INTRODUCTION

How do we cultivate Stillness by simply observing Silence?

Actually, before that, do we know what Stillness is? Do we know what Silence is?

If we don’t know what Stillness or Silence is how do we observe Silence? How do we cultivate Stillness?

Before we try to answer these questions I think we need to address some of the more fundamental things. One of these fundamental things is “patience”.

PATIENCE

“Do you have the patience to wait until the mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself?” – Lao Tzu

The author of the book “Zorba the Greek” by the name of Nikos, once wrote movingly about an infant butterfly he came across nestled in an olive tree. The infant butterfly, within its cocoon, was just starting to break through to greet a new life when Nikos, anxious to shorten the natural process, blowed intensely on it. The butterfly eventually emerged, but because it was prematurely induced, its wings were insufficiently formed. Unable to fly the butterfly soon died.

This intervention in Nature’s slow unfolding of life, gave Nikos a stirring lesson to reflect upon. If he had let Nature take its own course, if he had been more mindful and patient, the small butterfly would have felt the expression of life through its wings, but because Nikos impatiently intervened in a process that he did not fully understand, he had unintentionally denied this butterfly a life.

Impatience seems to enter into all our lives. Sometimes it surfaces in a small act of unconscious intervention, such as Nikos’s; at other times it could transform us into a person full of explosive and blind rage. It might be easier to understand ‘patience’ by observing ‘impatience’.

Impatience: What exactly is the hurry?

A good place to observe impatience is while we are driving. I don’t know about you but I often found myself feeling frustrated when I was following a slow driver. The strange thing was, most of the times I was not late or in a hurry getting somewhere. So what exactly was the hurry? When I started to observe my thoughts when I felt impatient, I realized my impatience had absolutely nothing to do with what was happening at that time i.e. driving somewhere. I wasn’t in a hurry. So what could be triggering my feeling of impatience?

After analysing my thoughts I realized, the minute I started feeling impatient my mind had taken over control. I was out of present time. Instead of doing mindfully what I was suppose to do i.e. driving; in my mind I started judging, comparing and criticizing the driver in front of me. My thoughts were dictating my actions e.g. tail-gating, taking un-necessary risks (over taking dangerously), honking, agitated, cursing etc.

So, why do you think I created such a negative state of mind for myself? Do I like ‘suffering’? I was the only one suffering. The other driver was possibly thinking: “Who is this idiot following me?” 

Impatience, I believe originates from our own:

·         Ignorance – our lack of understanding between our ego and true self.

·         Arrogance – our lack of humility & compassion, i.e. ‘I know best’ attitude.

Impatience tries to rush us swiftly into the next moment without due regard for experiencing the present one. Impatience is one of the hurdles we need to overcome in order to achieve stillness. So how do we develop patience?

Enforced Patience

There is no penance

More effective than a spell

Of enforced patience.

For instance, when a bone in the body has been broken or a serious illness, the healing process exacts a charge of sufferance (patient endurance) – often this is imposed by the Universe to help us to stop, to self reflect and to teach us about patience.

A badminton friend of mine, Sam injured his right knee last year while playing badminton. The injury was so serious that he needed a complete knee re-construction. Sam was a person of ‘action’. He didn’t really know what the word ‘patience’ means and didn’t care.

I met up with Sam recently and I noticed he has recovered fairly well from the injury. Like me, Sam is a very keen badminton player. So I asked him if he missed badminton all this time and when is he coming back to play? He said ‘missing badminton’ is an under-statement. He said he missed it so much that he often played badminton in his dreams. But he said during the long and painful recuperation period he realized and learned many things about himself, which he had taken for granted in the past. One of the things he learned was “patience”. He said, his enthusiasm about playing badminton was not dampened in any way by the injury. But now he understands the importance of being patient, to allow the natural healing process to happen however long it might take. Now Sam has developed ‘the patience to wait until the mud settles and the water is clear’. I often see him walking during lunch time in the Cumberland Forest where I work, to slowly build up his strength and muscles before returning to badminton.

