The Mystery of Silence
Silence cannot really be described. It is not the absence of sound. It makes it possible to notice sound. It is still, but its stillness is constantly moving. It is nothing, but a nothing filled with everything. It is aware, but may move unaware. It is love, but a love that lets hatred be. It is wise, but its wisdom only fools can know. It has a shape, the shape of this moment. It has its own sound, but can only be heard when the mind is still. Unceasingly, it speaks Truth without uttering a single word.
This Silent Mystery is prior to mind. It also moves as mind, but the mind cannot imagine what it is to disappear into Silence. That is why it is so often afraid of deep silence. Yet it is in silence that we can discover the truth of what is always here, always undivided, and always in peace, even if the moment does not seem peaceful. The Silence of our true nature is deeply, profoundly, and unceasingly present. It cannot be lost by the mind’s confusions nor gained by its clarity, for this awake and eternal Silence does not come and go.
We do not need long years on a meditation cushion to ask ourselves: What is here when we are not trying to arrive there? What is here, so close we do not notice? Who am I when I don’t go to my mind for an answer? What knows cannot be known except to Itself. It is a Mystery prior to any and all concepts. We might say it is what silences every thought and every concept—even those called truth, God, Buddha, world, or the concept of a “me;” yet it is simultaneously their source.
In This that dreams the world and the play of existence each moment, everything continually appears and disappears into an ever-present Silence that knows no separation between background and foreground, divine and human, teacher and student, enlightened and unenlightened, God and flea. It is undivided Silence, empty of nothing, continually moving, continually still. It is what we are. It is where the mind cannot go, where mind must remain in unknowing.
--Dorothy Hunt
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8 Past Reflections
On Mar 3, 2022 Amayo Hioe wrote :
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On Sep 3, 2019 Lenor wrote :
Silence the entrance OM
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On Nov 7, 2012 Pedro-loco, Ajijic,MX wrote :
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On Feb 19, 2008 Conrad wrote :
I am reminded of the Trappist Thomas Keating who said: "God's first language is silence. All else is a poor translation."
Ghandi said : If you don't see God in thr next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.
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On Feb 19, 2008 Troy wrote :
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On Feb 19, 2008 supun wrote :
The main idea in me at this point:
The mind knows of silence just like it can contain the concept of nothingness :-). But, I don't agree that Silence is our TRUE nature, but I think it is part of our nature that we tend to take for granted. Sometimes I equate silence with not being awake. Then I realize maybe the point of reading this is to be aware. I don't know if things dissapper into this type of Silence.
It become more like a less muddy pond where clarity appears :-P
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On Feb 18, 2008 nagraj rao wrote :
Silence is silence and nothing else.
Too many attributes have been given where none exist.
What is beyond mind, the mind will never be able to grasp. you only play around with words and try to confuse simple minds with your vocabilary.
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On Feb 18, 2008 krishnaswamy wrote :
mauna-vyAkhyA-prakaTita-para-brahma-tatvaM
Lao Tsu describes the ‘Law of the reversed effect’ thus:
It is in the letting go, that we are enabled to receive;
In the stillness, that we can participate;
In the silence, hear;
and, out of the dark night, see.
To know the Truth, one must get rid of knowledge