Aspiration is our desire, our intention, our deepest wish, as if we were a child at Christmas, really wishing for some present. In aspiration, we contemplate all sentient beings having been our mothers and we vow to repay their kindness, and so on. That thought, that aspiration, is the heart of contemplative meditation. We begin by sitting until we experience some stillness, some peace. Out of that we conjure up a thought, an intention, an aspiration: "My intention today is to try to be kind to others."

Sakyong Mipham, In the Presence of Masters by Reginald A. Ray