Reading Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, p.192

True inner silence puts you in touch with the deeper dimensions of being and knowing—[inner] awareness and innate wisdom. Because it is impossible to express the inexpressible, the spiritual sound or song of silence is beyond words and concepts…. Inner silence and emptiness can help provide easier access to universal mystery and primordial being, for almost anyone, without relying on foreign forms and [outdated] concepts.

Silence is the threshold to the inner sanctum, the heart’s sublime cave. Silence is the song of the heart, like love, a universal language, a natural melody open to anyone, even the tone deaf or religiously challenged. Try going out into the woods or sitting very near the ocean’s waves. Look up at the bright stars at night; open your mind’s inner ear and listen to the lovely song of silence. Here is the joy of contemplative sweetness. Follow this bliss.

Sermon

         Today, we embrace our third and fourth principles: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth and a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. And we draw from our identified spiritual sources: wisdom from the world’s religions and direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder.

         “Silence is golden” the old saying goes. Perhaps we say it only when we are subject to quite the opposite. The truth is that most human beings need to have times of quiet, if not silence, if we are to live a more healthy and reflective life. All world religions advocate silence and they all have a monastic tradition of some kind. However, our western culture does not teach us to cultivate silence. When many of us were young, we were punished with silence. We had “time out” or were sent to our room. In my school, when we were too noisy, the whole class had to sit with our hands on our heads. Still, these were actually good techniques to calm us down.

         Radio and television and recording devices are all wonderful, even cell phones, but they have added to the noisiness of modern life. It is a pity that our parents, schools, and religions did not encourage us to have a time of silence. However, the liturgy, hymns, and rituals of our religions do seek to invoke an altered state of being which create the condition to elicit silence, and yet, they can tend to fill the silence if silence is not part of a service. How can we get to a place of silence and inner sanctuary? A symbol (or sound like a bell) can help.

         The one symbol that might cause us to think of silence is the statue of the Buddha. It is certainly my symbol not only for silence but also for peace, beauty, truth, wisdom, and simplicity. Do you have a symbol of your own? This statue of the Buddha is a replica of a 15th century one that is in the museum in Bombay, or Mumbai as they say now. Please feel free to come and see it after the service and notice also that his eyes are not closed but only cast down, which is so with all statues for the Buddha, indicating that the Buddha never shut out the world.

         You know the story of the Buddha whose name was Siddhartha, a king’s son who left the riches of the palace to seek the answers to life’s problems. He joined a group of Jain monks. (We believe that the Jains, an offshoot of Hinduism, began the world’s monastic tradition about the 6th century BCE officially, perhaps several centuries before.) And you know that after spending many years in meditation under a tree, the Buddha finally declared that he had found the answer to the suffering of the world; it is to WAKE UP. We wake up by following the Eight-fold Path. The first step on that path is Right View, and this requires meditation and silence so that we see how the world truly is, how we ourselves are, and our relationship to all things.

         To wake up, Lama Surya Das urges us to cultivate “inner silence and emptiness for it can help provide easier access to universal mystery.” He urges us to “Try a little silence” by taking a few hours a week to practice silence and to experience its effects. He says, “Spend the time in your room, house, or garden without using any communication devices. Or spend your time alone in nature, communing with yourself. You’ll love it!” He goes on to say:

         Stop.
         Be still.
         Remain silent.
         Meditators should be seen, not heard.
         Ssshhh.
         Still all the senses.
         Let everything be.
         Let everything go.
         Relax.
         Being is in; doing is out!
         Do nothing.
         Just be.
         Silence
         is
         golden.
         Enjoy it! (page 95-96, Das)

         The “bliss” that Lama Surya Das spoke of is that place of sustained silence that is without thought. Getting to the place without thought may not be easy. For beginning meditators, interestingly, the easiest way to let thought go is when we do something physical and easy like washing the dishes and we notice how the soapiness of the water and the smoothness of the dish. Soon we are washing the dishes or turning the compost heap and experiencing only the action. This is a good time to sit down and just be in the place of no thought. The bliss is in the place where there is no thought. This is why Buddhists encourage us to focus on breathing with our eyes either closed or cast down.

         Since this sermon is about silence, shall we try some now? For the benefit of those who are just beginning this practice of letting all thought go, let’s visualize, or bring into mind, one sink full of dishes in warm sudsy water and another with rinse water. Put you hands in, pick up a plate and sponge and begin washing, noticing the smoothness of the dish and how the sponge feels in your hand. Wash it around and around, back and front; rinse it in the next bowl of water. Dip it in the rinse water and put it in the drainer. Wash a few more. And when you’re ready, let the dishes go and bring into your awareness the image of the Buddha or focus on your breath and let us experience a few minutes of silence, bringing awareness back to your breath if you need to. And for those of you, who have an emotional or physical hurt, do share it in the silence. Here is the bell to begin. [Pause –three minutes.]

         Do you think that you could do this every day or three times a week for, say, 10 or 20 minutes? Those of you who have children, do you think you can ask them to be silent for this time, perhaps silent for ten minutes before dinner on a regular basis. You can tell them that you are all practicing quieting your minds together. Grandparents, aunts and uncles can do it with children as well. Keeping silence has cumulative effects. Soon you will feel the benefits of increased joy.

