Looking forward” to what you think enlightenment might be at some grand point in the future keeps you from seeing the truth of its presence right now.
~ Enza Vita
Awareness is that which is reading these words right now, whatever “that” is. You know without a doubt that there is something reading these words right now and awareness is precisely what that is.
Not knowing anything, not searching for anything, understanding that we can’t hold on to anything, leaves us with nothing — nothing except our original nature, pure awareness.
The one who believes himself to be a person needs to try to find that person. This is a solution, an antidote, offered to a ghost that thinks it actually exists.
The One that experiences itself as your body-mind is the same One that experiences itself in every other body-mind, form, or appearance that exists.
Just knowing that there is no gate to pass through doesn’t mean that we are at the end of the search, not if we are still standing outside that gateless gate.
God does not live in idols and temples either…of course, idols and temples are some of the ways that remind us of God’s existence. But as you grow up in spirituality, you need to embrace and experience God’s presence through deeds of nature and knowledge of meditation.
~ Girdhar Joshi
At the moment of enlightenment, everything is dropped—body, mind, all states, all things—everything. At that moment, there is no separate entity that can become enlightened, because there is no I that can experience it.
Nothing can be the total truth in the worlds of manifestation and the more solid your concepts, the more likely they are going to sink you, sooner or later.
Anything that appears and disappears cannot actually be you because it is being observed by you. By removing the attention from these things and noticing what remains, you are left only with what is permanent — the truth of who you are.
We truly help others working on ourselves. When it comes from the knowledge that the only power we have is over our own choices, we do not struggle taking responsibility for what is not ours to be responsible for. When we choose to be happy our joy works like a lighthouse. The lighthouse does never guide ships to its own light. It always leads them to the safe harbour. Yet it is their choice, whether they want to follow the light or something else.
~ Raphael Zernoff
Even amazing states of bliss, peace, clarity and spaciousness have nothing to do with awakening as these are just experiences coming and going in the impersonal awareness that you are.
In enlightenment, the seer and the seen disappear. Or, more accurately, are seen through as illusions. In reality, they were never there, apart from being concept and misunderstanding.
Attention can be trained very naturally, with affection, just as you train a puppy. When something distracts your attention, you say “Come back” and bring it back again. With a lot of training, you can teach your mind to come running back to you when you call, just like a friendly pup.
~ Eknath Easwaran
The keys to health and weight-loss: stress reduction, sleep, deep breathing, clean water, complete nutrition, sunshine, walking, stretching, meditation, love, community, laughter, dreams, perseverance, purpose, humility, action.
~ Bryant Mcgill
Only in stillness does the imperceivable become discernible
Meditation takes us just as we are, with our confusion and our sanity. This complete acceptance of ourselves as we are is called maitri, or unconditional friendliness, a simple, direct relationship with the way we are.
~ Pema Chödrön
The calligraphy reads, “Pointing directly at your own heart, you find Buddha.” Listening to talks about the dharma, or the teachings of Buddha, or practicing meditation is nothing other than studying ourselves.
But I looked out at the waves far below the bluff. They looked violent, erupting against the cliff. I watched them rising - up, up, higher, higher - then falling, crashing, swirling into chaos, passing away. I breathed deeply. I tried to breathe space between my thoughts, find the space between the anger.
~ Jaimal Yogis
Through TV people turn their family living rooms into meditative dens of death and violence worship.
Words are the fallen ruins of silent majesty.
Many religions have meditations on death to let it penetrate our thick skulls that life doesn’t last forever.
In sitting meditation, we train in mindfulness and unconditional friendliness: in being steadfast with our bodies, our emotions, our thoughts.
Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better.
You will only find the profoundly inexpressible in profound silence.
We are what we think about and meditate on. Look around people! America is a buffet of violence, a total immersion.
We may be focused on looking forward and upward yet looking inward can be the easiest path to take.
Meditation leads you to your spiritual information, and takes you on a journey of getting to know yourself and your creations.
~ Mary Ellen Flora
Your inner voice and the spiritual guidance...will lead you to your goal.
Zen movement is a meditative practice.
Mindfulness is that space where you are in touch with life-experience and you are brightly aware.
Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.
Notice how each particle moves.Notice how everyone has just arrived here from a journey.Notice how each wants a different food.Notice how the stars vanish as the sun comes up, and how all streams stream toward the ocean.Look at the chefs preparing special plates for everyone, according to what they need.Look at this cup that can hold the ocean.Look at those who see the face.Look through Shams’ eyes into the Water that is entirely jewels.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi
Live in the present, or die in your past; it's your choice.
Almost all sadness comes from thinking about the past, and all worry from thinking about the future — present-mindedness is your only safe haven.
Meditation,” said his teacher, “hasn’t got a damn thing to do with anything, ‘cause all it has to do with is nothing. Nothingness. Okay? It doesn’t develop the mind, it dissolves the mind. Self-improvement? Forget it, baby. It erases the self. Throws the ego out on its big brittle ass. What good is it? Good for nothing. Excellent for nothing. Yes, Lord, but when you get down to nothing, you get down to ultimate reality. It’s then and exactly then that you’re sensing the true nature of the universe, you’re linked up with the absolute Absolute, son, and unless you’re content with blowing smoke up your butt all your life, that there’s the only place to be.
~ Tom Robbins
Carefully analyze the old stories that you choose to perpetually tell, for these are really life-long meditations.
If you have never found yourself, the best place to look is in your loneliness, and rock-bottom is even better.
Your total intelligence knows how to accomplish astounding feats. You just need a clear objective. Get clear. You will surprise yourself!
When we constantly meditate on another's faults, it is because we are neglecting our own unhealed wounds.
