May 1, 2004
Note: This webpage was first published on May 1,
2004.
It will be completed by May, 2005.
Thank you for your patience.
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
Meditation: Guides, Links, Bibliography, Quotes, Notes, Lessons
Valley Spirit Meditation
Meditation Research and
Education
Red Bluff, Tehama
County, North Sacramento Valley, Northern California, U.S.A.
Cities in the area: Oroville, Paradise, Durham, Chico, Hamilton City, Orland,
Corning,
Rancho Tehama, Los Molinos, Tehama, Gerber, Manton, Cottonwood,
Anderson, Shasta Lake, Palo Cedro, and Redding, CA
© Michael P. Garofalo, 2004, All Rights Reserved
Biography of Michael P. Garofalo
Qigong: Links and Bibliography
Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
Cloud Hands: T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Chi Kung Website