"For those who ask me how to begin to meditate, I say first that your attitude is most important. You must be willing to persevere [almost] every day with gentle persistance and to understand that true meditation takes a long time to develop. There is nothing esoteric about getting into meditation. It is like learning to read. First you must learn the alphabet. Learning to concentrate the mind is the first step before one can go deeper and deeper into meditation. Learning to concentrate the mind is one of the most difficult tasks that a human being is ever asked to undertake." --Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
- "The art if mediation is to bring one thing into the foreground of your thoughts and leave the rest in the background." --??***
"You must have firm support with your back firm so that the curve of the back is natural with no slump. Distend your stomach. Be aware of your breath touching your nostils, or you can focus on the rising and falling of your diaphram. Tilt your head slightly downward, eyes not quite straight ahead, and eyelids closed. Nothing should be .. restricting any part of your body. Make certain that the body is in a comfortable position." --Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
- "Understanding meditation is experiential." --Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
"[Mindfulness of breathing] Follow the breath... Try to keep the mind on the breath inside the body - inside the emptiness of the body. You mind may flit away. Bring your mind gently back... Do not struggle. Do not try too hard. Don't become discouraged. Be patient with yourself. Feel. Begin to feel an inner peace... Quiet, beautiful. Continue breathing until it is smooth-flowing, regular and soft. Now direct the mind to one spot... Focus here firmly. Your breath will become very gentle and slow - almost indiscernible. Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you. Stay with it. Let go. Nothing else matters now. Feel freedom from fear, anger, greed." --Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
- "Meditation is not something that was invended in - and happened in - history. It is an ageless human experience that has been descovered and explored and used in every period and every culture." --Lawrence Leshan (How to meditate).
"Nimitta is a symbol or shape, a visual image, that often appears at some point in meditation. It's often called an aquired sign. The sign seems to be different for each person but, it indicates a calming or stilling of the mind. When a nimitta is developing, concentration is beginning to work. Remember, the nimitta is not yours or you. The coming and disappearing of the nimitta, like all impermanent things, emplifies impermanence, which is a cause of dukkha. The nimitta comes and goes as conditions arise and cease. Don't be a slave to the nimitta. The beauty should not be in the nimitta but the fact that the mind is relatively calm and tranquil. Concentration is the key to meditation, but meditation must always be on the immediate present. Be careful of the nimitta because it can be extremely powerful. Try pulling it into your body through your breathing." -- Monk (A Meditators Diary)
- "Meditation is a long and painful process. There are no short-cuts. Never!" -- Friend of Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
"The monks told me that when pain occurs to think 'paining, paining, paining' and it will go away, or when a mosquito is biting to think the same, or if it is a matter of an itch, to consentrate on the itch and repeat mentally, 'itching, itching, itching'. Previously I have always thought that if one could ignore the source of irritation or pain it would go away. But here I am being told to become more aware of [the feeling of] it, to see the nature of it, to concentrate on the irritation or pain [feeling] itself. ..My mind became aware of the itch with great energy... I allowed my mind to flow there and settle on the discomfort while I slowly repeat, 'itching, itching, itching'. I repeated it again and then again. Finally that discomfort was eliminated." -- Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
- "Good focusing is sensing and feeling, not thinking." --??***
"I have long abandoned the need to know how long meditation lasts, but I estimate that my meditation varies from fifteen minutes to an hour, sometimes even longer. There are times when I easily go into meditation, but there are other times when I struggle to concentrate my mind on the awareness of my breathing. I never force meditation nor try to sit for a specific period of time. I become part of the experience, gently bringing my jumping mind back to my breath, and try not to become disturbed if meditation reverts to undisiplined stages.. Like all other things, this rampant obsession of the mind to defy stilling will also pass. Often, after what I might consider an unsatisfactory experience, I find that the next day my meditation may be deep, smooth, and quite refreshing." --Jane Hamilton-Merritt (A Meditators Diary)
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