Deng Ming-Dao - Silence

"Seek silence.
Gladden in silence.
Adore silence.

As one progresses on the path, one seeks silence more and more.
It will be a great comfort, a tremendous source of solace and peace.

Once you find deep solitude and calm, there will be a great gladness in your heart.
Here finally is the place where you need neither defense nor offense
-- the place where you can truly be open.
There will be bliss, wonder, the awe of attaining something pure and sacred.

After that, you will feel adoration of silence.
This is the peace that seems to elude so many.
This is the beauty of Tao."

In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth,
but this makes the sounds of one's own heartbeat and breath audible.
In the same way, contemplative stillness turns us away from everyday clamor
but allows us to hear the subtle in our own lives.
When listening not with the ear but with the spirit, one can perceive the subtle sound.
By entering into that sound, we enter into supreme purity.
That is why so many religious traditions pray, sing, or chant as a prelude to silence.
They understand that the repetition and absorption of sound leads to sacredness itself. The deepest sound is silence.
This may seem paradoxical only if we regard silence
as an absence of life and its opposites.
It is both sound and soundlessness,
and it is in this confluence that the power of meditation emerges.

-  Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao Daily Meditations

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