Silence

 

"Sitagu Buddhist Vihara"

Canon G7x Mark II

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There is a Buddhist Monastery (Burmese) 12 miles from where I am in Gilead. It has a huge golden stupa with beautiful Buddhas from all different lineages inside. More importantly, they have meditation sessions open to the public on Sunday nights from 7:00-8:00pm.  So - I decided to go last Sunday.  There was a small group in attendance - four lay people and five monks. The session started with the sounding of the gongs outside the Dhamma hall. Monks filed in and took their seats facing the graceful seated Buddha at the front of the room.  The Abbot struck a small bell and a short period of Burmese chanting began. Once ended - the room fell to absolute silence for an hour, with only the hum of the A/C unit to occasionally intrude on the quiet. There was no burbling from the meditation leader, no need for him to make sure, by constantly breaking the silence with little nuggets that served to remind everyone that he was the teacher as I've seen in so many instances in western meditation halls.  Just.  Silence. Silence and the roaring chaos in my head.  I almost didn't attend the session since I've been in so much physical pain with my feet (and psychic pain in my head), but I decided to roll the dice and try to make it through. I'm glad I did. Best of all - there was no dreadful question and answer session or "conversation about meditation" afterwards. After the closing bell stopped ringing, the monks filed out and then all us lay people put our mats and chairs back where they belonged and wordlessly filed out.  What a blessing. ~