Many people perceive meditation as sitting down in a cross-legged position with arms on your knees – you know the picture. Then there’s the chanting that usually accompanies the practice.
In reality, there are many ways we can meditate. There is truth in the stereotype, but the scope and depth is much more.
If you’re at the start of your meditation journey, here are some quotes that will help you understand the practice better. They can also serve as concepts you can ponder on as you set out on your quest to find that balance in your life.
If you’ve been meditating for many years now, these quotes can still inspire you and keep you going.
So, here are some inspiring meditation quotes which you can meditate upon.
1. What’s encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we’re closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance. – Pema Chodron
2. If a person’s basic state of mind is serene and calm, then it is possible for this inner peace to overwhelm a painful physical experience. – The Dalai Lama
3. Meditation is acceptance. It is the acceptance of life within us, without us and all around us. Acceptance of life is the beginning of human satisfaction. Transformation of life is the culmination of divine satisfaction. – Sri Chinmoy
4. The spirit is something to be enjoyed. It is not a harsh discipline. And I think people should take some time everyday for some kind of moving meditation, like Qigong or Tai Chi. – Shirley Maclaine
5. The whole of meditation practice can be essentialized into these 3 crucial points: Bring your mind home. Release. And relax! – Sogyal Rinpoche
Related: Meditation Books to Deal With Real Life Issues
6. If you mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few. – Shunryu Suzuki
7. What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, action, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong, into one single koan. – Hakuin
8. There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills. – Buddha
9. Meditation can be practiced all the time and even in a market place. Meditation is all about being conscious and aware of our actions, thoughts, and feelings. – Unknown
10. Meditation is not an goal or achievement. Meditation has no seeking or desire. In meditation we become aware of our desires and goals. If some one is seeking any goal through meditation then it is another game of mind and not worth pursuing it. – Unknown
Related: 4 Guided Meditation Apps to Help You Get Started
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. We try many ways to be awake, but our society still keeps us forgetful. Meditation is to help us remember. – Thich Nhat Hanh
16. 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
Related: Matters of the Mind: A Look into the Psychology of Meditation
17. We tend to think of meditation in only one way. But life itself is a meditation. –Raul Julia
18. 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
19. Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. –Bhagavad Gita
20. Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time, we can learn to direct attention where we choose. –Eknath Easwaran
21. Meditation gives us peace of mind without a tranquilizer. And unlike a tranquilizer, the peace of mind that we get from meditation does not fade away. It lasts for good in some corner of the inmost recesses of our aspiring heart. –Sri Chinmoy
22. Whatever forms of meditation you practice, the most important point is to apply mindfulness continuously, and make a sustained effort. It is unrealistic to expect results from meditation within a short period of time. What is required is continuous sustained effort. –Dalai Lama
23. Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. –George MacDonald
24. Calm the winds of your thoughts, and there will be no waves on the ocean of your mind. – Remez Sasson
25. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. – Mahatma Gandhi
Originally posted on May 26, 2016 @ 8:30 am
