; it is your inner sky. Once you settle down in your inner sky, you have come home, and a great maturity arises in your actions, in your behavior. Then whatever you do has grace in it. Then whatever you do is a poetry in itself. You live poetry; your walking becomes dancing, your silence becomes music. – Osho

Travel light. Live light. Spread the light. Be the light. – Yogi Bhajan

Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. – Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. – Buddha

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship. – C.S. Lewis

We must experience the Truth in a direct, practical and real way. This is only possible in the stillness and silence of the mind; and this is achieved by means of meditation. – Samael Aun Weor

We try many ways to be awake, but our society still keeps us forgetful. Meditation is to help us remember. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

What is presented today as an ancient meditative tradition is actually a selective rendering of an ancient meditative tradition, in some cases carefully manicured. – Robert Wright

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind. – Buddha

When a person starts practicing meditation, they may be more patient, focused, and proactive rather than reactive in what they do. – Derek Doepker

When I enter into a state of deep meditation I am abundantly aware of a magneticlike force, which pulls me in the direction of God. – Wayne Dyer

When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a candle in a windless place. – Bhagavad Gita

When the mind goes beyond the thought of ‘the me,’ the experiencer, the observer, the thinker, then there is a possibility of a happiness that is incorruptible. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. – Jimi Hendrix

When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation. – Ramana Maharshi

When there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt. – St. Francis de Sales

When we raise ourselves through meditation to what unites us with the spirit, we quicken something within us that is eternal and unlimited by birth and death. Once we have experienced this eternal part in us, we can no longer doubt its existence. Meditation is thus the way to knowing and beholding the eternal, indestructible, essential centre of our being. – Rudolf Steiner

When you have achieved a state of deep meditation, you unlock the door to your subconscious mind. That is where the power to create the life you desire lies. – Adrian Calabrese

When you silence your mind, you will find yourself, In the eternal present moment, the pure awareness, reality and joy, The self itself. This is true meditation. – Ramesh Manocha

When your attention moves into the Now, there is an alertness. It is as if you were waking up from a dream, the dream of thought, the dream of past and future. Such clarity, such simplicity. No room for problem-making. Just this moment as it is. – Eckhart Tolle

When your world moves too fast and you lose yourself in the chaos, introduce yourself to each color of the sunset. Reacquaint yourself with the earth beneath your feet. Thank the air that surrounds you with every breath you take. Find yourself in the appreciation of life. – Christy Ann Martine

When you’re a kid, you lay in the grass and watch the clouds going over, and you literally don’t have a thought in your mind. It’s purely meditation, and we lose that. – Dick Van Dyke

Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt. – Sr. Francis de Sales

With every breath, the old moment is lost; a new moment arrives. We exhale and we let go of the old moment. It is lost to us. In doing so, we let go of the person we used to be. We inhale and breathe in the moment that is becoming. In doing so, we welcome the person we are becoming. We repeat the process. This is meditation. This is renewal. This is life. – Lama Surya Das

With meditation, you become a sensitized superhero, completely in control, with endless possibilities at your fingertips. – Tara Stiles

Within you is a stillness and a sanctuary that you can retreat to any time and be yourself. – Anonymous

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat any time and be yourself. – Hermann Hesse

Without peace, all other dreams vanish and are reduced to ashes. – Jawaharlal Nehru

Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. – George MacDonald

Would meditation drive me further into myself, in a world where really, I needed to learn how to ask, engage and share? That time, none of these concepts where yet present in my awareness. – Amanda Metta

Writing is a very focused form of meditation, just as good as sitting in a lotus position. – Alan Moore

You don’t meditate once and suddenly your life turns around. What it does is it lets you train your brain to be able to become more stable in an action-oriented way. – Goldie Hawn

You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level. – Eckhart Tolle

You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer – Eckhart Tolle

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength. – Marcus Aurelius

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you; none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but you own soul. – Swami Vivekananda

You should not be carried away by the dictation of the mind, but the mind should be carried by your dictation. – A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami

You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy; then you should sit one hour. – Old Zen Saying

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. – Buddha

Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax. – Bryant McGill

Your goal is not to battle with the mind, but to witness the mind. – Swami Muktananda

Your meditation can have the intention of relaxing the chakra, or of opening it up depending on whether it is underactive or overactive. – Crystal Stones

Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions. – Marcus Aurelius

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams, who looks insides, awakes. – Carl Jung Carl Gustav

Quotes From Wikiquote

• Descending into a deep cavern, one prefers to have a bright and even-burning lamp, rather than a smoky sputtering torch. It is the same with the quality of psychic energy. The sparks of a smoky flare do not improve a situation. But how to attain an even light? Only by constant meditation about the basic energy. Like a wordless mental process, in the rhythm of the heart the inextinguishable Light is strengthened.
  • Agni Yoga, Aum (591)

• By means of meditation, a man finds freedom from the delusion of the senses, and their vibratory lure; he finds his own positive centre of energy and becomes consciously able to use it; he becomes, therefore, aware of his real Self, functioning freely and consciously…
  • Alice Bailey in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 746