         By the way, if you want to experience this with Thich Nhat Hanh and perhaps 500 other people for five days, he is coming to Stone Hill College in Easton on August 11th (2005).

         One Catholic sister, Sister Meg said, “I feel the silence of the trees and the environment and the birds…There is the outer silence of the cloister….Then there's the practices of inner silence, to still that inner chatter. Basically all the practices of silence are for when the thoughts rise, you return them to the seeking of God…” (Sister Meg at Benedict’s Dharma 2, May 2003). She was speaking of the Rule of Saint Benedict.

         Perhaps you have heard the story of Brother John who entered the "Monastery of Silence" and the Abbott said, "Brother, this is a silent monastery. You are welcome here as long as you wish, but you may not speak until I direct you to do so." Brother John lived in the monastery for 5 years before the Abbott said to him: "Brother John, you have been here 5 years now. You may speak two words."

         Brother John said, "Hard Bed."

         "I'm sorry to hear that," the Abbott said. "We will get you a better bed."

         After another 5 years, Brother John was called by the Abbott. “You may say another two words, Brother John."

         "Cold Food," said Brother John, and the Abbott assured him that the food would be better in the future.

         On his 15th anniversary at the monastery, the Abbott again said to Brother John, "You may say two words today."

         "I Quit," said Brother John.

         "It is probably best," said the Abbott. "You've done nothing but complain ever since you got here!"

         Now, silence was supposed to soften Brother John, make him more compassionate and oriented to caring for others. So perhaps the Abbot did the right thing!

         It is a remarkable thing that in the 17th century an illiterate man called George Fox felt there was something wrong with the tradition of the English church. He starting preaching that everyone had something of the divine in them that he called the “inner light” and that it is in silence that we come into contact with this inner light. It is especially important to be together in silence as a group, which he called Friends. He was a very charismatic person and soon gathered many around him. They were ridiculed by others because while waiting for the voice of God to speak, they might tremble in anticipation and so others called them Quakers, which they finally accepted (just as Unitarians accepted the name that others gave them). They believed that the “inner light” or “still small voice” counseled them how to live their lives truthfully, and with simplicity of spirit, which they call humility. They also believed in gender equality from the beginning, something that got them into a lot of trouble!

         Today, Quaker beliefs are as wide as Unitarian Universalism, but their foundational texts tend to be Judeo-Christian. They do not baptize and their wedding service is a “simple exchange of vows between bride and groom during a Meeting for Worship” (Smith, p. 18) The purpose for Quakers to meet is to look for truth within. This is a typical meeting: “As Meeting begins, worshippers walk silently into the Meetinghouse or some other designated room, or they may join at an appointed gathering place out-of-doors…They take their places on spare, wooden benches and remain seated in silence, often casting their eyes downward or closing them to ‘center’ themselves.” (Smith, p. 19) They will then wait until one of them is “moved’ by the inner light to speak. The others all listen carefully. Someone might be moved to speak similarly, but typically, the entire rest of the Meeting could be silent. If a Friend goes on too long, the leader may rise and say something to the effect, “F riend, we thank you for your sharing, but it is enough!” At the end of an hour, the person who leads the meeting shakes hands with the person next to him and then all Friends follow suit.

         Quakers believe that truth is continually revealed to each person and so they set aside this “official” time on Sundays to do it. “The premise of Quaker Meeting is that no one person sees the entire truth. The group search after truth is more comprehensive and more exacting than the search of one individual. Quaker author, Robert Smith, describes it as a “spiritual potluck.”

         The Friends apply these same principles when they meet for business or for struggling with a social justice issue. I understand that the Friends in Westport recently met to discern their truth regarding becoming a welcoming congregation for gay and lesbian people.

         How does the Quaker practice differ from Buddhist practice? There is little practical difference except that Buddhism puts an emphasis on no thought whereas Quaker practice values being in the place of no thought until “moved” to speak by the inner light, or the divinely inspired “still small voice.” Either way, such practices can add immeasurably to our lives, revealing an inner spaciousness, deepening our spirituality and opening up new ways of being more fully alive. Summer invites us to try new things; why not cultivate a summer meditation time, even just being silent without T.V., radio, or phone, for a half hour a day, as an individual or as a family. I will be leading a meditation group here in August on Tuesdays. You could come to that and check in as to how the silent periods are working for you. We would be a temporary Sangha, or spiritual community, for one another.

         This is a major way we can progress spiritually and as a community. In the Bible, we can read the story of the boy Jacob who ran away from home, fearful of his brother’s wrath because Jacob had tricked him into giving up his inheritance to him. In a dream, Jacob sees a golden ladder reaching up to heaven. This is the symbol that Jacob can do better and can reach for a higher life of greater integrity. You could say that our spiritual practices lead us to symbolically climb Jacob’s ladder. May we each have a symbol that informs and inspires our religious practice and orientation.

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Das, Lama Surya. Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, New York: Doubleday, 1997.

Smith, Robert Lawrence. A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons in Simplicity, Service, and Commonsense, New York: Quill HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.