The Perfume of Silence #1 New

On Questions and Answers

• A question emerges from a feeling of “I don’t know” – an openness at the level of the mind expressed through concepts
• The true essence of a question is the openness from which it originates
• The purpose of an answer is not to perpetuate conceptual thinking but to put an end to the question
• The answer “undresses” the question and returns us to naked openness
• The openness before the question and after the answer are the same, but after the answer there is a cessation of agitation

On Understanding and Consciousness

• We don’t understand what is said – we are that understanding
• The true content of both question and answer is openness
• There is not a separate consciousness for each mind – there is only one hearer, one seer, one perceiver
• The apparatus of mind doesn’t see anything by itself, just as a telescope is useless without an astronomer
• While consciousness appears to have limitations, this is merely an interpretation, not actual experience

On Meditation and Practice

• Meditation means surrendering the mind, body, and world from moment to moment to the silent presence
• Meditation is not an effort – it’s being present without intention
• The best posture for meditation is the one that makes the body as transparent and inconspicuous as possible
• The biggest obstacle is thinking the natural state is necessarily pleasurable
• Don’t try to retain or recall experiences – what remains is the perfume that can never be forgotten

On Identity and the Self

• The belief that you are in your body is simply an interpretation of actual experience
• We never actually experience the body as we conceive of it – we experience sensations
• Our real body includes the mind and the entire universe
• You cannot find yourself as an object, whether profane, sacred, gross, or subtle
• The mind cannot know what you are – it only knows what you are not

On Truth and Understanding

• All theories are limited and provisional – use what works for the circumstance
• The materialist interpretation of reality is a failure in terms of happiness
• The most secure basis is one in which there is no interpretation
• The desire for truth comes from truth itself
• Live with your desire for truth and let it be your guide

Final Wisdom

• You are the love in everything you love
• You are the beauty in everything you behold
• You are the intelligence in everything you understand
• You are the sweetness in all things
• Live with this understanding and let the understanding do the work