• Meditation involves the living of a one-pointed life always and every day . . . This process of ordered meditation, when carried forward over a period of years, and supplemented by meditative living and one-pointed service, will successfully arouse the entire system, and bring the lower man under the influence and control of the spiritual man.
  • Alice Bailey in The Externalization of the Hierachy, p. 18

• The habit of quiet, sustained, and sequential thought, directed to non-worldly subjects, of meditation, of study, develops the mind-body and renders it a better instrument; the effort to cultivate abstract thinking is also useful, as this raises the lower mind towards the higher, and draws into it the subtlest materials of the lower mental plane.
  • Annie Besant in The Ancient Wisdom (1897)

• Once we begin to see that in our relations to the animal kingdom a duty arises which all thoughtful and compassionate minds should recognize – the duty that because we are stronger in mind than the animals, we are or ought to be their guardians and helpers, not their tyrants and oppressors, and we have no right to cause them suffering and terror merely for the gratification of the palate, merely for an added luxury to our own lives.
  • Annie Besant, in a speech given at Manchester UK (18 October 1897)

• The main preparation to be made for receiving in the physical vehicle the vibrations of the higher consciousness are: its purification from grosser materials by pure food and pure life; the entire subjugation of the passions, and the cultivation of an even, balanced temper and mind, unaffected by the turmoil and vicissitudes of external life; the habit of quiet meditation on lofty topics, turning the mind away from the objects of the senses, and from the mental images arising from them, and fixing it on higher things; the cessation of hurry, especially of that restless, excitable hurry of the mind, which keeps the brain continually at work and flying from one subject to another; the genuine love for the things of the higher world, that makes them more attractive than the objects of the lower, so that the mind rests contentedly in their companionship as in that of a well-loved friend.
  • Annie Besant in The Ancient Wisdom, (1897)

• First he must gain control over his thoughts, the progeny of the restless, unruly mind, hard to curb as the wind. (Bhagavad Gitâ, vi. 34).
  Steady, daily practice in meditation, in concentration, had begun to reduce this mental rebel to order ere he entered on the probationary Path, and the disciple now works with concentrated energy to complete the task, knowing that the great increase in thought power that will accompany his rapid growth will prove a danger both to others and to himself unless the developing force be thoroughly under his control. Better give a child dynamite as a plaything, than place the creative powers of thought in the hands of the selfish and ambitious.
  • Annie Besant in The Ancient Wisdom, (1897)

• Meditation quiets the lower mind, ever engaged in thinking about external objects, and when the lower mind is tranquil then only can it be illuminated by the Spirit.
  • Annie Besant, Esoteric Christianity: Or, The Lesser Mysteries (1914)

• Indeed, wisdom is born of meditation; without meditation wisdom is lost. Knowing this two fold path of gain and loss of wisdom, one should conduct oneself so that wisdom may increase.
  • Gautama Buddha, in Dhammapada Potthilatthera Vatthu Verse 282

• Rahula, develop meditation that is like the earth. …. Just as people throw clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, spittle, pus, and blood on the earth, and the earth is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that, so too, Rahula, develop meditation that is like the earth.
  • Gautama Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya, B. Nanamoli and B. Bodhi, trans. (1995), Sutta 62, verse 13, p. 529

• Rahula, develop meditation that is like water. … Just as people wash clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, spittle, pus, and blood in water, and the water is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that, so too, Rahula, develop meditation that is like water.
  • Gautama Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya, B. Nanamoli and B. Bodhi, trans. (1995), Sutta 62, verse 14, p. 530

• Once Soma, having returned from her alms round

and having eaten her meal, entered the woods to meditate.

Deep in the woods, she sat down under a tree.

The tempter Mara, desirous and capable of arousing fear, wavering and dread,

and wishing her to interrupt her focused meditation, came to her and said,

Your intent is difficult, even for the sages;

Completion cannot be reached by a woman regardless the wisdom reaped.”

Then Soma thought, “Who is this speaking, human or nonhuman?

Surely it is evil Mara desiring to interrupt my focused meditation.”

Knowing that it was Mara, she said,

“What does gender matter with regard to a well-composed mind,

which experiences insight in the light of the dharma?”

The evil Mara thought, “Soma knows me”

and sorrowful for the evil, instantly vanished into darkness.

• Gautama Buddha Soma and Mara An adapation of a translation by C.A.F. Rhys-Davids

• Meditation is listening to the Divine within.
  • Edgar Cayce in Reading 1861-19, Association for Research and Enlightenment

• It is essential to every inquiry about duty that we keep before our eyes how far superior man is by nature to cattle and other beasts: they have no thought except for sensual pleasure and this they are impelled by every instinct to seek; but man’s mind is nurtured by study and meditation.
  • Cicero, On Duties, 1.105

• Meditation is a method, more or less scientific (depending on the meditation), for bringing the man or woman in incarnation into contact and eventual at-onement with the Higher Self or soul.
  • Benjamin Creme in Transmission: A Meditation for the New Age,l (1983), p. 131

