Quotes on Meditation

Meditation takes many forms.  Learn how people define meditation, and how it helps them. 

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

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

I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness. - Marianne Williamson

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

 Those who sit perfectly physically usually take more time to obtain the true way of Zen. - Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

When we pay attention, whatever we are doing...is transformed and becomes a part of our psiritual path. We begin to notice details and textures that we never noticed before' everyday life becomes clearer, sharper, and at the same time more spacious. - Rick Fields et al., Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life

The more I read, the more I meditate; and the more I acquire, the more I am enabled to affirm that I know nothing. – Voltaire

Meditation and water are wedded for ever. – Herman Melville

One hour’s meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer. – Muhammad

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

I believe that painting should come through the avenues of meditation rather than the canals of action. – Mark Tobey

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. – Rene Descartes

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

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

My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. - Edward Abbey

Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit. - Jeremy Taylor

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. – Mahatma Gandhi

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

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

Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It’s a way of entering into the quiet that’s already there – buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day. – Deepak Chopra

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. – Diana Robinson

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

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

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

Meditation… dissolves the mind. It erases itself. Throws the ego out on its big brittle ass. - Tom Robbins

Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation. and honor the reward of action. - Frances Quarles

Meditation is listening to the Divine within. - Edgar Cayce

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

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

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

If you want to find God, hang out in the space between your thoughts. - Alan Cohen

Life is available only in the present moment. - Thich Nhat Hanh

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 Act 3, Scene 7

Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer. - Dean Koontz, False Memory

Writing is an escape from a world that crowds me. I like being alone in a room. It’s almost a form of meditation- an investigation of my own life. – Neil Simon

Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build yourself up in your prejudices, but, forgetting self, you will remember only that you are seeking the Truth. - James Allen

Just Meditation Quotes

Untrained warriors are soon killed on the battlefield; so also persons untrained in the art of preserving their inner peace are quickly riddled by the bullets of worry and restlessness in active life. – Paramahansa Yogananda

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

Whenever you try to dictate the outcome of your meditation you negate its most wondrous benefit – the pleasure of simply being. – Paul Wilson

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

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

Loving-kindness towards ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid, jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. – Pema Chödrön

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 Chödrön

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

It’s like being in love, but instead of this love directed at someone or something, it’s directed at everyone and everything. – Preston Lindsay

If we read the stories of the great spiritual teachers of the past, we find that they have attained spiritual realization through a great deal of meditation, solitude and practice. They did not take any shortcuts. – Rajiv Mehrontra

You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quietening and relaxing the restless mind. – Remez Sasson

Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master and not its slave. – Remez Sasson

Meditation is such a more substantial reality than what we normally take to be reality. – Richard Gere

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. – Roy Eugene Davis

Keep your heart clear and transparent and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought creates ten thousand distractions. – Ryokan

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

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

It is sometimes said that the first stages of the meditation process are the most difficult. The first distraction is the physical body. Sometimes there is real pain in sitting, and sometimes the ego just tries to distract us by creating itches we will want to scratch. – Sarasvati Buhrman

Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives. – Sharon Salzberg

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

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

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed. – Swami Vivekananda

When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state. – Swami Vivekananda

Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable. – Swami Vivekananda

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

The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all. – Swami Vivekananda

Believe in yourself and the world will be at your feet. – Swami Vivekananda

There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point. – Swami Vivekananda

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. – Swami Vivekananda

A few conscious-hearted, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century. – Swami Vivekananda

Stand in that reverent attitude to the whole universe, and then will come perfect non attachment. – Swami Vivekananda

The ideal person is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. – Swami Vivekananda

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. – Swami Vivekananda

Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of itself. – Swami Vivekananda

The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration. – Swami Vivekananda

Spirituality as a science, as a study, is the greatest and healthiest exercise that the human mind can have. – Swami Vivekananda

Hold to the idea, “I am not the mind, I see that I am thinking, I am watching my mind act,” and each day the identification of yourself with thoughts and feelings will grow less, until at last you can entirely separate yourself from the mind and actually know it to be apart from yourself. – Swami Vivekananda

Amazing Meditation Quotes

The first steps in self-acceptance are not at all pleasant, for what one sees is not a happy sight. One needs all the courage to go further. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

There is only one meditation – the rigorous refusal to harbor thoughts. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

When pain is accepted for what it is, a lesson and a warning, and deeply looked into and heeded, the separation between pain and pleasure breaks down, both become just experience – painful when resisted, joyful when accepted. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Whenever a thought arises, instead of trying even a little either to follow it up or to fulfil it, it would be better to first enquire, “To whom did this thought arise?” – Ramana Maharshi

