Sound of silence
to be heard and seen
one for all and all for one
he or she who hears will see
the light and the love in all life
a passing show on Earth all changing
evolving in oh so many ways just as it is.
She or he who sees can hear it clearly
the sound of silence in her or his heart
while ‘his or hers’ dissolves as an illusion
for in the end possession belongs to nature
as he and she and all are learning to see.
One who hears and sees will value high
the qualities and divinity of all others
while most who don’t will look down
upon the others as inferior beings
to be controlled by power plays
in megalomaniac possession.
How far does this have to go
to dissolve itself eventually
in all the space given to dry up
as one hears the sound of silence
sees and can step out of the way
let it flow freely and resolve
the way it is no matter what
illusion and impermanence
as one may see and hear
the sound of silence
to be heard and seen
one for all and all for one
he or she who hears will see
the light and the love in all life.
“Permanent impermanence” — heart remediation blues
The way it is — a closer look
“I was standing out on this evening and looking at the dusk, at the trees, … just contemplating … that trees are conscious. There is a certain level of consciousness in all life, in the fact that there is receptivity to the environment; and trees are very receptive to the environment they are in. One begins to change the perception of mind to one of a consciousness that pervades everything. Then it’s not just a human mind, there’s something more to it. But in Buddhism it is never named, you never try to form a concept about it. Instead you contemplate the totality, the whole sensitivity, the sensory realm and what it is really about. And that we have to contemplate from our own ability to be conscious and to feel but not see it in terms of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ — …”
Do you hear the sound of silence?
“With the sound of silence, some people hear fluctuations of sound or a continuous background of sound. So you can contemplate it, you notice that — can you notice it…? You’re using this sound of silence as something to remember to turn to and notice — because it’s always present here and now. And there’s that which notices it.
“There is the desire of the mind to call it something, to have a name for it, have it listed as some kind of attainment or project something on to it. Notice that, the tendency of wanting to make it into something. Somebody said it’s probably just the sound of your blood circulating in your ears, somebody else called it ‘the cosmic sound’, ‘the bridge to the Divine’. That sounds nicer than ‘the blood in your ears’. It might be the sound of the Cosmos or it might be that you’ve got an ear disease. But it doesn’t have to be anything; it’s what it is, it’s ‘as that’. Whatever it is, it can be used as reflection because when you’re with that, there is no sense of self, there is mindfulness, there is the ability to reflect.
“So it is more like a straight edge that you can go to, to keep you from going wobbly. It is something you can use to compose yourself in daily life…”
Do you listen to the sound of silence?
“The significant offering of the Buddhist teaching lies in what we call non-dualism. It’s the ‘neither-nor’ approach to philosophical questions. …
“Now what does that do, as a practical experience, when you let things go and they cease? What’s left, what’s the remainder? …
“When the perception of self ceases and all the doctrines, all the inspired teaching, all the wise sayings cease, there is still the knower of the cessation. And that leaves us with a blank mind. What is there to grasp?”
“Open to the silence and contemplate it, learning from it rather than running away from it to look for a warm mother or a safe father.
“Then one way you can describe this Holy Life is a growing up of an individual being to that maturity where we no longer linger in the warmth of adolescence or childhood, or in the pleasures of the world.”
The shining through of the divine
“In our lives as separate beings, we relate to things. As individual beings, we have relationship to things, we have to meet and contact and react or respond to objects all the time for the rest of our lives. On the physical level, we have to respond to each other’s presence in some way, either ignoring or embracing or paying respects or cursing. In relationship, when there’s no self, then there is this divinity that manifests. So you can see that the human form is a form for the divine.”
“Five billion human beings who can manifest the divine in their daily lives, through metta, karuna, mudita, upekkha. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Sounds rather nice.
“But five billion human beings manifesting greed, hatred and delusion is a pretty grim picture. Yet we don’t have the right to comment on them: this one here, this is what we have, this is what we can work on. Don’t worry about the others. This one here is what you can actually develop through reflection and through meditation.”
— The Way It Is, Ajahn Sumedho, pp. 102-103, 109, 115, 117, 157, 165
Mostly silent songs of the trees
EN
DE
FR
IT