Buddhism Stillness Quotes & Sayings

I loved the quiet places in Kyoto, the places that held the world within a windless moment. Inside the temples, Nature held her breath. All longing was put to sleep in the stillness, and all was distilled into a clean simplicity.
The smell of woodsmoke, the drift of incense; a procession of monks in black-and-gold robes, one of them giggling in a voice yet unbroken; a touch of autumn in the air, a sense of gathering rain. — Pico Iyer

When you meditate you can stand back from your desire. When you silence the mind and there is stillness, only then can you tell if a desire is dharma. — Frederick Lenz

Very often, in order to bring about stillness we have to be tirelessly active in the outer world. You might suppose this would agitate the mind. It will not, if it is the dharma. — Frederick Lenz

What binds Buddhism, Sufism, and Quaker practices together is a belief in our interconnectedness; profound respect for others; being guided by a greater good beyond material possessions, status, and image; valuing silence and stillness of the mind; acceptance of differences; developing inner awareness of one's perceptions and motivation; commitment to service; and seeking guidance from within. — Charlotte Kasl

Left alone, I am overtaken by the northern void-no wind, no cloud, no track, no bird, only the crystal crescents between peaks, the ringing monuments of rock that, freed from the talons of ice and snow, thrust an implacable being into the blue. In the early light, the rock shadows on the snow are sharp; in the tension between light and dark is the power of the universe. This stillness to which all returns, this is reality, and soul and sanity have no more meaning than a gust of snow; such transience and insignificance are exalting, terrifying, all at once ... Snow mountains, more than sea or sky, serve as a mirror to one's own true being, utterly still, utterly clear, a void, an Emptiness without life or sound that carries in Itself all life, all sound. — Peter Matthiessen

It is good to take a weekend and just you, or you and your dog, head out into the wilderness. Walk by yourself. Be by yourself. It will help you in your search for stillness and perfection. — Frederick Lenz

Look for the things in your life that bring you stillness and happiness, not the things that make you crazy. Look inside yourself and look for that perfect stillness. — Frederick Lenz

A recently deceased American Zen master and navy veteran, John Daido Loori, used to say that those who think Buddhism is just about stillness end up sitting very silently up to their necks in their own shit. — Mark Epstein

It was as if California, specifically the Bay Area, had most of what Nietzsche once defined as the 'precondition' of Buddhism: a very mild climate, very gentle and liberal customs, no militarism; and that it is the higher and even learned classes in which the movement has its home. The supreme goal is cheerfulness, stillness, absence of desire, and this goal is achieved.1 — Pankaj Mishra

When you meditate you feel joy, harmony, peace, stillness, ecstasy, laughter, certainty, courage, strength, awareness and immortality. In the beginning you will feel these things vaguely, a distant knocking at your castle door. — Frederick Lenz

You don't need to be recluse and stay away from people. But you have to set aside a lot of time for stillness. That is the only place there is real fulfillment. You need to slow it down. — Frederick Lenz

My seminars are for you. They are moments, hours and evenings outside of time. A chance, in a highly charged environment, to meditate, find stillness, and remember who you are. A place, with others of like mind, to find and lose yourself in the transcendental light. — Frederick Lenz

Spend time alone in areas of low population density, where you can feel the stillness. Go out into the desert or up into the mountains or to the ocean where there aren't too many people. — Frederick Lenz

All I have to teach you are feelings, the words don't matter much. But as you listen, feel the stillness of my mind, not my mind but of mind ... infinite mind. — Frederick Lenz

All the joys in all the worlds of all beings who have ever been or will ever be, will never equal the perfection of one moment of absorption into the stillness of nirvana. — Frederick Lenz

Have lots of plants in your house. Nature and plants understand something about stillness and silence. As you interact with the green world, you will find a peace will enter your life. — Frederick Lenz

To meditate, you need to feel, and feeling is a lost art. You need to feel the stillness of existence and also the sound of existence. You need to feel that which lies beyond your awareness field, and that which is within it. — Frederick Lenz

Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention. — Sharon Salzberg

Get in touch with nature. The stillness of nature is profound and yet subtle. — Frederick Lenz

And so Gotama wandered into the town to obtain alms, and the two Samanas recognized him only by his complete peacefulness of demeanor, by the stillness of his form, in which there was no seeking, no will, no counterfeit, no effort - only light and peace. — Hermann Hesse

You can do anything. You can perform miracles, but it won't fulfill you. What will fulfill you is the stillness of eternity. — Frederick Lenz

Happiness is self-generated as the mind becomes still. As we become involved with the desires of the world, we lose that centering, that stillness. — Frederick Lenz

After meditation, it is a good idea to bow and offer your meditation to god, to that stillness and perfection that is existence. Feel that you are giving your meditation away. — Frederick Lenz

What will really release the kundalini is creating a stillness in your life. This stillness will come about through deep caring and introspection. It will come about slowly and then quickly - it builds momentum. — Frederick Lenz