Quotes about Meditation
Whenever you're carried away by thinking, overwhelmed by strong emotions, or feeling restless and dispersed, return to your breathing. Bring body and mind together and anchor your mind. Become aware of the air coming in and going out of your body.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Doing things with mindfulness means you perform each action with clear awareness of what's happening and of what you're doing in the present moment, and you feel happy as you do it. Mindfulness is the capacity to shine the light of awareness onto what's going on here and now. Mindfulness is the heart of meditation practice.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Angry in the ultimate dimension I close my eyes and look deeply. Three hundred years from now Where will you be and where shall I be?
- Thich Nhat Hanh
We all worked, but we didn't work all day. There was time for us to study the sutras, practice writing, listen to the teachings given by our teacher, chant, and meditate. Most important was meditation. My teacher taught that meditation was the door to understanding, and the career of monks and nuns.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Transforming the past is possible, thanks to meditation practice.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
If you can be aware that you have a living body, and notice when there's tension in your body, that's already an important insight.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
The first step is to stop the thinking; we need to come back to our breathing and calm our body and mind. This will bring more space and clarity so that we can name and recognize the idea, desire, or emotion that's troubling us, say hello to it, and give ourselves permission to release it.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Nirvana is the complete silencing of concepts.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
When St Francis looked deeply at an all day treatment in winter and asked it to speak to him about God, the tree was instantly covered in blossoms.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Whenever everyone's eyes are fixed on the earth—looking at the trees, plants, hills, mountains, or each other—then we know we are in the historical dimension, the world of birth and death. But when everyone's eyes look into space then we have entered the ultimate dimension, the unborn and undying world.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Living the holy life, transcending time and space, you are revered by both men and gods.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
I think one travels more usefully when they travel alone, because they reflect more. ( Letter to John Banister, Jr., June 19, 1787)
- Thomas Jefferson