Silence as teaching

Many great teachers have pointed to silence as the ultimate teaching. Ramana Maharshi sat for years in silence, and devotees reported profound transmission without words. Bankei spoke of the "Unborn"—the wordless, boundless awareness that precedes all thought.

Silence is not merely the absence of sound but the living presence of awareness itself. In true silence, the mind settles into its source, concepts dissolve, and the heart opens to what cannot be spoken. This silence is not empty but full—pregnant with the wordless truth.

For the teacher, silence is the most direct pointing, unobscured by the inevitable distortions of language. For the student, learning to rest in silence opens the door to transmission beyond words. Both teacher and student dissolve in the silence that is their shared nature.

Sit in external silence and let internal silence gradually emerge. Don't try to stop thoughts; simply rest in the silence that contains them. Notice that this silence is not empty but deeply alive—it is the presence of awareness itself. Let this silence become your teacher.

The main obstacle is filling silence with subtle mental activity—internal commentary, waiting for something to happen, assessing the silence. True silence is complete resting. Another obstacle is making silence into a technique, when it is actually the dissolution of all technique.