True Meditation is the short instructional book by Adyashanti, published by Sounds True in 2006 with an accompanying CD set, and reissued in a print-only edition in 2010. Adyashanti distinguishes what he calls "true meditation" — the resting of awareness as awareness, prior to any object — from concentrative or visualisation practices that work on what arises within awareness, and argues that the latter, useful as they are, do not deliver the recognition the former is for.
The book's instructions are deliberately spare, mostly negative ("don't try to make the mind quiet"; "don't pursue any state"), and are organised around three sittings that the reader is meant to practise rather than read past.
Reception
True Meditation has remained continuously in print since 2006 and is generally treated as the operational counterpart to Adyashanti's more discursive Falling into Grace (2011) and The End of Your World (2008) — the book his students were directed to when they wanted explicit sitting instructions. Reviewers in the non-duality scene (Rupert Spira, Greg Goode) have noted the book's lineage to Atmananda Krishna Menon and Jean Klein via the broader direct-path tradition Adyashanti studied alongside his Zen training. Critics from textually-conservative Zen and Theravada directions (Jundo Cohen, Bhikkhu Anālayo) have argued that the book's "just notice" instruction, while accurate as a description of advanced practice, can leave a beginner without the gradual-training scaffolding the source traditions provide. The book remains a standard recommendation in the American direct-path circuit alongside Loch Kelly's Shift into Freedom and Rupert Spira's Transparent Self.
Frequently asked
What is True Meditation?
Adyashanti defines it as the resting of awareness as awareness — prior to any object, technique, or goal. It is distinguished from concentrative or visualisation practices, which work on what arises within awareness rather than resting as the awareness itself.
How is True Meditation different from mindfulness or concentration practice?
Where concentration practices add an object (breath, mantra, visualisation) and mindfulness tracks what arises, Adyashanti's approach subtracts: the instructions are mostly negative ("don't try to quiet the mind"; "don't pursue any state"). The stance is allowing rather than directing.
What does the book contain?
The book is short — around 100 pages — and is structured around three sitting instructions. The original 2006 Sounds True edition included two guided meditations on CD. A print-only edition was released in 2010.