Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 28, 2013

The wise boldly pick up a truth as soon as they hear it.
Don't wait for a moment, or you'll lose your head.
~Hsueh-Dou

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 27, 2013

The master Goso says to his disciple Yengo:
"You are ok, but have a trifling fault."
Yengo asks over and over what the fault is. Finally Goso answers: "You have altogether too much of Zen."
~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 26, 2013

I have fixed my abode where massive rocks
     lie in piles;
Birds may find their way here but it is
     completely cut off from human traces.
What do I see in my garden?
Only white clouds enveloping a solitary rock.
~Kanzan

My Tips for Meditation/How I Meditate

I know that I have already done a previous post on tips for meditation but this will not be the same. This post is my own tips for meditation and I would like to pass them onto you readers. Now I do understand that everyone is different and most of these tips might not apply to you. But I feel that the major part of these tips could apply to everyone, they just have to make them their own.
So here are my tips for meditation, take them and make them your own.

Time
The first thing to do when you begin meditation is to pick a time that you would like to meditate. Pick a time that best suits you. For me, I have found that since I am usually the only one awake until around 8 AM every morning; I have taken to meditate about 6:30 or 7:00 AM. This allows me not only to meditate alone but I can also enjoy the peaceful quiet before the rest of my household wakes up to start their day. I have also found that if I cannot do my meditation in the mornings, then at night after everyone else goes to bed is another perfect time for me. Since I am usually the last one to go to sleep every night and the first to wake up in the mornings, I can enjoy my time to myself to calm down after a long day.
I have come to switch my time to meditate around, depending on the day I've had or I'll have. If I know that I have a lot of errands and choirs that I need to do, I'll meditate in the morning in order to give myself extra energy and to wake up my mind more. If I have had a rough and stressful, I'll meditate at night in order to calm my mind down so that I can relax peacefully in my sleep.
Another important thing to do when you begin meditation is to pick how long you are going to meditate. Some people meditate for about an hour and some for about fifteen minutes. Again this has everything to do with what you feel like you need. Try meditating for ten minutes, if you feel like you need more then add on ten more minutes. Keep adding on minutes until you have reached the time that you feel is right for you. I, myself, meditate for about an hour or an hour and half. Again the time that I meditate depends on what kind of day I'll have or I've had.
A tip that I have learned is that since it is easy for me to get lost in my meditation and to lose track of time. This is why I know set a very loud alarm on my phone to go off in order for me to know that I need to come out of my meditation. I usually set my alarm to go off five minutes before the end of my meditation. But lately I have noticed that I come out of my meditation without any aid for an alarm. This is common as you teach yourself to instinctively know when your meditation is coming to an end.

Place/Environment/Surroundings
For me, the perfect place to meditate is in my room. I chose my room to meditate in because it is a room that I feel most comfortable in, mostly because it is my space. Everything in my room holds a bit of my spirit/essence. Again it does depend on the person to pick out the place where they meditate. There are endless possibilities to places
My environment, or my meditation setup is really very simple. I have a pillow that I sit on that is the perfect size to suit my meditation. I also like to light incense that I have collected in order to allow myself to relax more in my meditation. The incense that I usually use are those that I either purchase from Wal-Mart or those that I purchase from a local store as they have a better variety of scents. Also to further allow myself to relax in my mediation environment I have a playlist on my i-pod that I listen to when I am meditating. I put on my headphones and turn it down to a low calming volume and let the music take me. The reason why I put my music low is so that I am able to hear my alarm that alerts me that my mediation is about to end.

Position
Ah, the meditation position. This is different for everyone. For myself, it all depends on the kind of day that I have had/will have. For instance, if my day has been stressful and exhausting I will lay down on my bed, and just relax. If I have a busy day planned, I will take up the classic meditation position in order to wake up my mind fully. I might even do stretches in order to get my blood pumping in preparation for my day. Again it all depends on what your needs are.

How Often 
I meditate everyday, either once in the morning or once at night. I know of some people who meditate more than once a day, some that meditate only a few days out of the week and some that meditate once a month. Again it all depends on what you feel like you need. If you feel like you need to meditate a few times a day, then go right ahead. There is nothing wrong with it at all as it is what you need.

