Friday, July 17, 2009

Monk Wisdom Series: Is Absolute Silence...possible ?


Is absolute ‘Silence’ possible……? the disciple wondered sitting on the perch...staring at the the horizon.The birds were coming back home and the getting back into their cozy nests. Mars was shining bright and bold up above amongst the stars. Moving hips decorated the fields far away as women carried the days work back with them. The tormented mind could not make sense of anything at this time. The large pond was brightening up as it reflected the stars and a portion of the moon. By virtue, if there is noise around there must be silence he thought. But again...Does ‘Silence’ really exist ? Can there be ‘Silence’ at all?

Sitting alone and the night hurrying in was becoming worrisome for the disciple with all this confusion in his mind. The mind was giving away to the madness and he desperately swung his eyes in search of the Master. The familiar ochre robe was nowhere to be seen. The path to the monastery looked deserted and was punctuated by a few cows grazing the healthy grass. Then all of a sudden, he saw the silhouette arriving, with an aura of the setting sun following him. His heart leapt in anticipation. He needed an answer to silence his mind. Can you silence your mind? He thought again. At this point he was hopelessly confused.

The Master acknowledged the bow from his disciple and said “ Isn’t it so quiet and peaceful here?”. The disciple had no clue what he was saying. His mind represented a hung state with numerous unanswered questions.

“Is it possible to even experience absolute Silence?” asked the disciple impatiently.

The Master with his usual exuberance answered “Sound is a function of the brain and a subset of your mind. A tree falling in the forest doesn’t make a sound until the acoustic energy or sound waves hit an ear drum whereby a signal is sent to the brain and becomes sound for that entity. Sound to me is just an idea”.

He continued “So absolute silence can be thought of as a quiet mind. An empty mind void of content and when the awareness having nothing happening. To be aware of just nothing !!!! this is Internal Silence. Then you have the happening around you, outside that you have no control on. Everything keeps constantly changing. External Silence is therefore just a theory. To quote the ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, he maintained that everything is in a state of flux. Nothing escapes change of some sort; it is impossible to step into the same river”.

To me it never exists, because you cannot touch it, feel it, imagine it, taste it, dream about it……To say you cannot hear Silence, is an oxymoron, it's like saying 'Thinking about Nothing.'

The disciple just understood a part of it. He decided to challenge the Master again some other time. For now he just believed, Silence is elusive and looked forward to empty his mind of all other confusion.

Once he did that, he saw the beauty of nature with the Moon painting the landscape with its golden rays illuminating the dark cloud. As the clouds moved, the perspective changed and he hoped that as he matured in the monastery his perspective would change as well. Jerking his shoulders…Sigh(lence)…followed…

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