Meditation is as old as history and was practiced and preached by saints and sadhus of ancient India. Slowly, it spread to the western countries after the benefits of meditation were realized by them. Now, mediation is known to cure numerous chronic diseases and is also good for the overall well being of the body.
The numerous benefits of mediation include, enhancing the concentration of the mind, alleviating breathing problems and other ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, skin problems, sleeping disorders, psychological disorders and even cancer. “Meditation is the soul’s perspective glass” said Owen Felltham.
Mediation also helps a person to stay active for the entire day and rejuvenates the cells of the body. If it is practiced regularly, it is possible to lead a happy and contended life.
Here are meditation quotes by spiritual masters like Buddha, Kahlil Gibran and Swami Sivananda to enhance your wisdom. Read them and enjoy.
How long the night to the watchman, How long the road to the weary traveller, How long the wandering of many lives To the fool who misses the way.
Buddha
Thought-habits can harden into character. So watch your thoughts.
Buddha
Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.
Buddha
Seeing the Way is like going into a dark room with a torch; the darkness instantly departs, while the light alone remains. When the Way is attained and the truth is seen, ignorance vanishes and enlightenment abides forever.
Buddha
Men who are addicted to the passions are like the torch-carrier running against the wind; his hands are sure to be burned.
Buddha
Meditation is the art of staying in this present moment. A sleepy person either lives in the past moment or is dreaming about the future life. But a meditator stays in this present moment and is alert about his thoughts and actions.
Unknown
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 is not concerned with any activity but it is concerned with our alertness while doing any action. Meditation means to add awareness and alertness in our actions.
Unknown
Meditation is not thinking about any god, chanting any mantra or practicing any concentration exercise. Meditation is to be passively aware of our thoughts and feelings.
Unknown
Concentration exercises makes the mind stronger. Meditation does not make the mind strong but it takes us beyond the mind. Meditation is all about dis-identifying with the mind. Meditation is to be alert about our thoughts and witnessing our desires rather than indulging in them.
Unknown
Meditation is to know oneself as one is. It is see our real face with out any mask. When we practice meditation then we are bound to come across dark side of our nature which we are suppressing in our unconscious mind. But through meditation we can transform these desires by being a passive watcher of them.
Unknown
Passive witnessing of thoughts and desires transforms them. Witnessing means to watch the thoughts with out interpreting, interfering or analyzing them. Witnessing is the art of just watching the thoughts coming and going.
Unknown
Meditation is not concentration. Concentration makes the mind strong and one pointed. Whereas meditation makes the mind weaker and with constant meditation mind loses its grip on us. Meditation takes us beyond the mind and it is an process of dis-identifying with the mind.
Unknown
Meditation is an twenty hour affair. 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
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
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
If the traveler can find A virtuous and wise companion Let him go with him joyfully And overcome the dangers of the way. But if you cannot find Friend or master to go with you, Travel on alone.
Buddha
If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater.
Buddha
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
Buddha
If you sleep, Desire grows in you Like a vine in the forest. Like a monkey in the forest You jump from tree to tree, Never finding the fruit – From life to life, Never finding peace. If you are filled with desire Your sorrows swell Like the grass after the rain. But if you subdue desire Your sorrows shall fall from you Like drops of water from a lotus flower.
Buddha
There is pleasure And there is bliss. Forgo the first to possess the second. If you are happy At the expense of another man’s happiness, You are forever bound.
Buddha
One should refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs.
Buddha
There is nothing like lust. Lust may be said to be the most powerful passion. Fortunately, we have but one thing which is more powerful. If the thirst for truth were weaker than passion, how many of us in the world would be able to follow the way of righteous?
Buddha
How easy it is to see your brother’s faults, How hard it is to face your own. You winnow his in the wind like chaff, But yours you hide, Like a cheat covering up an unlucky throw. Dwelling on your brother’s faults Multiplies your own. You are far from the end of your journey. The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. See how you love.
Buddha
If you determine your course With force or speed, You miss the way of the dharma. Quietly consider What is right and what is wrong. Receiving all opinions equally, Without haste, wisely, Observe the dharma.
Buddha
Better than a thousand hollow words Is one word that brings peace. Better than a thousand hollow verses Is one verse that brings peace. Better than a hundred hollow lines Is one line of the dharma, bringing peace. It is better to conquer yourself Than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, Not by angels or by demons, Heaven or hell.
Buddha
Seeker! Do not be restless. Meditate constantly. Or you will swallow fire And cry out: “No more!’ If you are not wise, How can you steady the mind? If you cannot quieten yourself, What will you ever learn?
Buddha
How will you become free? With a quiet mind Come into that empty house, your heart, And feel the joy of the way Beyond the world. Look within – The rising and the falling.
Buddha
It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one’s own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled.
Buddha
To abstain from lying is essentially wholesome.
Buddha
How can a troubled mind Understand the way? If a man is disturbed He will never be filled with knowledge. An untroubled mind, No longer seeking to consider What is right and what is wrong, A mind beyond judgements, Watches and understands. Know that the body is a fragile jar, And make a castle of your mind. In every trial Let understanding fight for you To defend what you have won.
Buddha
For soon the body is discarded, Then what does it feel? A useless log of wood, it lies on the ground, Then what does it know? Your worst enemy cannot harm you As much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, No one can help you as much, Not even your father or your mother.
Buddha
On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.
Buddha
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
Avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.
Buddha
If you endeavor to embrace the Way through much learning, the Way will not be understood. If you observe the Way with simplicity of heart, great indeed is this Way.
Buddha
One should strive to understand what underlies sufferings and diseases – and aim for health and well-being while gaining in the Path.
