Why Meditate Quotes

“As long as a sense of self-importance rules your being, you will never know lasting peace.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Being altruistic not only helps us to benefit others, but it is also the most satisfying way to live.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Another form of laziness is thinking: ‘That’s not for me; it’s beyond my abilities. I’d rather not get involved with it.’ In other words, you give up the race before you reach the starting line.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Demanding immediate results is an aspect of unsteadiness of mind or laziness.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“The truth is that even if resentment is triggered by an external object, it is not located anywhere else but in our mind.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“It is the only thing we can do. … Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others. And remember that every atom of hate added to this world makes it still more inhospitable. — ETTY HILLESUM29”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Some people might think that the smartest way to guarantee their own well-being is to isolate themselves from others and to work hard at their own happiness, without consideration for what other people are experiencing. They probably assume that if everybody did that, we’d all be happy. But the result would be exactly the opposite: instead of being happy, they would be torn between hope and fear, make their own lives miserable, and ruin the lives of the people around them too.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“The ultimate reason for meditating is to transform ourselves in order to be better able to transform the world or, to put it another way, to transform ourselves so we can become better human beings in order to serve others in a wiser and more efficient way. It gives your life the noblest possible meaning.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“Understanding that the essential nature of consciousness is neutral shows us that it is possible to change our mental universe. We can transform the content of our thoughts and experiences. The neutral and luminous background of our consciousness provides us with the space we need to observe mental events rather than being at their mercy. We then also have the space we need to create the conditions necessary to transform these mental events.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“We have come to take the dysfunctional aspect of ourselves for granted without realizing that it is possible to free ourselves from the vicious circle that is exhausting us.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“There is indeed an element of relaxation in meditation, but it is connected with the relief that comes from letting go of hopes and fears, of attachments and the whims of the ego that never stop feeding our inner conflicts.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Understanding that the essential nature of consciousness is neutral permits us to understand that it is possible to change our mental universe. We can transform the content of our thoughts and experiences.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“Thus, little by little, through training the mind, you can change your habitual way of being.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Más exactamente, la meditación consiste en hacerse con el control del espíritu, en familiarizarse con una nueva comprensión del mundo y en cultivar una manera de ser que ya no se halla sometida a nuestros esquemas habituales de pensamiento. A menudo se inicia mediante un proceso analítico y luego se prosigue a través de la contemplación y la transformación interiores.”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“El objeto de la meditación es el espíritu. Pero, por el momento, dicho espíritu está confuso, agitado y rebelde, y sometido a innumerables condicionamientos y automatismos. El objetivo de la meditación no consiste en quebrantarlo ni anestesiarlo, sino en conseguir que se vuelva libre, claro y equilibrado. Según el budismo, el espíritu no es una entidad, sino un flujo dinámico de experiencias, una sucesión de instantes de conciencia. Estas experiencias a menudo están marcadas por la confusión y el sufrimiento, pero también pueden vivirse en un estado amplio de claridad y libertad interior.”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“Algunos pretenden que la meditación no es necesaria porque las experiencias constantes de la vida bastan para formar nuestro cerebro y, en consecuencia, nuestra manera de ser y actuar, y no cabe duda de que, gracias a esta interacción con el mundo, es como se desarrollan la inmensa mayoría de nuestras facultades, como, por ejemplo, los sentidos. Sin embargo, es posible hacerlo mucho mejor. Las investigaciones científicas en el ámbito de la «neuroplasticidad» muestran que el entrenamiento, en cualquiera de sus modalidades, provoca importantes reorganizaciones en el cerebro tanto a nivel funcional como en el plano estructural.”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“El que aprovecha cada instante para convertirse en una persona mejor y contribuir a la felicidad de los demás morirá en paz.”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“Nos esforzamos mucho para mejorar las condiciones exteriores de nuestra existencia, pero, en resumidas cuentas, al que siempre le toca bregar con la experiencia del mundo es a nuestro espíritu, y lo traduce en forma de bienestar o de sufrimiento. Si transformamos nuestro modo de percibir las cosas, estamos transformando la calidad de nuestra vida. Y este cambio es el resultado de un entrenamiento del espíritu denominado «meditación».”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“One of the great tragedies of our time is that we significantly underestimate our capacity for change. Our character traits remain the same as long as we do nothing to change them, and as long as we continue to tolerate and reinforce our habits and patterns, thought after thought. The truth is that the state we generally consider to be ‘normal’ is just a starting point and not the goal we ought to set for ourselves. Our life is worth much more than that! It is possible, little by little, to arrive at an ‘optimal’ way of being.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“neuroplasticity’, a term which takes into account the fact that the brain evolves continuously in relation to our experience, and that a particular training, such as learning a musical instrument or a sport, can bring about a profound change. Mindfulness, altruism and other basic human qualities can be cultivated in the same way. In general, if we engage repeatedly in a new activity or train in a new skill, modifications in the neuronal system of the brain can be observed within a month. What is essential, therefore, is to meditate regularly.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“neuroplasticity’, a term which takes into account the fact that the brain evolves continuously in relation to our experience, and that a particular training, such as learning a musical instrument or a sport, can bring about a profound change.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“Seeking happiness selfishly is the best way there is to make yourself, or anyone else, unhappy. Some people might think that the smartest way to guarantee their own well-being is to isolate themselves from others and to work hard at their own happiness, without consideration for other people. They probably assume that if everybody does that, we’ll all be happy. But the result would be exactly the opposite: instead of being happy, they would be torn between hope and fear, make their own lives miserable and ruin the lives of the people around them as well. In the end, just ‘looking out for number one’ is a losing proposition for everybody. One of the fundamental reasons such an approach is doomed is that the world is not made up of independent entities endowed with intrinsic properties that make them by nature beautiful or ugly, friends or enemies. Things and beings are essentially interdependent and in a constant state of transformation. The very elements that”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“From a Buddhist point of view, every being has the potential for enlightenment just as surely, say the traditional texts, as every sesame seed contains oil.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“We expend a lot of effort to improve the external conditions of our lives, but in the end it is always the mind that creates our experience of the world and translates it into well-being or suffering. If we transform our way of perceiving things, we transform the quality of our lives. It is this kind of transformation that is brought about by the form of mind-training known as meditation.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“Understanding that the essential nature of consciousness is neutral permits us to understand that it is possible to change our mental universe. We can transform the content of our thoughts and experiences. The neutral and luminous background of our consciousness provides us with the space we need to observe mental events, rather than being at their mercy, and then to create the conditions necessary to transform them.”
― Matthieu Ricard, The Art of Meditation

“we don’t need to train our minds to improve our ability to get upset or jealous.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions

“Que el precioso Pensamiento del Despertar nazca en mí, si no lo he concebido. Y que, cuando haya nacido, nunca decline, sino que siempre siga desarrollándose. Voto de Bodhisattva”
― Matthieu Ricard, El arte de la meditación (Crecimiento personal)

“Chaque instant de vie est précieux car la mort peut survenir à tout moment.”
― Matthieu Ricard, L'art de la méditation

“Meditation helps us to familiarize ourselves with a clear and accurate way of seeing things and to cultivate wholesome qualities that remain dormant within us unless we make an effort to draw them out.”
― Matthieu Ricard, Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions