"The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation. In meditation we divest ourselves of all material condition and feel our divine nature." (Swami Vivekananda, "Hints on Practical Spirituality", [lecture] 1900)
"Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence." (Daisetsu T Suzuki,"An Introduction to Zen Buddhism", 1934)
"Karate is not a game. It is not a sport. It is not even a system of self-defense. Karate is half physical exercise and half spiritual. The karateka who has given the necessary years of exercise and meditation is a tranquil person. He is unafraid. He can even be calm in a burning building." (Mas Oyama, "What is Karate?" 1958)
"Meditation makes the man Divine and brings the Divine to the world of man." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)
"Meditation is a means to discover all the glories of the ocean of mind." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)
"Meditation is a technique to integrate one's personality, to be able to live and enjoy full life of all glories - worldly and divine." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)
"Meditation is the most effective form of relaxation. It not only relaxes the body and mind but also feeds them with vital energy, peace and happiness." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)
"Meditation is the straight flight of the mind to the Kingdom of Heaven present in the heart of everyone." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Meditation: Easy system propounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", 1962)
"In other words, just practice Zen meditation in a certain posture. Do not think about anything. Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything. Then eventually you will resume your own true nature. That is to say, your own true nature resumes itself." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", 1970)
"The true practice of [meditation] is to sit as if you were drinking water when you are thirsty." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", [lecture from late 1960] 1970)
"When you are practicing Zen Meditation do not try and stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try and stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything." (Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", 1970)
"As long as you are a beginner certain formalised meditations, or prayers may be good for you. But for a seeker of reality there is only one meditation - the rigorous refusal to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is itself meditation. 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." (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973
"The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness." (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I Am That", 1973)
"Be mindful 24 hours a day, not just during the one hour you may allot for formal meditation or reading scripture and reciting prayers. Each act must be carried out in mindfulness." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Miracle of Mindfulness", 1974)
"Mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what you are doing. What you really need to watch is your motivation." (Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, 1975)
"Meditation means always keeping one mind, not-moving mind." (Seungsahn Haengwon, "True Meditation", 1976)
"Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquillity, nor is it attempting to become a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games, our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes." (Chögyam Trungpa," The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation", 1976)
"It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace. If we meditate soulfully in the morning and receive peace for only one minute, that one minute of peace will permeate our whole day. And when we have a meditation of the highest order, then we really get abiding peace, light and delight. We need meditation because we want to grow in light and fulfill ourselves in light. If this is our aspiration, if this is our thirst, then meditation is the only way." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "Meditation: Man-perfection in God-satisfaction", 1978)
"Religions remain what they are. Zen is meditation. Meditation is the foundation of every religion. People today feel an intense need to go back to the source of religious life, to the pure essence in the depths of themselves which they can discover only through actually experiencing it. They also need to be able to concentrate their minds in order to find the highest wisdom and freedom, which is spiritual in nature, in their efforts to deal with the influences of every description imposed upon them by their environment. Human wisdom alone is not enough, it is not complete. Only universal truth can provide the highest wisdom. Take away the word Zen and put Truth or Order of the Universe in its place." (Taisen Deshimaru, 1981)
"In meditation we research the field without time and space and activity, and yet produce a useful effect while conducting the research." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)
"Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface of the sea there may be a multitude of waves but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence- that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. When we are in our highest meditation, we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose,"Child's Heart and a Child's Dreams", 1986)
"Meditation is making research into yourself, and into the subtler fields of activity. Day after day we culture our minds with the deep silence of our own Being. This is not the silence of a stone, but creative silence. We have to find it for ourselves. We decrease activity until silence becomes creative, and we sit in creative silence and close the gates of perception for insight into the content of life." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)
"The fortunate one uses the instrument of deep meditation and probes deep into his heart. Then the waves of love gain the depth of the ocean, and the ocean of love flows and fills the heart and thrills every particle of being. Every wave of life then flows in the fullness of love, in the fullness of divine glory, in the fullness of grace, in bliss and peace." (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Thirty Years Around the World: 1957-1964", 1986)
"Eating mindfully is a most important practice of meditation. We can eat in a way that we restore the cookie of our childhood. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life" 1991)
"If it weren’t for my mind, my meditation would be excellent." (Pema Chödrön, "The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindnes", 1991)
"In meditation we drop all thoughts. When they recur, we drop them again." (Ayya Khema, "Know Where You’re Going", 1991)
"In meditation we try to focus and become one-pointed on the subject of meditation, so that the mind eventually becomes very calm and serene, and gains the power and strength to realize insights." (Ayya Khema, "Know Where You’re Going", 1991)
"Meditation is offering your genuine presence to yourself in every moment." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life", 1991)
"Meditation is the means by which we can practice mindfulness to the point where insight becomes so strong that we can see absolute reality behind the relative. Mindfulness trained in meditation can then continue in every activity." (Ayya Khema, "Know Where You’re Going", 1991)
"Meditation is therefore a means, and not an end in itself. It is a means to change the mind’s capacity in such a way that it can perceive entirely different realities from the ones we are used to. The recognition that meditation is a tool is important, because it is often wrongly considered to be an end in itself." (Ayya Khema, "Know Where You’re Going", 1991)
"Most people sit down to meditate in order to make their minds peaceful. But a calm mind is only one of the two essential aspects of meditation. Insight (vipassanā) is the other. The goal of meditation is insight, and tranquility (samatha) is the means to that end." (Ayya Khema, "Know Where You’re Going", 1991)
"While we are sitting in meditation, we are simply exploring humanity and all of creation in the form of ourselves. We can become the world’s greatest experts on anger, jealousy, and self-deprecation, as well as on joyfulness, clarity, and insight. Everything that human beings feel, we feel. We can become extremely wise and sensitive to all of humanity and the whole universe simply by knowing ourselves, just as we are." (Pema Chödrön,"The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness", 1991)
"The point of Buddhist meditation is not to stop thinking, for [...] cultivation of insight clearly requires intelligent use of thought and discrimination. What needs to be stopped is conceptualisation that is compulsive, mechanical and unintelligent, that is, activity that is always fatiguing, usually pointless, and at times seriously harmful." (B Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up: A Practical Approach for Modern Life", 1993)
"Tibetan Buddhism considers sleep to be a form of nourishment, like food, that restores and refreshes the body. Another type of nourishment is samadhi, or meditative concentration. If one becomes advanced enough in the practice of meditative concentration, then this itself sustains or nourishes the body." (Dalai Lama, "Tibetan Dream Yoga: A Complete System for Becoming Conscious in Your Dreams", 1994)
"What acts as a far more effective circumstance for generating compassion and what, in fact, rouses us from our comfortable meditation seat is actually seeing or hearing others - encountering others directly, not just conceptually in our imagination." (Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra", 1994)
"Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us." (Thich Nhat Hanh, "Living Buddha, Living Christ" 1995)
"Meditation is silence, energising and fulfilling. Silent is the eloquent expression of the inexpressible." (Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, "The Silent Teaching: A Beginner's Guide to Meditation", 1996)
"It's helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing." (Pema Chödrön, "When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times", 1997)
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