• Meditation — Scientific means of contacting one’s soul and of eventually becoming at-one with the soul. Also the process of being open to spiritual impression and thus to co-operation with the Spiritual Hierarchy.
  • Benjamin Creme in The Ageless Wisdom, An Introduction to Humanity’s Spiritual Legacy (1996), Glossary, p. 49

• Evolution is speeded up through meditation and service. These are the two levers of the evolutionary process. Nothing moves you forward faster than correct, scientific meditation and powerful, altruistic service to the world.
  • Benjamin Creme in The Ageless Wisdom, An Introduction to Humanity’s Spiritual Legacy], (1996), p. 34

• My third maxim was to endeavor always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and change my desires rather than the order of the world, and in general, to accustom myself to the persuasion that, except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power. … This single principle seemed to me sufficient to prevent me from desiring for the future anything which I could not obtain, and thus render me contented; for since our will naturally seeks those objects alone which the understanding represents as in some way possible of attainment, it is plain, that if we consider all external goods as equally beyond our power, we shall no more regret the absence of such goods as seem due to our birth, when deprived of them without any fault of ours, than our not possessing the kingdoms of China or Mexico; and thus making, so to speak, a virtue of necessity, we shall no more desire health in disease, or freedom in imprisonment, than we now do bodies incorruptible as diamonds, or the wings of birds to fly with. But I confess there is need of prolonged discipline and frequently repeated meditation to accustom the mind to view all objects in this light; and I believe that in this chiefly consisted the secret of the power of such philosophers as in former times were enabled to rise superior to the influence of fortune, and, amid suffering and poverty, enjoy a happiness which their gods might have envied. For, occupied incessantly with the consideration of the limits prescribed to their power by nature, they became so entirely convinced that nothing was at their disposal except their own thoughts, that this conviction was of itself sufficient to prevent their entertaining any desire of other objects; and over their thoughts they acquired a sway so absolute, that they had some ground on this account for esteeming themselves more rich and more powerful, more free and more happy, than other men who, whatever be the favors heaped on them by nature and fortune, if destitute of this philosophy, can never command the realization of all their desires.
  • René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637), J. Veitch, trans. (1899), part 3, pp. 24-28

• The mind sent outside is the origination of suffering.
  The result of the mind sent outside is suffering.
  The mind seeing the mind is the path.
  The result of the mind seeing the mind is the cessation of suffering.
  • Ajaan Dune, Gifts He Left Behind, The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo (Phra Rājavuḍḍhācariya), as compiled by Phra Rājavaraguṇa, as translated from the Thai by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

• The old dispute about the relative virtues of the active way and the contemplative way is a spurious one. We require both. They are phases of a single rhythm like the pulsing of the heart, the in-drawing and letting go of breath, the ebb and flow of the tides. So we go deep, deep inwards in meditation to consolidate our vital energy, and then, with greater love and wisdom, we come out into the family, the community, the world.
  • Eknath Easwaran, God Makes the Rivers Flow (1982), pp. 18-19

• Meditation takes chaos and begins magically morphing it into nothing.
  • Michael Scott Gallegos, “Internally Strewn Selves: The ‘All’ Surprisingly Includes Everything” (Oct 5, 2014)

• Thy thoughts to nobler meditations give,
  And study how to die, not how to live.
  • George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne, Meditations on Death, Stanza 1; reported in Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 504.

• Meditation is to be aware of what is going on-in our bodies, in our feelings, in our minds, and in the world. Each day 4o,ooo children die of hunger. The superpowers now have more than 5o,ooo nuclear warheads, enough to destroy our planet many times. Yet the sunrise is beautiful, and the rose that bloomed this morning along the wall is a miracle. Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects. Please do not think we must be solemn in order to meditate. In fact, to meditate well, we have to smile a lot.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)

• During walking meditation, during kitchen and garden work, during sitting meditation, all day long, we can practice smiling. At first you may find it difficult to smile, and we have to think about why. Smiling means that we are ourselves, that we have sovereignty over ourselves, that we are not drowned in forgetfulness. This kind of smile can be seen on the faces of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)

• There are three things I can recommend to you: arranging to have a breathing room in your home, a room for meditation; practicing breathing, sitting, for a few minutes every morning at home with your children; and going out for a slow walking meditation with your children before going to sleep, just ten minutes is enough. These things are very important. They can change our civilization.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)

• We think that we have been alive since a certain point in time and that prior to that moment, our life did not exist. This distinction between life and non-life is not correct. Life is made of death, and death is made of life. We have to accept death; it makes life possible. The cells in our body are dying every day, but we never think to organize funerals for them. The death of one cell allows for the birth of another. Life and death are two aspects of the same reality. We must learn to die peacefully so that others may live. This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work. With non-fear, even when we see that a problem is huge, we will not burn out. We will know how to make small, steady steps. If those who work to protect the environment contemplate these four notions, they will know how to be and how to act.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in The Sun My Heart (1996)

