June 12, 2026

Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual bliss, or tranquility, nor is it attempting to be a better person. It is simply the act of paying attention to the bare experience of what is." — Bhante Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Bhante Gunaratana wrote Mindfulness in Plain English in 1991, drawing on decades of monastic training in Sri Lanka and his work teaching Western students who kept expecting meditation to feel like something dramatic. He was responding directly to the widespread idea that sitting quietly was a means to a spiritual reward. This quote cuts through that expectation and lands on something simpler: solitude and stillness are not preparation for anything else. They are just the condition in which you can finally see what is already there.