Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

The real meditation practice is how we live our lives from moment to moment to moment.

I've always said that lovingkindness and compassion are inevitably woven throughout meditation practice even if the words are never used or implied, no matter what technique or method we are using.

We call the effort to cultivate our ability to be in the present moment ‘practice’ or ‘meditation practice.’

Simply put, mindfulness is moment-to-moment non-judgmental awareness.

In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice

There's no substitute for the practice of meditation.

The meditation traditions I started and have continued practicing have all emphasized inclusivity: anyone can do this who is interested.

Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation. It's not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That's what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.

Mindfulness helps us freeze the frame so that we can become aware of our sensations and experiences as they are, without the distorting coloration of socially conditioned responses or habitual reactions.

Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act.

It is possible to experience an awakening in this life through realising just how precious each moment, each mental process, and each breath truly is.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.

What I've learnt is to be in the now. It's something my mum has always said to me, and when I read a book called 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle, I realised just how important it is.

Resting in Awareness, we transform all the 'stuff' of our lives.

Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.

Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness.

Whatever is your present experience, you can recognize the spaciousness that allows it to be. You are this spaciousness, this awareness, this love. Deeper love and more spacious awareness is the best lesson you can get from any experience.

We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.

For awareness you need not go to the Himalayas; you need not go anywhere. Your life gives you enough opportunities to be aware. Somebody insults you - listen to it in full awareness. And you will be surprised - the insult is no more an insult. You may even smile. It does not hurt; it hurts only when received in unawareness. Somebody praises and appreciates you - listen with alertness. And then nobody can persuade you to do foolish things. Nobody can bribe you; flattery becomes impossible. You will smile at the whole nonsense.

Don't think the purpose of meditation is to go deep into consciousness, wrap a blanket around yourself, and say, 'How cozy! I'm going to curl up in here by myself; let the world burn.' Not at all. We go deep into meditation so that we can reach out further and further to the world outside.

If you have your full attention in the moment, you will see only love.

We must each achieve greater individual consciousness and self-knowledge, and project mindful kindness toward everything and everyone.

There's only what you choose, and how you can have it. If you choose peace and joy and love, you won't get much of it through what you're doing. If you choose happiness and contentment, you'll find little of that on the path of doingness. If you choose reunion with God, supreme knowing, deep understanding, endless compassion, total awareness, absolute fulfillment, you won't achieve much of that out of what you're doing.

Meditation practice is neither holding on nor avoiding; it is a settling back into the moment, opening to what is there.