* * *
Beware those who like to argue about matters religious or spiritual or criticize those they disagree with. There is space to talk about these matters and all matters of the Way. Yet, as you walk the Way, you find more and more space not to talk about such matters. The difference is enjoying talking about your favorite Way-dish and eating it. If you talk about it too much, such talk will lessen enjoyment of the taste, for you will have lessened your taste for the taste. Silence cultivates the taste for the taste.
We speak, and we must speak, but Silence speaks more eloquently. I write words, yes, but let the words lead you to the living Word.
* * *
We could say - as once I would do - that words are not truth but express truth. That sounds logical and is a step away from words. In the Buddhist scripture, The Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha says to Mahamati, "Words arise and cease and shift, with their occurrence depending on changing causes and conditions. Mahamati, what depends on changing causes and conditions for its occurrence does not express ultimate truth."
So, no, words are not truth and do not express truth. One can know the truth. One can experience the truth (How else would one know?). Nothing can express truth but truth. Truth expresses itself.
*Quote from the Sutra from Red Pine. The Lankavatara Sutra: Translation and Commentary. P. 112. Catapult. Kindle Edition.
* * *
When Stonehouse (i.e., Shiwu; Chinese Chan [Zen] monk, poet, recluse; b. 1272) met Zen teacher Chi-an-hung, the latter asked Stonehouse where he came from. Stonehouse replied, "From Tienmu [where Stonehouse had previously studied under a Zen teacher]." Chi-an-hung asked, "And what instruction did you receive?" Stonehouse said, "All things come back to one." When Chi-an-hung asked what that meant, Stonehouse did not answer. Chi-an said, "Those words are dead. Where did you pick up such rot?" Stonehouse bowed and requested the teacher to be his teacher.
Chi-an-hung said, "Tell me what this means: 'Don't stop where there are buddhas. Hurry past where there aren't any buddhas.'" Stonehouse answered, "I don't understand." Chi-an-hung said, "More dead words." Stonehouse still did not understand, but he decided to stay with Chi-an-hung.
Years later, Chi-an-hung asked Stonehouse what the koan [Zen riddle] about buddhas meant. Stonehouse said, "When you mount a horse, you see the road." Chi-an-hung said, "You've been here now for six years. Is that all you've learned?" Exasperated, Stonehouse left. But on his way down the mountain, he saw a pavilion. Suddenly, he understood.
He hurried back and told Chi-an-hung, "'Don't stop where there are buddhas.' Those are dead words. 'Hurry past where there aren't any buddhas.' Those are dead words, too. Now, I understand living words." Chi-an-hung asked, "And what do you understand?" Stonehouse answered, "When the rain finally stops in late spring, the oriole sings from a tree." Chi-an-hung nodded his approval. Later, Chi-an-hung ordained Stonehouse.
* * *
We can cling to dead words, investing them with a life they do not have. They are pointers. They are not even shadows. Stonehouse's "living words" are not words, which is why they live.
When you feel the living indicated, you can drop the word. One of the biggest challenges on the Way is letting go of words you have cherished as holy, sacred, or enlightened. This clinging includes a spiritual teacher or religious figure and what they say. This letting go includes scriptures; you may enjoy reading and studying scriptures - I do - but you do not hold tightly to them. They show your eyes where to look. You still use words, but in using them, you let them go. You do not hold words tightly. You may say "God," but you see through the word - that is insight, the understanding the teacher is guiding Stonehouse toward.
So, here are wise words from a Sufi poet and Islamic scholar, Umar Ibn al-Farid (Egypt; 1181-1235), leading us to living words, to Silence -
Resist the calls of wrangling talk,
and save yourself
from false claims
and their assaults,
which truly aim only to be heard.
For the tongues of those called
"gnostics most eloquent"
said all that could be said,
then fell silent.
You are intimate, akin to
what you do not say,
but speak of it
and you are a stranger,
so, shut up!
In silence is nobility,
a place of strong and
sound restraint,
but one is slave to dignity
who is silent for thought of rank.
So be sight and see,
be an ear and hear,
be a tongue and speak,
for union is the truest way.
Brian says, "Now, enough of words..."
* * *
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024
