When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what’s around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.

I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

Meditation is to be aware of every thought and of every feeling, never to say it is right or wrong, but just to watch it and move with it. In that watching, you begin to understand the whole movement of thought and feeling. And out of this awareness comes silence.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

I’ve got a terrible memory; it’s probably because I’m always concentrating on what I’m doing now.

Religion and ritual can be vehicles for entering stillness. It says in Psalm 46:10, ‚Be still, and know that I am God.‘ But they are still just vehicles. The Buddha called his teaching a raft: You don’t need to carry it around with you after you’ve crossed the river.

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.

When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.

Meditation has been a loyal friend to me. It has helped me write my books.

There is something in the way that we are now, with our cell phones, and people are not looking at each other and not being in the moment with each other, that kids feel isolated.

The incomparable greatness of the religions of the East lies in their having been second to none in vibrating with the passion for unity. This note, which is essential to every form of mysticism, has even penetrated them so deeply that we find ourselves falling under a spell simply by uttering the names of their Gods.

I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.

Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don’t see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.

Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

You have to like the present; if not your life becomes secondhand, if you think it was better before. Or that it will be better in the future.

There’s something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.

The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains.

Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.

Religion, any religion, no matter what sort of wonderful religion, never be universal. So now education is universal, so we have to sort of find ways and means through education system, from kindergarten up to university level, to make awareness these good things, the values, inner values.

To be a monk is to have time to practice for your transformation and healing. And after that to help with the transformation and healing of other people.

I spent years studying the teachings of Patanjali, and he reminded us several thousand years ago that when we are steadfast – which means that we never slip in our abstention of thoughts of harm directed toward others – then all living creatures cease to feel enmity in our presence.

The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence.

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

If you have the chance to be exposed to a loving, understanding environment where the seed of compassion, loving kindness, can be watered every day, then you become a more loving person.

When you work as a humanitarian, you are conscious that politics have to be considered. Because if you really want to make an extreme change, then you have a responsibility.

We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.

We’ve fallen into a trap of ever-widening orbits of contact, and there is a total disregard for the present moment.

Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.

Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.

This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.

If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.

Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.

There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We’re standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.

I wonder how many decisions we make every day. I believe it’s probably hundreds. We decide whether or not to get out of bed, what we’ll eat, what we’ll do, what we’ll think about, what we’ll say… and on and on.

Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.

If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

Some people awaken spiritually without ever coming into contact with any meditation technique or any spiritual teaching. They may awaken simply because they can’t stand the suffering anymore.

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.

Even with all of the things that are so awful, if you walk into your yard and stay there looking at almost anything for five minutes, you will be stunned by how marvelous life is and how incredibly lucky we are to have it.

The consciousness of the falsity of present pleasures, and the ignorance of the vanity of absent pleasures, cause inconstancy.

It is important to remember yourself.

Your entire life only happens in this moment. The present moment is life itself. Yet, people live as if the opposite were true and treat the present moment as a stepping stone to the next moment – a means to an end.

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.

Our minds work in real time, which begins at the Big Bang and will end, if there is a Big Crunch – which seems unlikely, now, from the latest data showing accelerating expansion. Consciousness would come to an end at a singularity.