Accommodating

One way we can achieve good harmony and balance in our life is to emulate the Laughing Buddha. The Laughing Buddha teaches us that the key to joy and happiness is to have a BIG heart - to be accommodating, to have tolerance and to be forgiving. We all have the nature of Maitreya Buddha within us. Practising these virtues will help us to discover our true nature and to unlock it. One of the benefits will be developing our patience.

Listening

Another way of developing our patience is to listen actively. Pay attention to not only what is said, but also what is not said, fully engaging with the person. (We are acting like a mirror!) When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves often for the first time. When we listen attentively we offer sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person – that which have been denied, unloved or rejected by themselves or others.

Practising the Rituals

·         A path to get in touch with our inner self.

·         Developing the ability to focus our heart and energy i.e.self discipline.

The ritual is a very structured form of meditation. It is designed to help us to be present and mindful in whatever we are doing. In fact it is not possible to do the ritual properly if we are not mindful i.e. if our mind is wandering. Practising the ritual will definitely help us to develop many of our qualities including our patience.

Inaction

There is an action mode – the outgoing mode.

And there is an inaction mode too – Inaction does not mean you do nothing. In fact you are doing a lot. But your actions are without attachment. You simply allow it to happen.

Most of us are very much in the action mode. Our life is lopsided. We have only one mode to our life and that is action, doing something. There are people who cannot think of sitting silently; it is impossible. They cannot allow themselves a moment of stillness or relaxation. They are only interested in action. If it is just a sunset, then what is the point of looking at it?

When you look at a sunset you are not expected to do anything. You simply look. When you look at a flower, what are you supposed to do? You simply look.  In fact there is no effort. Your eyes are open, the flower is there … a moment of deep communion comes when the looked at and the looker both become one.

Then there is beauty. Then there is benediction. Then suddenly you are not the observer, and the flower is not the observed – because to observe there must still be some action. Now, you are there and the flower is there, and somehow you overlap each other’s boundaries. The flower enters into you and you enter into the flower, and there is a sudden revelation (revealing of Devine truth). Call it beauty, call it truth, call it God.

You cannot train or cultivate for these moments because again you are back to the action mode. All you need to do is to simply ALLOW these moments more and more. 

Relax on the lawn and look at the sky. Sometimes, simply close your eyes and just look at your inner world – thoughts moving, floating, desires arising, going. Just look. Don’t say, “I want to stop these thoughts”.

There is one of the most ancient meditations still practised in some monasteries of Tibet . The meditation teaches that sometimes you can simply “disappear”. Sitting in the garden, you just start feeling that you are disappearing. Just see how the world looks when you have gone from the world, no longer here and become absolutely transparent. Just try for a single moment not to be! Let me share with you a simple poem I wrote on the topic of Self Transformation:

My Unsettling Heart

My Life on the Fast Lane

No Time for this

No time for that

Why am I here?

Where am I going?

Nature shows me the Way

Sitting among the Trees

The Evening Light is slowly fading

The Birds are quiet now

The Trees and I …….

Only the Trees remain

The Stillness in my Heart

SILENCE & SOLITUDE

Is there spiritual value in solitude? - Salvation Army WARCRY Magazine

In a world awash with additions e.g. drugs, alcohol, smoking, computer games etc., perhaps one of our greatest – and most unrecognised – obsessions is our need of noise. “Silence is frightening, because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life.” – Christian author Dallas Willard.

“We’ve got to have noise! Silence is creepy, even frightening. Silence steals away the distractions of life that anaesthetise / shield us from the feeling that our lives are still empty.” Part of what attracts us to noise and similar intrusions are our fear of loneliness. Music, people, television, radio, computers all contribute to the sense that, if we are surrounded by noise, we are not alone.  But while chronic loneliness is certainly unhealthy, solitude, the pursuit of deliberately spending time alone in order to reflect, learn and listen to God, is a spiritual discipline that can enrich our lives and restore our wellbeing.

“Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfilment.” - Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster

“True Loneliness is when we are NOT comfortable with our own company.”

 “Solitude” is the practice of being absent from other people and other things so that you can be present and have a relationship with God. As we quiet our hearts and minds we can escape the countless demands of the world and focus on listening to the voice of God. Silence goes hand-in-hand with solitude.

Where was Jesus? There were numerous occasions when Jesus took “time out” from the pressures of life to refresh and reorient himself. One occasion was at the most stressful time of his life – just before his arrest. Jesus found a quiet spot in a local garden to pray.

So what is Silence? It could be:

·         In the middle of a forest at night?

·         In outer space?

·         In an Australian house at night? (My own experience when first arrived in Australia ).

How about the constant internal ‘hissing noise’ in our head? Is there really a place of complete silence?

On the Physical Level: Silence is the absence of noise.

On the Spiritual Level: Silence is about acceptance.

·      Acceptance can happen naturally and unconsciously e.g. the “hissing noise” in our head.

·      Acceptance can also happen consciously e.g. Any disturbing noise can be as helpful as silence. How? By dropping your inner resistance to the noise, by allowing it to be as it is.

Anyone remembers the deafening sound of the cicadas in the Summer? The more you ‘fight’ it the more annoying it becomes!

The fruit of silence / solitude is increased sensitivity and compassion for others. There is a new attentiveness to their needs, new responsiveness to their hurts.

Last year I went on a 6 days Tasmania Wilderness Trip with the conservation Volunteers Australia. The solitude and oneness with Nature had definitely increased my sensitivity and compassion for others. After the trip when I was on a train back to Carlingford I noticed someone had left his newspaper (The Herald Sun) on the seat. I picked it up and started reading. After couple of pages I could not read any further because tears were streaming out of my eyes. Instantly I realized what was happening. What do you think my realization was? My solitude and connection with Nature during the Tassie trip had really sharpened my sensitivity and compassion. Normally I would have taken the pain and suffering depicted in the newspaper for granted – so what, another bashing, another murder etc. That’s the great danger we all are facing daily – gradually but surely becoming numbed and in-sensitive to what is happening around us.

STILLNESS

What is “stillness” (chan ding) ?

: Not being attached to forms and images externally. Zen means manifesting simplicity and single-mindedness in one’s conduct.

: Having stillness or inner peace.

Fostering ‘stillness’ is essential in helping us to gain wisdom, not just knowledge. In The Great Learning Confucius taught us the Five Steps of Cultivation:

·         Only by knowing where to dwell can one gain stillness.

·         Only by having stillness can one gain calmness.

·         Only by having calmness can one gain peace.

·         Only by having peace can one gain contemplation.

·         Only by having contemplation can one truly gain.

The essence of Zen is simplicity. Seek to appreciate the simplicity in all things instead of complicating things with a lot of self-opinions, judgements, knowledge and attachment. In fact, as children we possess the gift of simplicity in thinking and dealing with crisis.

Story: Once a British Newspaper held a competition that offer a handsome prize for the winner. People were asked to answer one question:

“On a hot-air balloon which was about to lose pressure, there were three highly regarded experts whose survival were critical to the fate of the world. The first was an environmental expert. His research could save countless people from possible death in suffering environmental pollution. The second was a nuclear scientist. He is capable in preventing global nuclear warfare that could lead to total destruction of the earth. The third was a food genetic engineer. He had the knowledge in producing crops that could free million of people in the world from hunger.”

At that moment, the balloon was about to collapse unless one of them sacrificed himself in order to reduce the weight and allow the other two to live. If you have the choice in deciding, which of the three do you think should make such sacrifice? Why do you think so?

A lot of people responded to the competition and all of them gave a wide variety of reasons to justify their answer that they gave. But the competition was eventually won by a young boy who gave the answer: “Throw the fattest one of the three overboard.”

"Stillness Speaks" By Eckhart Tolle

When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Stillness is your essential nature. The equivalent of external noise is the inner noise of thinking. The equivalent of external silence is inner stillness.

Whenever there is some silence around you – listen to it. That means just notice it. Pay attention to it. Listening to silence awakens the dimension of stillness within yourself, because it is only through stillness that you can be aware of silence. When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present.

