Another way to enter the inner refuge of your true nature is through the door of speech. You can explore this door too through reflection and meditation. Begin by thinking of all the effort you have expended in your life on speaking, voicing your opinion, being heard, being acknowledged. Conversely, think of the effort you have made to silence yourself in order to avoid feeling embarrassment or shame. Consider the energy you have expended in gossiping, blaming, and criticizing yourself or others. Can you allow all this effort to release? Can you give your voice permission to rest? Recognize this opportunity to rest in silence as a gift. Receive it fully in this moment.

The door of the silence of speech brings you to awareness of being, awareness that is fresh, uncontrived, and illuminating. You enter this door by listening to the silence, then hearing it, then feeling it, and then becoming the silence. Begin by being quiet and listening to the silence. Notice your tendency to follow sound, including the sound of your own inner dialogue. As you shift your attention to the silence, it will support you in releasing your reactivity to inner and outer sound. Let silence support you in releasing the tendency to talk to yourself, to comment on and describe and categorize your experience. Release the tendency to criticize or judge. As you rest in silence, the energy that goes into reactivity is released and becomes available for more creative use. Silence is like an ocean, deep and vast. Sounds are the waves, currents, and ripples in the ocean. Can you rest in the ocean of silence, letting the sounds within and around you just be?

Excerpt From
Spontaneous Creativity
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
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