sound of silence
 

when ajahn sumedho speaks of the sound of silence as a "high frequency ringing sound that's always there", does mean it literally? if so, it completely escapes me. i've never heard it expressed before. thanks

The background noise of the universe. I hear that all the time. Might not be what he's talking about though, but it's definitely a high pitch/frequency "noise" that's always there in the background, much too low to be a nuisance.

Interpreting this is a bit difficult to me as well. It is a well known fact that, at least in younger folks, some hearing loss, and an associated mild tinnitus(usually a high frequency sound), is extremely common, due primarily to damage to the hearing mechanism by the noisy environment we live in (music via ear-plugs, cars, sports, publis transportation media, movies, computer games, computers running, on and on). Certainly, our environment is extremely noisy in comparison with, say, 500 years ago or at the dawn of our species). As to a noisy universe, the current understanding of sound requires a medium through which it can be transmitted (a gas or liquid or solid); unless sound travels through dark matter, I doubt that "the universe" is "noisy" - but our world is becoming progessively more so.

I wondered, while reading "The Sound of Silence", if the sound he referred to reflected the neuronal chatter that is constant and characteristic of the brain. I've also noticed, if I close my eyes and note the background of darkness that I "see" (that my visual cortex "sees"), there are variations of darkness that come and go - probably also reflecting constant brain activity/chatter.



I'm not claiming that this is what Ajahn Sumedho is referring to but I wonder.

I was exposed to extreme noise as a youngster. I am aware of a high frequency hiss that is constantly present - and is associated with mild high frequency hearing loss as measured by the standard testing devices. I can focus on and listen to this if I choose.

For me at least silence has no sound, so I'm not sure what is meant by that?
I love silence within meditation but it is more a condition or state than it is the absence of sound.

I don't recall being aware of this sound myself, in meditation or otherwise ...but on the other hand its possible I might have forgotten about it.

This might be helpful:



THE SOUND OF SILENCE


As you calm down you can experience the sound of silence in the mind. You hear it as a kind of high frequency sound, a ringing sound that's always there. It is just normally never noticed. Now when you begin to hear that sound of silence, it's a sign of emptiness - of silence of the mind. It's something you can always turn to. As you concentrate on it and turn to it, it can make you quite peaceful, blissful. Meditating on that, you have a way of letting the conditions of the mind cease without just supressing them with another condition. Otherwise you just end up putting one condition over another.

This process is what is meant by making 'kamma'. For example, if you're feeling angry, then you start thinking of something else to get away from the anger. This is just putting one condition on top of another. You don't like what is going on over here, so you look over there, you just run away. But if you have a way of turning from conditioned phenomena to the unconditioned, then there is no kind of kamma being made, and the conditioned habits can fade away and cease. It's like a 'safety hatch' in the mind, the way out, so your kammic formations, (sankharas), have an exit, a way of flowing away instead of re-creating themselves.

One problem with meditation is that many people find it boring. People get bored with emptiness. They want to fill up emptiness with something. So recognise that even when the mind is quite empty, the desires and habits are still there, and they will come and want to do something interesting. You have to be patient, willing to turn away from boredom and from the desire to do something interesting and be content with the emptiness of the sound of silence. And you have to be quite determined in turning towards it.


continued here:
http://amaravati.org/abm/english/doc..._is/12sos.html

Phosphenes. Unsuitable nimitta for jhana, I expect - same with the tinnitus. Too quixotic.

Silence is when, one is one with themseleves,oblivious of everything around them,meditating without any distractions,and the silence is so still you feel as though you are there in a bodiless state.

When I first read that phrase, when the book was linked here..., "The sound of silence"..., a kind of stillness came to my mind...

Some people asks me what I hear while doing zazen... "The [delicate] sound of silence"..., I can tell...

Even when we are aware of the "outside" noise there is a background noise where, I have felt, are the arising and vanishing of fabrications.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

To me...it is not latching on, grasping at, identifying with whatever that comes in front of me...that includes quietude...

Aj. S's "sound of silence" is not a reference to phosphenes. What is/are suitable nimitta for jhana?
b@eze

My quote has naught to do with the sound of silence of Aj. S.

My bad.

Still, what is/are suitable nimitta for jhana?
Regards

Hi BuckyG .... in discussion with my teacher this week ( I practice within the Tibetan traditions ) , we were rambling about characteristic manifestations of absorption in different traditions. At the time, I found my mind drawn to the displays of personal religious experience and divinely inspired powers, as of healing, prophecy, and the gift of tongues which I have witnessed in Penecostal churches rather than anything I have seen with Buddhist practitioners .... so I also would be interested to read others interpretation.

Interpretation of...? Just a little confused. I have experience as a Pentecostal and a Buddhist, and think I know what you're getting at, but before I start blah-blah-ing my observations I want to make sure I'm accurately picking up what you're laying down. You're asking about nimitta, right?
good-will@U
bucky

Hi Bucky, yes I am referring to nimitta , ie signs or more accurately it seems to describe the collection of sensory data specific to a group of something ie. objects ( and can also, as in your OP, be referrring to inner states ).

Ajahn Sumedho wrote a forward to a book by Edward Salim Michael called 'The Law of Attention.' (It's a reprint of his book which was originally called 'The Way of Inner Vigilance,' but I think they changed the name to cash in on the popularity of 'The Law of Attraction,' made popular by 'The Secret')

In the book, Michael advocates 'Nada Yoga,' which Sumedho practiced. It is making the meditation object either the innate sound of the cosmos, or one's tinnitus. I'm not quite sure.

You can read the forward here: http://books.google.com/books?id=220...page&q&f=false

..and of the practice of Nada Yoga here: http://books.google.com/books?id=220...page&q&f=false

Thanks, Viscid, and welcome :-)