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

Keep the remembrance of your real nature alive, even while working, and avoid haste which causes you to forget. Be deliberate. Practice meditation to still the mind and cause it to become aware of its true relationship to the Self which supports it. Do not imagine that it is you who are doing the work. Think that is the underlying current which is doing it. Identify yourself with the current. – Ramana Maharshi

Meditation applies the brakes to the mind. – Ramana Maharshi

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge the progress. – Ramana Maharshi

From where does this “I” arise? Seek for it within; it then vanishes. This is the pursuit of wisdom. When the mind unceasingly investigates its own nature, it transpires that there is no such thing as mind. This is the direct path for all. The mind is merely thoughts. Of all thoughts the thought “I” is the root. – Ramana Maharshi

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

The mind is responsible for the feelings of pleasure and pain. Control of the mind is the highest Yoga. – Swami Sivananda

All that you are is the result of what you have thought. It is founded on your thoughts. It is made up of your thoughts. – Swami Sivananda

Through repeated practice of the body scan over time, we come to grasp the reality of our body as whole in the present moment. This feeling of wholeness can be experienced no matter what is wrong with your body. One part of your body, or many parts of your body, may be diseased or in pain or even missing, yet you can still cradle them in this experience of wholeness. – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Healing and uplifting our brain, mind and heart is now an imperative for us collectively so we can deal with the tsunami of very real technological advances rushing towards us, changing life as we know it forever. – Jonathan Robert Banks

Mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. – Kabira

May my heart be kind. May my mind be fierce. May my spirit be brave. – Kate Forsyth

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

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

Whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong. – Lao Tzu

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

Spiritual yearning is the homesickness of the soul. – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

Mere physical sitting is not enough. You have to sit carefully and attentively. Let your body and breathing sit. Let your mind and emotions sit. Let your blood circulation sit. Let everything sit. Then your sitting becomes indestructible, immovable. – Maezumi Roshi

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

He who lives in harmony with himself, lives in harmony with the universe. – Marcus Aurelius

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

Listen to the compass of your heart. All you need lies within you. – Mary Anne Radmacher

One hour of contemplation surpasses sixty years of worship. – Muhammad

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

Thoughts are like birds in mind; some fly in, some fly out. Some stay at water hole to drink. Beware of birds that linger. – Natalie Wright

Little Meditation Quotes Collection

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

Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless awareness itself and unchanging – so live happily. – Ashtavakra Gita

Happy he stands, happy he sits, happy sleeps, and happy he comes and goes. Happy he speaks and happy he eats. This is the life of a man at peace. – Ashtavakra Gita

It’s like having a charger for your whole body and mind. That’s what Meditation is! – Jerry Seinfeld

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. – Jetsun Milarepa

The mind in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven. – John Milton

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

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

The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this lifetime. – Sogyal Rinpoche

Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt. – St Francis De Sales

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

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

When you reach a calm and quiet meditative state, that is when you can hear the sound of silence. – Stephen Richards

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

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

Samsara is mind turned outwardly, lost in its projections. Nirvana is mind turned inwardly, recognizing its nature. – Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Any action done with awareness is meditation. Meditation means to be fully aware of our actions, thoughts, feelings and emotions. Another name of meditation is passive awareness. – Unknown

Meditation does not answer the questions of the mind, but it dissolves the very mind which creates many questions and confusion in our life. – Unknown

One hour of meditation can not tackle the unconsciousness of rest of the day. Slowly we should bring our meditative quality in all our actions. – Unknown

The great masters of the past taught: “Water, if you don’t stir it, will become clear”. Likewise, the mind left unaltered will find its own natural peace. – Unknown

The meditation cushion is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren’t enough. – Unknown

Meditation teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. – Unknown

It is of great importance, when we begin to practise meditation, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts. – Unknown

I sit therefore I am. – Niraj

Truth is not something that you can search outside, it is something that needs to be explored within. Truth descends when you are in the state of no-mind. Being meditative leads into the state of no-mind. – Vishwas Chavan

Whatever you may have to do, watch your mind. Also you must have moments of complete inner peace and quiet, when your mind is absolutely still. If you miss it, you miss the entire thing. If you do not, the silence of the mind will dissolve and absorb all else. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

You begin by letting thoughts flow and watching them. The very observation slows down the mind till it stops altogether. Once the mind is quiet, keep it quiet. Don’t get bored with peace, be in it, go deeper into it. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Stop, look, investigate, ask the right questions, come to the right conclusions and have the courage to act on them and see what happens. The first steps may bring the roof down on your head, but soon the commotion will clear and there will be peace and joy. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

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

Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all. – Nisargadatta Maharaj

Pain is physical; suffering is mental. Beyond the mind there is no suffering. Pain is essential for the survival of the body, but none compels you to suffer. Suffering is due entirely to clinging or resisting; it is a sign of our unwillingness to move on, to flow with life. – Nisargadatta Maharaj