Villa By The Sea – Russ Freeman
Why not take a Sunday off, or half a day, to be by yourself with voluntary simplicity, and experience for yourself the unspeakable joy and virtue in Noble Silence?
Spend time in your room, house, or garden without using any communication devices. Or spend time alone in nature, communing with yourself. You’ll love it.
Stop
Be still
Remain silent
Meditators should be seen and not heard
Ssshhh
All the senses.
Let everything be
Let go, and let it all
come to you.
Relax.
Being is in
doing is out
Do nothing.
For a moment
Just be
Silence
is
golden
Enjoy it.
Excerpted from Step Three. Right Speech, pp. 125,126. Awakening The Buddha Within , Lama Surya Das.
Awakening the Buddha Within, Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
Learning takes place not just through the ears, but with all the senses. Sometimes the best way to prepare ourselves to hear in a new and better way is to be still and silent. When we quiet our minds—and our motor mouths—we find that we are better able to open our hearts.
The ancient practice of Noble Silence helps us to begin the process of hearing in a new way; this is a timeless and wise practice that helps us be more sensitive and perceptive.
Noble Silence traditionally begins with a vow to keep silent for a specific period of time. It can be an hour, a day, a week, or a month. There are practitioners who have kept Noble Silence for years . There is even a practice of lifetime silence in India called “maun.” The famous master Meher Baba was a mauni baba, a silent holy man. He used a small blackboard to spell out his succinct messages, like “don’t worry, be happy”, long before the reggae song was written.
If you want to try a period of Noble Silence, remember that it is a rest for all the senses. Turn off the radio, the phone, the television. Enjoy a fast from the news. Turn off the thoughts in your head. Stay quiet. Don’t write, don’t read, don’t surf the Net.
Keep still. Listen to the sounds around you . What do you hear? What do you see? Open your eyes, open your ears, open your heart. Think of the ancient Christian exercise . Be still. Listen to the inner voice, and know God.
This is how we learn to cultivate higher levels of hearing, perception, and vision.
“For someone deeply trapped in a prision of thought, how good it can feel to meet a mind that hears, a heart that reassures. It’s as if listening mind is, in and of itself, an invitation to another mind to listen too. How much it can mean when we accept the invitation and hear the world anew”
—From How Can I help by Ram Dass and Paul German
THE PRACTICE OF LISTENING BEGINS WITH SILENCE—A REFLECTION
Kabir, the medieval Indian Sage and poet, sang. “God hears even the bracelets jangling on the feet of a mosquito”
What would it be to have hearing so acute, so sensitive, so perfectly in tune with the world that we could hear everything—spoken and unspoken? Most of us are nowhere near that Divine ideal; we’re still struggling to hear the distinctions between truth and illusions in our own lives; we’re still trying to learn how to listen.
Tibetan masters say there are three kinds of wisdom. First there is hearing wisdom. That is followed by reflecting or contemplating wisdom, and then there is experiential meditative wisdom. In short, we listen and learn: then we reflect; and then we meditate and internalize. Throughout this process there is emphasis on hearing and listening.
To help us reflect on our capacity to listen and hear, Tibetan teachers often use the symbol of a cooking pot waiting to be filled with knowledge and wisdom that is nourishment for the spirit. There is even a teaching for sincere students to apply to themselves, called the Five Defects of a Vessel. This teaching helps us reflect on conditions to avoid if we are suitable vessels for truth and wisdom.
The Five Defects of a Vessel
1. A POT WHICH IS TURNED OVER
When we are facing the wrong direction , we are essentially unavailable to even the most nourishing substances. This is a reminder that we get to choose which direction we face. We need to make wholesome choices and be available to hear wisdom teachings.
2. A POT WHICH IS COVERED
Have you ever tried to talk to someone who is wearing headphones? in the same way; how can anything be poured in to a vessel which, for all intents and purposes, is shut down? This reminds us to be receptive and open.
3. A POT THAT ALREADY CONTAINS SOMETHING POISONOUS
If we were to pour the purest water into a vessel that contained a toxic substance, although the toxin would be diluted, the water would still be corrupted. This reminds us to purify ourselves so that we are ready to receive.
4. A POT WHICH IS ALREADY FILLED TO THE BRIM
This symbol tells us not to be so full of ourselves and our opinions and ideas that there is no room for anything else.
5. A POT THAT LEAKS
We all know the exprssion “in one ear, and out the other.” It is not enough to hear and be filled with wisdom; we need to learn how to retain it.
All text excerpted from “Awakening The Buddhist Heart” by Lama Surya Das, pp. 103 – 105.
Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life
The Noble EightFold Path – The Way To the End Of Suffering – Bhikkhu Bodhi pdf
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