• There is no phenomenon in the universe that does not intimately concern us, from a pebble resting at the bottom of the ocean, to the movement of a galaxy millions of light years away. Walt Whitman said, “I believe a blade of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars….” These words are not philosophy. They come from the depths of his soul. He also said, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” This might be called a meditation on “interfacing endlessly interwoven.” All phenomena are interdependent. When we think of a speck of dust, a flower, or a human being, our thinking cannot break loose from the idea of unity, of one, of calculation. We see a line drawn between one and many, one and not one. But if we truly realize the interdependent nature of the dust, the flower, and the human being, we see that unity cannot exist without diversity. Unity and diversity interpenetrate each other freely. Unity is diversity, and diversity is unity. This is the principle of interbeing.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in The Sun My Heart (1996)

• There are three things I can recommend to you: arranging to have a breathing room in your home, a room for meditation; practicing breathing, sitting, for a few minutes every morning at home with your children; and going out for a slow walking meditation with your children before going to sleep, just ten minutes is enough. These things are very important. They can change our civilization.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)

• We think that we have been alive since a certain point in time and that prior to that moment, our life did not exist. This distinction between life and non-life is not correct. Life is made of death, and death is made of life. We have to accept death; it makes life possible. The cells in our body are dying every day, but we never think to organize funerals for them. The death of one cell allows for the birth of another. Life and death are two aspects of the same reality. We must learn to die peacefully so that others may live. This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work. With non-fear, even when we see that a problem is huge, we will not burn out. We will know how to make small, steady steps. If those who work to protect the environment contemplate these four notions, they will know how to be and how to act.
  • Thích Nhất Hạnh in The Sun My Heart (1996)

• Meditation … puts into question more or less everything you tend to do in your search for happiness. But if you lose sight of this, it can become just another strategy for seeking happiness—a more refined version of the problem you already have.
  • Sam Harris, Taming the Mind (April 12, 2014).

• Perhaps the most important thing one can discover through the practice of meditation is that the “self”—the conventional sense of being a subject, a thinker, an experiencer living inside one’s head—is an illusion.
  • Sam Harris, Interview with The Minimalists (19 August 2014).

• Happy the heart that keeps its twilight hour,
  And, in the depths of heavenly peace reclined,
  Loves to commune with thoughts of tender power,—
  Thoughts that ascend, like angels beautiful,
  A shining Jacob’s-ladder of the mind!
  • Paul H. Hayne, Sonnet IX; reported in Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 504.

• This contact of mind and brain with the soul may be achieved by suitable techniques of meditation, but may also be brought about by living a life of inner mental reflection, by disciplining the lower nature, by expressing goodwill and self-forgetfulness, and by rendering dedicated service to fellow human beings.
  • Aart Juriaanse in Bridges – Ancient Wisdom Revealed (ISBN 3-929345-11-0) from an excerpt published by (Mindlight)

• The steps to be followed by the aspiring meditator are firstly to practise certain physical disciplines and to purify his system. The second step will be to obtain reasonable control over the emotions, and thirdly he should aim at some measure of control over the wild horses of the mind.
  • Aart Juriaanse in Bridges – Ancient Wisdom Revealed (ISBN 3-929345-11-0) from an excerpt published by (Mindlight)

• The standard Christian conscience does not permit the believer to look upon the self and find beauty, goodness, natural kindness, strength. Self-knowledge is tainted with self-hatred. The rules of the game of the Christian conscience are such that, when I look within, I must take the blame for all evil, all hardness of the heart that I find, but give God all the credit for any evidence of love. … It is not surprising that the practice of meditation … has remained under a cloud in the West, and that we have, consequently, created a culture of extroverts.
  • Sam Keen, The Passionate Life (1992), p. 162

• A man came to Him one day, as people in trouble were wont to do, and told him that he had great difficulty with his meditation, which he could scarcely succeed in doing at all. Then the Buddha told him that there was a very simple reason for it—that in a previous life he had foolishly been in the habit of annoying certain holy men and disturbing their meditations.
  • Charles Webster Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 188

• There are some who cannot make anything much of meditation, and when they try to study they find it very hard. They ought to continue to try both these things, because we must develop all sides of our nature, but most of all they should throw themselves into the work, and do something for their fellow-men.
  • C. W. Leadbeater, in The Masters and the Path, (1925), p. 62

• The Effect of Meditation. Remember also that every one who meditates upon the Master makes a definite connection with him, which shows itself to clairvoyant vision as a kind of line of light. The Master always subconsciously feels the impinging of such a line, and sends out in response a steady stream of magnetism which continues to play long after the meditation is over. The methodical practice of such meditation and concentration is thus of the utmost help to the aspirant, and regularity is one of the most important factors in producing the result. It should be undertaken daily at the same hour, and we should steadily persevere with it, even though no obvious effect may be produced. When no result appears we must be especially careful to avoid depression, because that makes it more difficult for a Master’s influence to act upon us, and it also shows that we are thinking of ourselves more than of him.
  • C. W. Leadbeater, in The Masters and the Path, p. 72