Buddha
Men are tied up to their families and possessions more helplessly than in a prison. There is an occasion for the prisoner to be released, but householders entertain no desire to be relieved from the ties of family. When a man’s passion is aroused nothing prevents him from ruining himself. Even into the jaws of a tiger will he jump. Those who are thus drowned in the filth of passion are called the ignorant. Those who are able to overcome it are saintly Arhats.
Buddha
From the passions arise worry, and from worry arises fear. Away with the passions, and no fear, no worry.
Buddha
Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps As if he were already dead, But the master is awake And he lives forever.
Buddha
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
Buddha
Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.
Buddha
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha
You cannot travel on the path until you become the path itself.
Buddha
Let the wise guard their thoughts, which are difficult to perceive, extremely subtle, and wander at will. Thought which is well guarded is the bearer of happiness.
Buddha
The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
Buddha
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
Buddha
A great gift – a gift of Dharma conquers all gifts.
Buddha
When an evil-doer, seeing you practice goodness, comes and maliciously insults you, you should patiently endure it and not feel angry with him, for the evil-doer is insulting himself by trying to insult you.
Buddha
Evil-doers who denounce the wise resemble a person who spits against the sky; the spittle will never reach the sky, but comes down on himself. Evil-doers again resemble a man who stirs the dust against the wind; the dust is never raised without doing him injury. Thus, the wise will never be hurt, but the curse is sure to destroy the evil-doers themselves.
Buddha
Moved by their selfish desires, people seek after fame and glory. But when they have acquired it, they are already stricken in years. If you hanker after worldly fame and practise not the Way, your labors are wrongfully applied and your energy is wasted. It is like unto burning an incense stick. However much its pleasing odor be admired, the fire that consumes is steadily burning up the stick.
Buddha
The Buddhas do but tell the way; it is for you to swelter at the task.
Buddha
When a man makes utensils out of a metal which has been thoroughly cleansed of dross, the utensils will be excellent. You monks, who wish to follow the Way, make your own hearts clean from the dirt of evil passion, and your conduct will be unimpeachable.
Buddha
Death is not to be feared so much by one who has lived wisely.
Buddha
Those who are pure in heart and single in purpose are able to understand the most supreme Way. It is like polishing a mirror, which becomes bright when the dust is removed. Remove your passions, and have no hankering.
Buddha
If a man who has committed many a misdemeanor does not repent and cleanse his heart of the evil, retribution will come upon his person as sure as the streams run into the ocean which becomes ever deeper and wider. If a man who has committed a misdemeanor come to the knowledge of it, reform himself, and practice goodness, the force of retribution will gradually exhaust itself as a disease gradually loses its baneful influence when the patient perspires.
Buddha
Few cross over the river. Most are stranded on this side. On the riverbank they run up and down. But the wise man, following the way, Crosses over, beyond the reach of death. He leaves the dark way For the way of light.
Buddha
An unreflected mind is a poor roof. Passion, like the rain, floods the house. But if the roof is strong, there is shelter. Whoever follows impure thoughts Suffers in this world and the next. In both worlds he suffers And how greatly.
Buddha
Let go of anger. Let go of pride. When you are bound by nothing You go beyond sorrow.
Buddha
Never in this world can hatred be stilled by hatred; it will be stilled only by non-hatred — this is the law of eternal.
Buddha
Those who walk in the Way should avoid sensualism as those who carry hay would avoid coming near the fire.
Buddha
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
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging infinitude in infinity.
Swami Sivananda
After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked-as I am surprisingly often-why I bother to get up in the mornings.
Richard Dawkins
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
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
William Cowper
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
Meditation is the tongue of the soul and the language of our spirit.
Jeremy Taylor
I still practice Transcendental Meditation and I think it’s great. Maharishi only ever did good for us, and although I have not been with him physically, I never left him.
George Harrison
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 life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation. And honor the reward of action.
Francis Quarles
What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, and 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
I meditate and put on a rubber tire with three bottles of beer. Most of the time I just sit picking my nose and thinking.
James Gould Cozzens
We could say that meditation doesn’t have a reason or doesn’t have a purpose. In this respect it’s unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don’t do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.
Alan Watts
You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too.
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Jesus brooded upon the Divine imminence until at last he could declare, ‘I and my Father are One.’
James Allen
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
If you want to find God, hang out in the space between your thoughts.
Alan Cohen
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
Too many composers become involved in intellectual speculation which seems to matter more to them than the sound that comes out of all this speculation.
Louise Talma
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Buddha
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.
Buddha
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Buddha
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
Buddha
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha
There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha
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.
Buddha
No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha
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
Be quick to do well. If you are slow, the mind, delighting in mischief, Will catch you. Turn away from mischief. Again and again, turn away. Before sorrow befalls you. Set your heart on doing well. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy. A fool is happy until his mischief turns against him. And a good man may suffer until his goodness flowers. Do not make light of your failings, Saying, ‘What are they to me?’ A jug fills drop by drop.
Buddha
The masters only point the way. But if you meditate and follow the dharma you will free yourself from desire. ‘Everything arises and passes away.’ When you see this, you are above sorrow. This is the shining way.
Buddha
If a man’s thoughts are muddy, If he is reckless and full of deceit, How can he wear the yellow robe? Whoever is master of his own nature, Bright, clear and true, He may indeed wear the yellow robe.
Buddha
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.
Buddha
Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
Buddha
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.
Buddha
You are as the yellow leaf. The messengers of death are at hand. You are to travel far away. What will you take with you? You are the lamp To lighten the way. Then hurry, hurry. When your light shines.
Buddha
Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.
Buddha
Conquer a liar with truth.
Buddha
People cleave to their worldly possessions and selfish passions so blindly as to sacrifice their own lives for them. They are like a child who tries to eat a little, honey smeared on the edge of a knife. The amount is by no means sufficient to appease his appetite, but he runs the risk of wounding his tongue.
Buddha
