Living zen retreat / Day 03.

[ezcol_1half]

“Take refuge in silence. You can be here or there or anywhere. Fixed in silence, established in the inner 'I', you can be as you are. The world will never perturb you if you are well founded upon the tranquility within.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi

“Break into the peace within,
Hold attention in stillness,
And in the world outside
You will ably master the ten thousand things.”
Lao Tzu

[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]

“Keep Quiet. By knowing you are not the ego that has to keep Quiet. 
This Quietness, this Silence, has nothing to do with talking or not talking. Because even when you are not talking your mind is continually racing everywhere.

No thought rising from your mind is this Silence.

Awareness of any object is not it. The one who is aware of awareness is It!”
HWL Poonja

[/ezcol_1half_end]



Keep quiet, look within, and discover the divine.

The image above is my silence badge. Hand made, to assist me in mindful silence this month. Although resident at a Buddhist meditation centre this month, there is not as much silence here as you might imagine. There are times, in spiritual enquiry, when we need to enter silence. 

In many respects, life is quite silent for me now. I speak little social chit-chat, the unnecessary habitual talk that fills so much space, and wastes so much of our spiritual oxygen. I speak on spiritual matters, and on practical matters. I speak to share my love and understanding. But the rest, I don’t need to say, nor does the world need to hear it.

By wearing this little badge, those who are inclined to this social chit-chat, must think twice before speaking to me, and know that there is no guarantee of a reply. I wear it only in the meditation centre, just as I only sit on my meditation cushion here. 

When outside, mixing with those who know nothing of this world of self-inquiry and meditation, I appear just as everyone else. But quieter. Quieter on the outside. On the inside, an ocean of peace, soaking up the noise of the outer perceived world.

Today, whilst not giving up on the self-inquiry you have already begun, perhaps you can begin to explore the nature of silence, and what it can bring to your life. How might you engage with it? How might you bring silence into your life, your home, your heart?

Ultimately, the world can be a crazy, noisy place, which we can have little control over. But our own, inner silence, is a different matter. By meditating, we can bring this silence to every moment of our life, no matter what is going on outside of us. 

This silence is at the very heart of our being. It is where we arise from, and where we reside. If we allow that to be. If we don’t chase the litter of everyday chit-chat. Our life, our self, can become a temple, clean, pure, filled with the clear light of wisdom. 

Who wouldn’t wish to reside in such a place?

“Surrender. Let silence have you.”
– Babaji

Find your own silence today.


ANDO / LIVING ZEN RETREAT / DAY 3 / WEDNESDAY 8 JANUARY 2014, 10:00.

Return to the living zen index…