聖なる沈黙
Sacred silence
2023-07-14 18:00:00
When I was young, I came across a passage in a book about Buddhism that went something like this. In summary:
The (Shakyamuni) Buddha mentioned two appropriate actions for practitioners when they gather.
'One is to discuss the Dharma. The other is to engage in sacred silence.'
This teaching.
I can understand the first point. For practitioners, it is natural to discuss the Dharma with each other. The issue lies with the second statement.
'Why is it "sacred silence" and not just "silence"?'
I did not fully understand the meaning of 'sacred' in this context.
Later, I learned that there is a Buddhist term 'sacred punishment' which includes the crown word as 'sacred'. This term is based on the following anecdote.
'Just before the Buddha’s passing, Ananda asked how to deal with the troublesome Channa, and the instruction was given to impose a sacred punishment. This meant that while Channa could speak to other practitioners, none of them were to respond to him. This directive was to be communicated to Channa after the Buddha’s passing. When the Buddha passed away, the monks informed Channa of the sacred punishment. Upon hearing this, Channa fainted but later changed his ways, diligently practiced, and eventually attained enlightenment.'
Knowing this, I thought that the term 'sacred silence' might refer to this type of action among practitioners.
In other words,
'Wishing to benefit the other person by deliberately maintaining silence, even though you would like to respond to them.'
This is what I thought 'sacred silence' might refer to.
However, this was merely a tentative understanding of sacred silence, and there was nothing more to say about it.
Then, when I encountered an opportunity for enlightenment — that is, when I heard the rare words of the Dharma — I witnessed the virtuous friend (a manifestation) who uttered those rare words practicing sacred silence. Immediately after, rare words of the Dharma were spoken by him.
At this point, why did I immediately recognize the words of the Dharma as such when I heard them? It was because the sacred silence he maintained before speaking was exactly the same as the sacred silence I had always imagined.
In other words, witnessing the sacred silence of the virtuous friend (a manifestation) allowed me to pay closer attention to him, and as a result, I did not miss the words of the Dharma that were spoken immediately afterward.
In this sense, it can be said that practitioners should regularly practice sacred silence and have a deep understanding of it.
In other words, it can be thought that the Buddha included sacred silence as one of the appropriate practices for gatherings of practitioners because he knew it would be beneficial when the opportunity for enlightenment arose.
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