• In beginning this practice of meditation it is desirable to watch closely its physical effects. Methods prescribed by those who understand the matter ought never to cause headache or any other pain, yet such results do sometimes occur in particular cases. It is true that meditation strains the thought and attention a little further than its customary point in any individual, but that should be so carefully done, so free from any kind of excess, as not to cause any physical ill-effects. Sometimes a person takes it up too strenuously and for too long at a time, or when the body is not in a fit state of health, and the consequence is a certain amount of suffering. It is fatally easy to press one’s physical brain just a little too far, and when that happens it is often difficult to recover equilibrium. Sometimes a condition may be produced in a few days which it will take years to set right; so anyone who begins to feel any unpleasant effects should at once stop the practice for a while and attend to his physical health, and if possible consult someone who knows more than he does about the subject.
  • C. W. Leadbeater, in The Masters and the Path, (1925), p. 74

• The last step is called Right Meditation or Right Concentration. This refers not only to the set meditation which we perform… but it also means that all through our lives we should concentrate ourselves on the object of doing good and of being useful and helpful. In daily life we cannot be always meditating, because of the daily work that we must all do in the course of our ordinary lives; and yet I am not sure that a statement like that, made without reservation, is entirely true. We cannot always have our consciousness drawn away from the physical plane to higher levels; yet it is possible to live a life of meditation in this sense—that the higher things are always so strongly present in the background of our minds that, as I said when speaking about Right Thought, they may instantly come to the front when that mind is not otherwise occupied.
  • C.W. Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 313

• Our life will then be really a life of perpetual meditation upon the highest and noblest objects, interrupted now and then by the necessity of putting our thoughts into practice in daily life. Such a habit of thought will influence us in more ways than we see at the first glance… Wherever we go we are surrounded by invisible hosts, Angels, nature spirits, and men who have laid aside their physical bodies. The condition of Right Concentration will attract to us all the best of those various orders of beings, so that wherever we go we shall be surrounded by good and holy influences.
  • C.W. Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path (1925) p. 314

• When you smoke herb, herb reveal yourself to you. All the wickedness you do, the herb reveal itself to yourself, your conscience, show up yourself clear, because herb make you meditate. Is only a natural t’ing and it grow like a tree.
  • Bob Marley, as reported in Martin Booth, Cannabis: A History (2005), p. 366

• Namaste. Good day to you. Today, this morning, I would like to introduce you to a very simple guided meditation which can be for everyone, or anyone. Wherever you are, it is a good time now, because many, many people around the world, most people around the world, are compelled to be at home for some time. We are calling it a ‘global quarantine’, but I would like to introduce another word, which is a ‘retreat’. A retreat, for me, means to be with yourself.
  Amongst all the activities that we do, we rarely give enough time to sit quietly by ourselves. I would like to introduce to you not just to sit alone, but to guide you into your inner Being. What you truly are is not merely what we think we are, not merely what we have been brought up to believe we are. Actually, surprisingly, beautifully, we discover a level of peace and natural well-being-ness, joy, and silence. And right here, in the depth of our Self, you will discover a great calmness. And I want you to know that, this, that we are going to find today, you will see that it is always here. And the most wonderful thing about this is that you are about to discover that which has always been here. It has never left you!
  • Mooji, quoted in Guided Meditation with Mooji, MariSandra Lizzi, Medium, (12 Apr 2020)

• Notice also, that there is no categorisation in this peace. You are simply at one with your Being. And it cannot be limited by such categorisations as male, or female, or any religious differences, such as Catholic, or Hindu, or Muslim, or Buddhist; none of these things matter here. This is a very pure, pure state of being! There is no propaganda about it. It is beyond conditioning. Silent. Spacious. Empty. Still. And you are always here! This cannot exist without you, because you are experiencing and perceiving this.
  It is not different from you, or apart from what you are. And notice also, how it’s wonderfully harmonious and silent. Some of you may find that the words themselves are not landing anywhere. It is as though they are melting in this infinite spaciousness. I want to remind you also, that you are far beyond any stage of sickness or imbalance, because here, you are in your perfect natural state. It is not a belief. It is directly experienced, and immediately and effortlessly known. You are not in a stage of becoming, but rather pure being. Also, you are quite aware that you are here. You are not in a state of hypnosis. Here, there is nothing you need to be, or become. You simply are! Marinate in this seeing.
  • Mooji, quoted in Guided Meditation with Mooji, MariSandra Lizzi, Medium, (12 Apr 2020)

• I often say to my students, when they first come and they begin to feel the infiniteness, the joy and the deep peace, and they feel very happy, I say to them, Don’t just joyride. Be quiet. Be one with this. Know that this is beyond belief. This is direct experience. But because this is taking place in you, a storm is coming. And this storm is the storm of ego! The storm of ego is going to come to crush what you have discovered, to bring fear in you, to make you feel that you are making a mistake, to bring in states of confusion. And some of you may give in to that and run away, and feel, ‘No, I must not do this anymore!’ But I want to encourage you. This exercise, this ‘meditation’, you may call it, comes from the very core of your Self. It comes from the God-place in you. And this tendency to run comes from the negativity, the toxicity that we have picked up in life. That is going to come up as though it wants to ruin your Garden of Eden inside your heart. I am telling you ahead of time that all beings who awakened to their true nature experienced these types of resistance, this type of aggression from the mind.
  • Mooji quoted in Guided Meditation with Mooji, MariSandra Lizzi, Medium, (12 Apr 2020)

