We learn something by being
Just the Rich Lens of Attention²
Most of our problems disappear if
We Sit still (privately i.e. in solitude) –
One Hour per day without going to sleep
(And do not speak, hum or whistle the while)³
Meditation is a discovery that the point of life
Is always in the Immediate Moment – Digging
This Present – Grooving with this Eternal Now⁴
So make a place to Sit down – Sit down, be Quiet⁵
The point is to move not away from or to – but
Constantly in the place where Mind Centers⁶
To Meditate is to bring the Body & Mind
Back to the present Moment so that you
Don’t miss you appointment with Life⁷
We do not sit in Meditation to become
Good Meditators: we sit in meditation
So that we will become more Awake⁸
In Meditation – I Am Becomes It Is⁹
One Minute of Sitting –
One Inch of Buddha¹⁰
¹ Hermann Hesse tr. Richard & Clara Winston, Magister Ludi
² Mary Oliver, Entering the Kingdom
³ Philip Whalen, All About Art & Life
⁴ Alan Watts, The Essence of Alan Watts
⁵ Wendell Berry, How to Be a Poet
⁶ George Evans, Eye Blade
⁷ Thich Nhat Hanh tr. Sherab Chödzin Kohn, True Love
⁸ Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart
⁹ Ursula K. Le Guin, Mountain Ways
¹⁰ Manzan tr. Lucian Stark & Takashi Ikemoto, One Minute of Sitting