Silence
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone! 🙏🙏🙏
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
Silence (mona or tuṇhibhāva) is the quality of being quiet, at peace and without noise. Buddhist psychology sees a direct connection between verbal silence and mental silence. Thus the Buddha said to his monks: ‘When you meet together, either talk about the Dhamma or maintain a noble silence.’ (M.I,161). In a beautiful paean to silence recorded in the Sutta Nipāta he said: ‘Learn this from the waters. In mountain clefts and chasms loud gush the streamlets, but great rivers flow silently. Empty things make a noise while the full is always quiet. The fool is like a half-filled pot; the wise person is like a deep still pool.’ (Sn.720-1).
The Buddha praised in particular the maintenance of a dignified silence in the face of insults and false accusations: ‘Not to react to anger with angry words is to win a battle hard to win. It is to act for one’s own and the other’s welfare, although those who do not know the Dhamma will think you are a fool.’ (S.I,162). As a result of this, the Buddha and his disciples had a reputation for being ‘fond of silence, encouraging silence and speaking in praise of silence’ (D.III,36). It was said of the Buddha that he ‘seeks lodgings in the forest, in the depth of the jungle, in quiet places with little noise, places far from the crowd, undisturbed by people and well suited for solitude.’ (D.III,38).