Finding Your Inner Place
Okay, now this I admit might take you some time. It took me a few tries to find this place. This is basically a place where your mind goes when you meditate in order to focus and relax. Again, this place is based off of the person. While it is common for people to have similar inner places, they all vary.
For instance, my inner place is a large library that is filled with tons and tons of all different types of books, some antique and some new. It even has old Victorian furniture and a roaring fireplace. For me, this place speaks so much of tranquility and peace and of myself. I am an avid reader so it would stand to reason that my inner place would be that of a library or study like setting. I can even smell the old books, I know that that might sound a bit farfetched but I honestly can and that makes me relax further into my meditation.

Well that is the end of this blog. I hope that I have given all of you readers some helpful tips in order for you to take full advantage of everything that your meditation can give you. If anyone has any suggestions to other blogs that they would like to see, then please leave a comment below.

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 25, 2013

A good explanation: never explained anything.
~Zen Saying

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 24, 2013

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 23, 2013

A monk asked, "What is the one word?"
Chao-chou said, "If you hold onto one word it will make an old man out of you."
~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 22, 2013

Voyages are accomplished inwardly, and the most hazardous ones, needless to say, are made without moving from the spot.
~Henry Miller

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 21, 2013

If you are thinking, you can't understand Zen. Anything that can be written in a book, anything that can be said - all this is thinking...but if you read with a mind that has cut off all thinking, then Zen books, sutras, and Bibles are all the truth. So is the barking of a dog or the crowing of a rooster. All things are teaching you at every moment, and these sounds are even better teaching than Zen books.
~Seung Sahn

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 20, 2013

"What is the Tao?" a monk asked.
"It is right in front of your nose!" the Master answered.
"So why can't I see it?" the monk continued.
"Your Me is in the way," the Master answered.
~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 19, 2013

The mission of Bodhidharma's journey to the east is to find a man who will not be deceived by men....Here in my place there is no truth to tell you. My duty is to lighten the heavy burden of dead weight on your back. My mission is to free men from their bondages, to cure the sick, and to beat the ghosts out of men...
~I-Hsuan

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 18, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 18, 2013

Labor to keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
~George Washington

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 17, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 17, 2013

Unless we die to ourselves, we can never be alive again.
~D.T. Suzuki

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 16, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 16, 2013

There has been nothing since all eternity.
~Zen Saying

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 15, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 15, 2013

To eat all day, yet not swallow a grain of rice; to walk all day, yet not tread an inch of ground; to be inseparable from things the livelong day, yet not included by them: this is to be the man who is at ease with himself.
~Hsi-yun

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 14, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 14, 2013

The heart becomes the meditation room.
~Zen Saying

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 13, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 13, 2013

If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.
~Albert Camus

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 12, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 12, 2013

How I would like people
     To hear...the sound of the snow falling
          Through the deepening night.
~Hakuin

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 11, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 11, 2013

To say yes you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves, and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no even if saying no means death.
~Jean Anouilh

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 10, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 10, 2013

Get rid of the words and meaning, and there is still poetry.
~Yang Wanli

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 9, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 9, 2013

Never turn your back on reality. It surrounds you.
~Stanislaw J. Lec

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 8, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 8, 2013

A disciple asked his abbot, "One of the first patriarchs has said, 'There is a word, which when understood, wipes out the sins of innumerable eons.' What is that word?"
"Right under your nose," the abbot answered.
"What does that mean?" the disciple asked.
"That is all I can tell you." replied the abbot.
~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 7, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 7, 2013

Sentient beings are intrinsically Buddha...like the relationship between water and ice.
~Hakuin

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 6, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 6, 2013

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
~Soren Kierkegaard

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 5, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 5, 2013

To turn one's back on delusion is to attain to the ultimate; to attain to the ultimate is to attain to the origin.
~Tao-ch'ien

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 4, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 4, 2013

A monk came to the national teacher, Kwanzan, looking for instruction, but Kwanzan only abused him with foul language.
"Why?" asked the monk. "I came to you to solve he great problem of life and death."
"In my place," answered Kwanzan, "there is no life, no death."
~Zen Mondo

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 3, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 3, 2013

The best use one can make of his mind is to distrust it.
~Francois Fenelon

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 2, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 2, 2013

Paradise is at your own center unless you find it there, there is no way to enter.
~Angelus Silesius

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 1, 2013

Daily Zen Quote - Feb. 1, 2013

A work of art has a maker and yet a perfect work of art is also anonymous, as if intimated by the anonymity of the art of the Divine. And so does the beauty of the world offer proof of God, who is at one personal and impersonal and neither the one nor the other.
~Simone Weil