• Only true meditation can reveal the Real. Although you will not know what it is, you will realise that the mind can never reveal it. The mind, the known, can never reveal the Unknown. The mind is merely ideas, memories, experiences— that is all the mind is made up of and it can never reveal the Real Truth. What most people think is the truth is merely a projection of their mind. They may read about the Truth or they may listen to words which are merely other people’s ideas, but now you know that that is not Truth. Truth can only be revealed from within, never from without… Concentration on an idea only narrows down the mind, and a mind that is narrowed down can never understand that which is limitless, immeasurable. Even prayer is not true meditation. Through repetition of words and sentences one can make the mind still and in that stillness receive a response, but that response is not the response of Reality—it is a response of the unconscious mind, because prayer is merely a begging, a supplication and can never be creative. In prayer there is always duality, one who begs and one who grants. You pray for something you haven’t got, either a motor-car or a virtue and so on.
  • Murdo MacDonald Bayne, The Yoga Of The Christ, p. 14, (1956)

• Jesus said, in other words: When you pray believe you have received. This was the immediate present. Everything is now. Meditation is really finding out what the mind is made up of. Now, not some time later, but NOW. What your mind is made up of is your conditioning which is always seeking expression in thought Now! To know yourself you must be aware of your thinking Now; then there will not be a yesterday or a tomorrow. For when the mind ceases to chatter Reality is, And Reality is ever present NOW… true meditation means a mind that is capable of swift pliability, aware extensively and widely, and limitless, so that every problem as it arises can be dissolved instantaneously, every challenge being understood now in which there is no response of yesterday. True meditation is a self-revealing process. Meditation that is not self-revealing is not meditation, it is merely a contracting process that can never reveal anything.
  • Murdo MacDonald-Bayne, The Yoga Of The Christ, p. 14, (1956)

• To know yourself is to know all the content of the mind both the conscious and the unconscious activities—when it is awake and when it is in its so-called sleep… First of all realise that meditation without self-knowledge has no meaning; self-knowledge is not high or low; your higher or your lower self is but an idea, a product of the mind which is time, and time cannot reveal the Timeless. Therefore in true meditation the concentration on the higher self does not mean a thing. Truly, meditation is to uncover the whole process of thought which is memory and this can be done immediately. Truth is not a matter of time; Truth is now or it can never be. Time can never reveal the Timeless. Memory thought is the product of time, is it not? Now what is the self?Obviously it is memory—at whatever level, high or low, it is still memory. As I said, the idea of a higher self and a lower self is merely speculation, a product of the mind, is it not? If you look into it you will find out that it is so. The higher self and the lower self are merely ideas—something you have read somewhere—you think about it and now you think it is real, but it is not a reality.
  • Murdo MacDonald-Bayne, The Yoga Of The Christ, p. 14/15 (1956)

• This peculiar type of mental state is sometimes called a “Mystical Experience” or “Rapture,” “Ecstasy,” or “Bliss.” Some who undergo it call it “wonderful,” but a better word would be “wonderless,” because I suspect that such a state of mind may result from turning so many [inner] Critics off that one cannot find any flaws in it. … such experiences can be dangerous—for some victims find them so compelling that they devote the rest of their lives to trying to get themselves back to that state again.
  • Marvin Minsky, The Emotion Machine (2006).

• We have to learn to be Self-conscious. That Self-consciousness develops through silence and prayer. If we find also some time to repeat – in silence – a holy mantra or the name of God and contemplate it, our mind will settle down, for the mind is never silent; it is always working fast.
  • Swami Nirliptananda, From self-consciousness to self-culture to self-knowledge (not dated)

• Mindfulness, though so highly praised and capable of such great achievements, is not at all a “mystical” state, beyond the ken and reach of the average person. It is, on the contrary, something quite simple and common, and very familiar to us.
  • Nyanaponika, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (1965), p. 24.

• Attention or mindfulness is kept to a bare registering of the facts observed, without reacting to them by deed, speech or by mental comment which may be one of self-reference (like, dislike, etc.), judgment or reflection. If during the time, short or long, given to the practice of Bare Attention, any such comments arise in one’s mind, they themselves are made objects of Bare Attention, and are neither repudiated nor pursued, but are dismissed, after a brief mental note has been made of them.
  • Nyanaponika, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (1965), p. 30.

• This method of transforming disturbances to meditation into objects of meditation, as simple as it is ingenious, may be regarded as the culmination of non-violent procedure. It is a device very characteristic of the spirit of Satipatthana, to make use of all experiences as aids on the path. In that way enemies are turned into friends; for all these disturbances and antagonistic forces become our teachers, and teachers, whoever they may be, should be regarded as friends.
  • Nyanaponika, “The power of mindfulness”

• Meditation on any theme, if positive and honest, inevitably separates him who does the meditating from the opinion prevailing around him, from that which … can be called “public” or “popular” opinion.
  • José Ortega y Gasset, What is Philosophy? (1964), p. 15

• Man holds an inward talk with his self alone, which it behooves him to regulate well.
  • Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1699; 1958 translation), § 535.

