Language Of Silence

The purpose of a fishtrap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.

The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.

Experience The Truth

We have never realized that words are just for purpose and utility. From that we need to learn how to forget the words.

When one experiences truth it is so profound that it is inexpressible, so vast that no word can contain it. Words are small things; they have a certain utility, but they have limitations. And truth has no limitations; it is vaster than the sky. Truth means the whole existence.

When you disappear into the whole you know it. Saying that you know it is not accurate; rather, you feel it. Or, to be even more accurate, you become it. When you have become the whole it is impossible to say it. And truths need to be said; they have an intrinsic quality that they have to be shared.

Hence words are only hypothetical; they can be used, but one should not believe in them. They should be used as stepping-stones. Ultimately they are all lies; at the most, approximate reflections, but a reflection is a lie. The moon in the sky and the moon reflected in the lake are not the same. The face in the mirror is not really your face; it is just an illusion. There is nothing in the mirror.

But small children become very concerned about the face in the mirror – their own face. When a small child is put before a mirror for the first time, he thinks he is seeing somebody sitting in front of him. He tries to catch hold of the child. If he cannot – and certainly he cannot catch hold of the child – he tries to go behind the mirror. Maybe the child is hiding behind.

And this is the situation of people who believe in words. But in a way the mirror is useful. By saying that the reflection is a lie I am not saying that it is of no use. If you understand, it says something about the truth; not the truth itself – it indicates. A finger pointing to the moon is not the moon, but it has tremendous utility: it can point to the moon. If you become too obsessed with the finger, that is your fault, not the fault of the finger. If you forget the finger – and you have to forget it if you want to see the moon – then the finger has served its purpose.

Even lies can help you to reach the truth; otherwise buddhas would not have spoken at all. Unless lies can help you in some way to reach to the truth, words would not have been used at all. No Bible, no Koran, no Gita, no Dhammapada, would have existed.

Learning from the story Language Of Silence: Experience The Truth

Experience Learning

When Buddha became enlightened, he remained silent for seven days, thinking, “What is the use of saying things to people which cannot be said? – And even if you say them, which are bound to be misunderstood? Moreover, if somebody is capable of understanding your words, he is bound to be capable of finding truth on his own.”

The story says the gods from heaven then descended. They touched the feet of Buddha and they prayed to him that he should speak.

Buddha said, “For what? Ninety-nine percent of people are not going to understand at all. One percent may perhaps be able to understand, but that one percent who can understand through words will be able to find the truth even if I don’t say anything about it at all. So what is the point of saying it?”

The gods were puzzled. The logic was right, but still something was wrong, because in the ancient days other buddhas had spoken. Then they conferred together to find out how to argue with Buddha. And they found a way. It is good that they could find a way; otherwise we would have missed these tremendously significant messages of Buddha.

They came back and they said, “You are right; the majority will never understand. And there are a few people who will reach the truth even if you don’t say anything. But can’t you imagine that there are a few who are in between these two groups, just on the boundary line? If you speak, that will give them a challenge, inspiration. If you don’t speak they may be lost. Speak for those few who are just on the borderlands, who can be lost without your words and who can find the light with the help of your words.”

You are right: all words are lies, because when you experience you cannot put it into words. How to put love into words? And love is not a very rare experience. How to put beauty into words? Has any poet succeeded yet? Only the fools think that they have succeeded. The greater the poet, the more he is aware of his failure. Has any painter been able to paint the beauty that he experiences? No great painter is ever satisfied. A tremendous discontent follows him like a shadow his whole life. It haunts him. He goes on trying again and again and again; his whole life is a long failure, a tragedy. His great paintings are great for us, but he knows that he has failed. They are great for us because we don’t know what beauty is. If those great paintings had not been there, we would not have been aware of many things.

It is said that if all the paintings of the world disappear, you will not be able to see the beauty of a sunset. You will not be able to see the beauty of a rose flower. You will not be able to see the beauty of a bird on the wing. You have become able to see it because painters for centuries have been preparing the right context to see it. But ask the painters themselves. Ask a Van Gogh or a Rabindranath Tagore or Nandlal Bose, and they will say that they have failed. What they had seen was something totally different. It was so alive, so pulsating! And the painting is dead; it is nothing but canvas and color. How can you put a sunset on the canvas? It will be a still life and the sunset – the real sunset – is dynamic, it is moving, it is changing moment to moment. Your painting will be just a framed phenomenon – and the sunset has no frame to it.