In Silence the Universe Beckons

On Cold Mountain spring water runs clear
Moonlight turns everything white
Alone, thoughts turn empty
The world still, silence moves inside.
- Han Shan (aka Cold Mountain), 9th Century T’ang Dynasty. Zen Mountain Journal interpretation

Reflection

Silence thoughts, invite emptiness
And the universe beckons.

Spend time alone in nature and after a while a strange sense of internal quiet takes over. It is very mysterious. The silence inside starts to dominate. A lot of it has to do with the absence of talk. That part of the mind that determines speech relaxes into disuse and is taken over by a kind of emptiness that is deeply peaceful. You don’t notice it at first because you are so deep inside it, but then, all of the sudden, comes the realization that the pre-verbal soup you’ve relaxed into brings a very wonderful and deep sense of internal calm.

If you decide to go on such a journey though, and haven’t done it before, be prepared for a rough two or three days. The mind, formerly engaged in a constant search for things to worry about, for threats, now has nothing to focus on and the result can be a kind of internal anger. A friend of mine who facilitates silent retreats describes it as your internal world settling unfinished business.

Han Shan’s poems (also known as Cold Mountain) became a primary influence on both the Taoist hermit tradition and early Chan (Zen) poetry. He wrote about his solitary life in the mountains, about silence and moonlight.

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Journaling question to consider

• How much planning and thought to you put into your downtime, your recuperation and recovery time?