• Fixing the consciousness on one point or region is concentration (dhāraṇā). A steady, continuous flow of attention directed towards the same point or region is meditation (dhyāna). When the object of meditation engulfs the meditator, appearing as the subject, self-awareness is lost. This is samādhi.
  • Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, verse 3,as translated by B.K.S.Iyengar in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1993).

• Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind. Then the seer dwells in his own nature. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.
  • Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, § 1.2

• Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divine within you.
  • Amit Ray, Meditation:Insights and Inspirations, (2010), p. 14.

• Life is a mystery- mystery of beauty, bliss and divinity. Meditation is the art of unfolding that mystery.
  • Amit Ray, Meditation:Insights and Inspirations, (2010), p. 34.

• Meditate, Visualize and Create your own reality and the universe will simply reflect back to you.
  • Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style, (2010), p. 108.

• When the mind is silent like a lake the lotus blossoms.
  • Amit Ray, Enlightenment Step by Step, (2016), pp 65

• Once you have the view, although the delusory perceptions of samsara may arise in your mind, you will be like the sky; when a rainbow appears in front of it, it’s not particularly flattered, and when the clouds appear, it’s not particularly disappointed either. There is a deep sense of contentment. You chuckle from inside as you see the facade of samsara and nirvana; the View will keep you constantly amused, with a little inner smile bubbling away all the time.
  • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche quoted by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992)

• As you can experience days or hours within its framework in the dream state and not age for the comparable amount of physical time, so as you develop, you will be able to rest and be refreshed within psychological time even when you are awake. this will aid your mental and physical state to an amazing degree. You will discover and added vitality and a decreased need to sleep. Within any given five minutes of clock time, for example you may find an hour of resting which is independent of clock time.
  • Jane Roberts, Seth, Dreams & Projections of Consciousness, p. 152.

• You ask whether or not you should continue with meditations. Everything that increases the power of concentration and thought is very useful, and clearness of thought should by all means be encouraged. There is now so much chaotic thinking that it is most essential to learn to marshall one’s thoughts and to avoid an involuntary leaping. Clarity and sequence of thinking is very necessary in the process of the broadening of consciousness.
  • Helena Roerich, Letters I, (26 April 1934)

• If we spent half an hour every day in silent immobility, I am convinced that we should conduct all our affairs, personal, national, and international, far more sanely than we do at present.
  • Bertrand Russell, “The decay of meditation” (1931).

• Doubt about the fact that insight wholesomeness consists of simply observing the presently arising mental and physical phenomena is also skeptical doubt. This doubt is so subtle that it is rarely detected but is instead mistaken for investigation. … A doubtful meditator who falls prey to wavering and procrastination cannot continue on with practice. He or she will then become a victim of mental defilements and be unable to escape the cycle of suffering. Only when he or she abandons doubt by noting it and uninterruptedly continues the practice can he or she be liberated from the cycle of suffering.
  • Mahasi Sayadaw, Manual of Insight (1945), p. 64

• In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
  • William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1595-96), Act II, scene 1, line 164.

• Divinely bent to meditation;
  And in no worldly suits would he be mov’d,
  To draw him from his holy exercise.
  • William Shakespeare, Richard III (c. 1591), Act III, scene 7, line 61.

• Mind without agitation is meditation. Mind in the present moment is meditation. Mind that has no hesitation, no anticipation is meditation. Mind that has come back home, to the source, is meditation. Mind that becomes no mind is meditation.
  • Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, “What is Meditation?”

• Nothing is more necessary to the cultivation of the advanced sciences or of the elevated portion of sciences than meditation, and there is nothing less fit for meditation than the interior of a democratic society. One does not encounter there, as in aristocratic peoples, a numerous class that stays at rest because it finds itself well-off and another than does not move because it despairs of being better off. Everyone is agitated: some want to attain power, others to take possession of wealth. In the midst of this universal tumult, the repeated collision of contrary interests, the continual advance of men toward fortune, where does one find the calm necessary to the profound combinations of the intellect? how does each man bring his thought to a stop at such and such a point, when everything moves around him and he himself is carried along and tossed about every day in the impetuous current that swirls all things along?
  • Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, H. Mansfield, trans. (Chicago: 2000), p. 434

• Not only do men living in democratic societies give themselves over to meditation with difficulty, but they naturally have little esteem for it. The democratic social state and institutions bring most men to act continually; yet the habits of mind suited to action are not always suited to thought. The man who acts is often reduced to contenting himself with that is nearly so because he would never arrive at the end of his design if he wished to perfect every detail. He must constantly rely on ideas that he has not had the leisure to fathom, for it is much more the timeliness of the idea he makes use if than its rigorous exactness that helps him; and all in all, there is less risk for him in making use of some false principle than in wasting his time establishing the truth of all his principles. It is not by long and learned demonstrations that the world is led. There, the quick look at a particular fact, the daily study of the changing passions of the crowd, the chance of the moment and the skill to seize it decide affairs.

In centuries in which almost everyone acts, one is therefore generally brought to attach an excessive value to rapid sparks and superficial conceptions of the intellect and, on the contrary, to deprecate immoderately its profound, slow work.

