Quotations Meditation

"In meditation, effort must be applied in a direction opposite to what we are used to. Our "effort" must be to relax ever more deeply. We must ultimately release the tension from both our muscles and our thoughts. When we relax so deeply that we are able to internalize the energy of the senses, the mind becomes focused and a tremendous flow of energy is awakened. ... Meditation is a continuous process, and can be said to have three stages: relaxation, interiorization, and expansion." - John Novak, Lessons in Meditation, p. 14 "There is a central idea. Merely practicing is not understanding. Seek to understand the human ability. Study diligently for deep ideas. The result after a long time is that one is able to know." - Sun Lu Tang (1861-1932) "The Chinese term for meditation is Ching Tso, which translated means "sitting still with peaceful mind." Meditation is the training of the inner senses of the body and mind. It is as rigorous as the training undertaken by an athlete or an artist. ... By helping us to think clearly and concentrate fully, Ching Tso enables us to commune totally with our God, with distracting or artifical thoughts. ... The highest and most advanced goal of meditation is to gain enlightenment. We want to go beyond the limitations of our knowledge and our three-dimensional view of the world. Our goal is to perceive fully the fourth dimension and understand our relationship to it." - Jou Tsung-Hwa, The Tao of Meditation, p 3-5. "The first and most important gigong meditation is called ru jing ("entering tranquillity"). Entering tranquillity means training the mind to be silently aware with any particular point of focus. It is nothingness. The mind is not thinking about but rather experiencing directly, immediately, without the mediation of thoughts and concepts. Ancient Daoist classics called this "the fasting of the mind." - Kenneth S. Cohen, The Way of Qigong, p. 148 "Seek truth in meditation, not in moldy books. Look in the sky to find the moon, not in the pond." - Persian proverb "He only is wise who devotes himself to realizing, not reading only, the ancient relevations. Solve all your problems through meditation. Exchange unprofitable religious speculations for actual God-contact. - Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, p. 315. "The imagination is a function or faculty that gives one access to an intermediary world between the realm of unfathomable and hidden mystery and the world of sensible and gross forms." - Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation