I've been looking into vipassana meditation and was wondering if anybody here has tried it? I got into to it after seeing a documentary on the Dhamma brothers who were taught this technique in a prision rehab class and it had amazing effects on them. If anyones done it, how hard is keeping noble silence? Sorry for my rambleings my mind is quite jumbled at the moment.
WHO is it that becomes aware of silence? If there is silence there is no who. It is like hitting your thumb with a hammer - there is a moment of utter and complete silence, that moment when the realisation comes that pain is coming and the thought "you idiot!". Just after you realise you hit yourself and right before you feel the pain, there is no time and no thought. You hold your breath. Your thinking stops. I once meditated at 10,000 ft in the snow. The snow fell and I realised that my life was like a snowflake against the granite mountain background. I did not utter one single word for over 90 days. That silence was because of awe. Personally, I already have it on my calendar that I will be going into silence from December 2 to December 19 of this year. What good is silence if the mind makes noise?
The mind can make noise reading a book, smelling odors, hearing sounds, seeing sights, tasting flavours, feeling tangibles ... thinking thoughts. CSP101: ... how hard is keeping noble silence? Noble Silence is not complete and utter silence. That is impossible. One may be able to control their speaking to a point of not speaking for a duration, where a duration is defined by the one doing the controlling. But one will never be able to control seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, or thinking until one is able to quiet the mind and all the processes associated with mind. Noble Silence is not engaging excessively and without purpose.Katamā ca, bhikkhave, sammāvācā? (and what, monks, is Right Speech) ... abstaining from false speech, abstaining from malicious speech, abstaining from harsh speech, and abstaining from idle chatter Katamo ca, bhikkhave, sammākammanto? (and what, monks, is Right Action) ... abstaining from killing living beings, abstaining from taking what is not given, and abstaining from misconduct in sensual pleasures When abstaining from harmful (malicious and harsh) speech, and from speaking without reason or purpose (idle chatter), all you are left with is Noble Silence of speech. When abstaining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, all you are left with is Noble Silence of action. With the stilling of speech and action, the mind becomes still. One can also still speech and action by stilling the mind first as one must think in order to speak or act. But for some, this too is impossible. Which is why one directs the mind at stilling speech and action, and in doing so, stills the mind. HTML:
