According to the great Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh
"the truth of existence is revealed through a deepening awareness that comes from living a life of single-mindedness, of being awake in whatever one is doing."

We must become better connected with the world around us---more intune with and aware of the processes of our inner life (our emotions, perceptions, and mental formations)---we must rediscover our true Mind, which is the wellspring of understanding and compassion.
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday,
and our present thoughts build our lives of tomorrow;
our life is the creation of our mind.
---Buddha
Better than a thousand useless words
is one single word that gives peace.
---Buddha
We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We have difficulty remembering that we are alive only in the present moment. It is an old Zen saying (truth) that
"There is only this moment.
Five minutes ago doesn't exist.
Five minutes from now doesn't yet exist.
There is only the present.
To live in either the past or the future is to be dead, a ghost."
8 Fold Path

WISDOM (panna)
Right View
Right Thought

MORALITY (sila)
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood

MEDITATION (samadhi)
Right Effort
Right Mindfullness
Right Contemplation
It is you who must make the effort.
The great of the past only show the way.
---Buddha
The 7 Factors of Enlightenment

Mindfullness
Investigation
Energy
Rapture
Tranquility
Concenration
Equanimity
The 10 Perfections

Generosity (dana)
Morality (sila)
Renunciation (nekkhamma)
Wisdom (panna)
Energy (viriya)
Patience (khanti)
Truthfullness (sacca)
Resolution (adhitthana)
Loving-Kindness (metta)
Equanimity (upekkha)
The Gateless Gate
(A Zen Koan)

The great path has no gates,
thousands of roads enter it.
When one passes through this gateless gate
He walks freely between heaven and earth.
Sitting Meditation

The most stable position for meditation is sitting cross-legged on a cushion. Choose a cushion that is the right thickness to support you. The half lotus and full lotus positions are excellent for establishing stabiliy of body and mind.
To sit in the lotus position, gently cross your legs by placeing one foot (for the half lotus) or both feet (full lotus) on the opposite thighs. If the lotus position is difficult, it is fine to sit simply cross legged or in any comfortable position.

Allow you back to be straight, keep your eyes half closed and fold our hands in your lap. We need to practice our meditation gently, but steadily, throughout daily life, not wasting a single opportunity or event to see deeply into the true nature of life.

Proper Breathing

Proper breathing is vital to meditation. Generally, you should breath at a normal rested rate---inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Be mindfull of your breath---not only in meditation, but always. Count your breaths, pay attention to your breathing.
My personal path, while very eclectic in nature, rests on a fairly solid foundation of Buddhist philosophy and WitchCraft. Like most Westerners, I grew up with a Christian influence (mostly Catholic) and spent my teens and early twenties floundering in search of something to fill the void---the void created by the idea of a god that wasn't present in the world..

In my late twenties, I stumbled across
a book about Mindfullness---I devoured that book and have been on the Nobel Path ever since.
Buddha's teachings (and those of other wise teachers to follow) have opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of the unverse.
The Great Oneness of living things.
It introduced me to the joys of contemplative meditation and the art of breathing and Mindfullness.
But after a few years of study, I grew hungry for more, I needed another, prehaps more primary (material) connection.
This is where my Path forked.

Zen and Witchcraft compliment one another wonderfully.

The Craft has allowed me a connectedness with not only the material nature of the Earth around me, but also with the Divine. Witchcraft is a material system by nature----it is a wonderful blend of the mentally spiritual and the physically spiritual. While I had found my intellectual home in the teachings of Buddha, I longed for something more----something that would allow me to bring out that which I had created  internally. The Craft allows for the physical manifestation of the interior.

I could take that step beyond Meditation into Magick.
Buddhist Resources
BUDDHIST LINKS
Shambhala Sun a monthly magazine found at large bookstores. Click icon for
a link to their web site.
All Things Spiritual A large resource site
Green Tara, the Embodiment of Female Wisdom
Plum Village Buddhist Monastery
Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master
Click image to visit Paralax Press for more information about his many books.

Everything I've read by him is easily approachable by Westerners and deeply enlightening. I would recomend any book by Master Hanh.
I suggest beginning with The Miracle of Mindfulness,
Peace is Every Step, and/or Zen Keys.
Another of my favorites is Interbeing.
The Dhammapada is a collection of aphorisms that illustrate the Buddhist dhamma or moral system. It was probably compiled during the third century B.C.
Entering The Stream: An Introduction to The Buddha and His Teachings
Edited by Samuel Bercholz and Sherab Chodzin Kohn
Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindful Meditation in Everyday Life
by Jon Kabat-Zinn