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness. When you look at a tree and perceive its stillness, you become still yourself. You connect with it at a very deep level. You feel a oneness with whatever you perceive in and through stillness. Feeling the oneness of your self with all things is true love.

This acceptance also takes you into that realm of inner peace that is stillness. Whenever you deeply accept this moment as it is – no matter what form it takes – you are still, you are at peace. True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found. Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions.

There are TWO important concepts relating to Stillness:

Beyond the Thinking Mind

What is the human condition? Lost in thought.

Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalised sense of self that is conditioned by the past. In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness or the unconditioned consciousness. In the ancient teaching it is the Christ within or your Buddha nature.

The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought pretends that it matters so much. It wants to draw your attention in completely.

Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously! i.e. thoughts initiated by the mind e.g. doubts, worries, judgements etc.

Become at ease with the state of “not knowing.” This takes you beyond the mind because the mind is always trying to conclude and interpret. It is afraid of not knowing. So, when you can be at ease with not knowing, you have already gone beyond the mind. A deeper knowing that is non-conceptual then arises out of that state.

Artistic creation, sports, dance, teaching, counselling – mastery in any field of endeavour implies that the thinking mind is either no longer involved at all or at least is taking second place. Examples: Doing the rituals, doodling while speaking on the telephone, playing badminton, having a shower etc. What my Zen Master told me about meditative quality of playing sport.

The Now

On the surface it seems that the present moment is only one of many, many moments. Each day of your life appears to consist of thousands of moments where different things happen. Yet if you look more deeply, is there not only one moment, ever? Is life ever not “this moment”? This moment – NOW – is the only thing you can never escape from, the one constant factor in your life. No matter what happens, no matter how much your life changes, one thing is certain: it’s always NOW.

The division of life into past, present and future is mind-made and ultimately illusory. Past and future are thought forms, mental abstractions. The past can only be remembered Now. What you remember is an event that took place in the past, and you remember it Now. The future, when it arrives, is the Now. So the only thing that is real, the only thing there ever is, is the Now. Ultimately you are not taking responsibility for life until you take responsibility for this moment – Now. This is because Now is the only place where life can be found.

A simple but radical spiritual practice is to accept whatever arises in the Now – within and without.

When your attention moves into the Now, there is an alertness. It is as if you were waking up from a dream, the dream of thoughts, the dream of past and future. It is like when the wind stops and the pond becomes still. Such clarity and such simplicity. No room for problem making. Just this moment as it is. The moment you enter the Now with your attention, you realise that life is sacred. There is a sacredness to everything you perceive when you are present. The more you live in the Now, the more you sense the simple yet profound joy of Being and the sacredness of all life.

When you step into the Now, you step out of the content of your mind. The incessant stream of thinking slows down. Thoughts don’t absorb all you attention anymore, don’t draw you in totally. Gaps arise in between thoughts – spaciousness, stillness. You begin to realise how much vaster and deeper you are than your thoughts.

Gaps are moments when you become aware of:

·         Your breathing

·         The warm of the water when you are washing dishes

·         The pebbles under your feet when you are walking

·         The sweet fragrance of the rose in your garden

PATH

Pathways of the Heart

There are many paths in our life. There are paths that take us far away from home. There are paths that take us away from our loved ones. Then there are paths we are compelled to take when the mind loudly screams “No!” and the heart gently whispers “Yes!” There are some we must follow when everyone says we must not, and others we mustn’t follow when everyone says we must.

When we stroll along a leafy pathway or bush track instead of driving a car or catching a bus on a busy road, we become emptied within. Seeing, hearing and feeling more fully and our awareness deepens because we are closer to the Earth. And the Earth Mother graciously responds, for She is always nurtured by our gratitude and joy. Nature provides a bountiful reflection of beauty that always draws us downwards into that silent inner wellspring of joy and peace. It is not easy to hurry along a natural pathway, for its very essence is an invitation to slow down, listen to the bird songs, feel the rhythmic beating of our heart and the pulsing vibration of the earth.