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, H. Mansfield, trans. (Chicago: 2000), p. 435

• When you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in.
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997), p. 19

• Create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. This is the essence of meditation.
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997)

• Whenever you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence.
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997)

• Conscious breathing, which is a powerful meditation in its own right, will gradually put you in touch with the body. Follow the breath with your attention as it moves in and out of your body. Breathe into the body, and feel your abdomen expanding and contracting slightly with each inhalation and exhalation. If you find it easy to visualize, close your eyes and see yourself surrounded by light or immersed in a luminous substance – a sea of consciousness. Then breathe in that light. Feel that luminous substance filling up your body and making it luminous also.
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997) p. 80

• Another portal into the Unmanifested is created through the cessation of thinking. This can start with a very simple thing, such as taking one conscious breath or looking, in a state of intense alertness, at a flower, so that there is no mental commentary running at the same time. There are many ways to create a gap in the incessant stream of thought. This is what meditation is all about. Thought is part of the realm of the manifested. Continuous mind activity keeps you imprisoned in the world of form and becomes an opaque screen that prevents you from becoming conscious of the Unmanifested, conscious of the formless and timeless God-essence in yourself and in all things and all creatures.
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (1997) p. 86

• Because breath has no form as such, it has since ancient times been equated with spirit the formless one Life. “God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7. The German word for breathing – atmen – is derived from the ancient Indian (Sanskrit) word Atman, meaning the indwelling divine spirit or God within.
  • Eckhart Tolle, in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2005)

• Breathing is an excellent meditation object precisely because it is not an object; has no shape or form. The other reason is that breath is one of the most subtle and seemingly insignificant phenomena, the “least thing” that according to Nietzsche makes up the “best happiness.” …Being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment – the key to all inner transformation.
  • Eckhart Tolle, in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2005)

• The painbody is to some extent mitigated by the widespread practice of t’ai chi… Every day in the streets and city parks (of China), millions practice this movement meditation that stills the mind. This makes a considerable difference to the collective energy field and goes some way toward diminishing the painbody by reducing thinking and generating Presence.
  • Eckhart Tolle, in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2005)

• That which is known as “meditation” is the act of sustaining an object of meditation and specific subjective aspects by repeatedly focusing your mind upon a virtuous object of meditation. The purpose of this is as follows. From beginningless time you have been under the control of your mind; your mind has not been under your control. Furthermore, your mind tended to be obscured by the afflictions and so forth. Thus meditation aims to bring this mind, which gives rise to all faults and flaws, under control and then it aims to make it servicable. Servicability means that you can direct your mind as you wish toward a virtuous object of meditation.
  • Je Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, as translated by Chenmo Translation Committee (2000) p. 99

• All meditation involves some degree of auto-hypnosis.
  • Morris West, The Clowns of God (1981), Ch. I

• I began to practice ‘meditation’, sitting cross-legged for hours, staring straight in front of me. the result was a sudden and total transformation of my inner-being. There was a sense of freedom from my personality — from the being called Colin Wilson who was born in Leicester in 1931. I felt that ‘he’ was a series of responses and reactions, of ambitions and frustrations. But after half an hour of staring straight in front of me, of concentrating my attention ‘at the root of my eyebrows’, I felt in control of his responses and frustrations. This control brought such a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction that I often sneaked away from other people to spend just five minutes sitting cross-legged; when I was working as a labourer on a building site, I would find a quiet spot and, while the others were having a smoke, would sit in a position that could quickly be changed to an ordinary sitting posture if someone came by.
  • Colin Wilson, Frankenstein’s Castle (1980), p. 87

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

• Meditation is the soul’s perspective glass, whereby, in her long remove, she discerneth God, as if He were nearer at hand.
  • Owen Feltham, p. 406.

• Profound meditation in solitude and silence frequently exalts the mind above its natural tone, fires the imagination, and produces the most refined and sublime conceptions. The soul then tastes the purest and most refined delight, and almost loses the idea of existence in the intellectual pleasure it receives. The mind on every motion darts through space into eternity; and raised, in its free enjoyment of its powers by its own enthusiasm, strengthens itself in the habitude of contemplating the noblest subjects, and of adopting the most heroic pursuits.
  • John G. Zimmerman, p. 406.

• It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most on Divine truth, that will prove the choicest, wisest, strongest Christian.
  • Bishop Joseph Hall, p. 406.

• For with all our pretension to enlightenment, are we not now a talking, desultory, rather than a meditative generation?
  • John Campbell Shairp, p. 406.

• It is an excellent sign, that after the cares and labors of the day, you can return to your pious exercises and meditations with undiminished attention.
  • Hannah More, p. 406.

• Night by night I will lie down and sleep in the thought of God, and in the thought, too, that my waking may be in the bosom of the Father; and some time it will be, so I trust.
  • William Mountford, p. 406.

• Avoid all refined speculations; confine yourself to simple reflections, and recur to them frequently. Those who pass too rapidly from one truth to another feed their curiosity and restlessness; they even distract their intellect with too great a multiplicity of views. Give every truth time to send down deep root into the heart.
  • François Fénelon, p. 407.