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Noble Silence

lobsterlobster Veteran
in Buddhism Basics
How do you understand Noble Silence? Is it a good answer? The Sufis say, 'silence too is an answer'.
http://www.donmeh-west.com/booksilence2.shtml

Has too much been said? :rocker:

Comments

  • PatrPatr Veteran
    When forumners are not putting up unintelligible posts.... ahh
    CittaDairyLamaInc88
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    :) Reminds me of the silence after the demon clearing Tibetan Temple music . . . effect . . .

    I have heard many things that are apparantly unintelligible. In the past I might have said they will always be so. Now I feel that understanding does not always come from the obvious. So for example Reggae and Opera were two forms of music that seemed incomprehensible to me. Fortunately those forms are now something I listen to. I have also found that the incomprehensible aids me in finding what is worth hearing or not . . .

    And now back to the Silence of Captain Beefheart and avant garde jazz :rocker:
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Hee. I like the link, because I find the old "bananas in the ear" joke followed by the Ox-herding pictures to illustrate a point. Gotta give credit to a combination like that.
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Here is a teaching on silence from the Sufi tradition:
    One day while Shibli was passing through populated area of Karkh, in Baghdad, he heard an imposter who was saying that Silence was better than speech. Shibli said to him, “your silence is better than your speech, for your speech is vanity and your silence is an idle jest but my speech is better than my silence, because my silence is gentleness and my speech is knowledge.”
    Rock on :rocker:
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    .
  • SonghillSonghill Veteran
    The Noble/Aryan Silence...

    "Herein my brother, by the suppression of discursive thought and investigation, enters on and abides in the Second Trance [jhana], a state of internal calm of heart, concentrated on its object, free from discursive thought and investigation, born of mental balance, a state of zest and ease. This is called the Ariyan silence." S. ii. 273
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    The Noble/Aryan Silence...
    Is it available as a song or just another hill? Sounds like noise to my ignoble black soul.
    . . . unusual rhythm to this silence . . .
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    If it's silence then how is it recognized as Noble? You know if you listen even to a quiet room you hear little noises like the computer 'thinking'. I hear cars in the distance humming. I can hear the clock ticking. I can hear my breathing. Some little sounds of expanding and contracting.

    Silence is just a pointer I think.
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    "He beat me, he abused me" .........................
    "I have arrived, nothing disturbs me anymore" ...............................................
    lobster
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    I get it. It's like... When Christians pray and their prayers seem like they haven't been answered, well, no is also an answer. I think it's the same thing.
    lobster
  • SileSile Veteran
    There should be a Noble Silence discussion forum, with daily, increasingly provocative OPs, the trick being to read the forum and resist commenting.
    tmottesVastmindlobsterDairyLama
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    When high lamas get together, they tease and provoke each other to the point of realising their attachments . . .
    We might not be ready for the silence that follows . . . :coffee:
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    Perhaps they received such a transmision from my Master/wife.
    lobster
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    Our problem may be very simple in life; we find that we must keep doing, thinking, going, listening, running, talking or else what shall we be? We love to be filled with noise, images, words, thoughts, memories, fantasies, sensations, people, pleasures and good feelings. When these things are not, we feel bored, alone, scared and quite possibly angry and confused. The brain needs input almost continuously. When there is a lack of input into these amazing computer-like brains our thoughts can fill in. We believe that these thoughts about self, about ego (the "I") are the reality and that there is nothing more. We know of this space in between the thoughts, the words, the actions, but it seems we pay it no heed or we do not want to look there. But what is it about this silent space inside that we do not wish to face, that we try to keep covered by any means.
    That means not only every memory of every moment of our lives, many of which we can not face a second time because they are too painful. But it also means our true being-ness is right there, able to be experienced in the stillness of a moment free from everything, from every thought.
    If you have not figured it out yet, this silent awareness, is always there in you despite the exterior noise, the thoughts, the memories and to recognize it all you need do is stop for one second all the exterior and interior garbage and relax into that stillness at the core of your being. This is the Nothingness which contains everything! And yet we seek to avoid this at all costs. We are always avoiding this void by hook and by crook. We need to fabricate, manipulate and do.

    Just stop and listen.
    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    There are two kinds of speech and two kinds of silence. Speech is either truth or falsehood, and silence is either realization or unattentiveness. The words of one who speaks the truth is better than silence, but for the person who makes up lies, his silence is better than his speech.
    Al-Hujwiri
    http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/sufism.htm
  • WolfwoodWolfwood New
    That was a nice story. Makes you wonder how many times we missed out on something good because we had bananas in our ears.
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