Can you still remember the adventures of your childhood?

Adventures of Childhood

Walking along the same straight concrete footpath, turning the same corners at the same time everyday is boring, limiting and stifling to the unfolding spirit of the child. Children intuitively and instinctively follow the most appealing path presented in that moment. Although not always practical or most direct route home, it is usually the one that promises the most adventures and most fun. It doesn’t concern us if we are late for dinner, have forgotten our homework or left our shoes behind. Being on the path that bestow the most joy in the moment is all that matter.

My childhood pathway & adventure

I grew up in a small country town in Malaysia . It was a wonderful place full of adventures and life was very simple. One thing I remember very well was my pathway home after school (primary). This path was the most indirect path but it promises the most adventures and most fun. I remember this path took me pass a house with a Rambutan tree and its delicious fruits were hanging over the fence. This path also took me along a bubbling creek where I could cool my feet, catch a few fish, build a dam etc.. But the best part this path took me to, was the middle of a labyrinth of ‘padi’ or rice fields. I loved to sit quietly inside this labyrinth especially when it was close to the harvest season when the rice plants dancing wildly in cool North wind. I used to sit there and closed my eyes for hours enjoying the cool breeze caressing my face and listening to the wind. Every time that happened I was late home and got scolding from my Mum and Grandma. But it was worth it!

I saw a movie by Jet Li recently called: ”Fearless”. The story basically tells of an arrogant  young man who tried to show off and use his great Kung Fu skills to dominate others. Cutting the long story short, his un-virtuous actions resulted in the destruction of his whole family. In his despair he wonder aimlessly. He became weaker and weaker everyday. One day when he was crossing a river he fell. Luckily one of the villagers rescued him and took him to a remote village where he was nurtured back to health. During this period he had the time and opportunities to be still and reflect. There was a scene where he was working with all the farmers busy planting the rice seedlings. Suddenly they hear the ‘wind’. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to face the wind and enjoyed that moment as if they were taking time off to connect with Heavenly Mother and showing their gratitude. It is very important to know when to stop. Reminded me of my childhood in among the rice field.

The Modern World

The modern world does not support gentle wandering pathways. Its rapid pace allows no space for pausing quietly, breathing deeply or strolling slowly along, going nowhere in particular. Sitting silently by the roadside, bathing in the sun’s warmth, doing nothing at all, does not produce results or make millions of dollars. But it does, however, nurture the Spirit, open the Heart and replenish the Body.

Nowadays our lives are so result orientated that sometimes we totally forget to how live our lives. We rush from result to result and don’t seem to realize the journey. We seem to have forgotten the learning and growth is during our journey. We focus only at the end and the end is the beginning of another journey.

·         Nature : Life is never ending Life Cycle (i.e. Evolution)

·         Man : Life is never ending Death Cycle, unless ……

Analogy: Human life is like running around in a circle. The starting point is “Zi” and the ending point is “Hai”. The beginning and end point makes up the Chinese character “child”. This point remains the same. What has changed? We have changed IF each time we go through the life journey we learn and grow. But human often doesn’t learn and tends to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. As a result each life time he goes around the same circle again and again. On the other hand, if we learn and improve ourselves, we elevate from life time to life time and eventually become awakened.

Example:

I had an interesting experience when I did my nature hike with the Conservation Volunteers in Tasmania . In my small group there was a girl by the name of Helen. All Helen interested in was getting to the next destination as quickly as possible. She was not interested in looking at anything, learning anything or listening to what the guide had to say. For example, when we did the track around Dove Lake , a glacier lake on top of Cradle Mountain , it took Helen less than 30 minutes to reach her destination. Whereas we spent over 4 hours on the track looking at all the ancient flora, learning about the geology, listening to the fascinating history and stories. When we eventually reach our destination we found Helen sound asleep on the beach.

Which is the right pathway?

There are so many pathways. How do we know which ones to choose? The simple beauty is that we don’t need to make choices, for life always offers the right pathway when we are connected to our inner self and when we surrender willingly to this inner stillness.

The right path will eventually take us “Home"!

Go back