Why are people afraid of silence these days?

Thay answers questions on 21 June 2014. Question 4

(Half bell)

(Bell)

(French) I think that nowadays there are
many people who are afraid of silence,

or do not like silence.

They turn on music or the TV
during the day.

I wonder whether that means they are
afraid to be with themselves?

(English) I have the impression that
nowadays there are many people

who are afraid of silence.

They prefer to put on
some music or television

or something to occupy the space.

She wants to know:

Is it because they are afraid
to be with themselves?

There may be a feeling of emptiness,

of isolation, of sorrow
of restlessness in us.

And when there is silence these things...

appear very clearly:

the vacuum, the worry,

the restlessness, the lack of love.

You feel empty.

There is no happiness.
There is no feeling of fulfillment.

And many people in the world
have that kind of feeling:

It is empty inside,
there is no love, no happiness.

We feel we lack something.

And there is sorrow,
there is fear, there is anger in us.

And when there is silence
all these things appear very clearly.

They are always there!

That is why many of us...

try to consume in order to forget.

Suppose you have some worry,
you have some restlessness in yourself.

And...

you are not capable of handling...

that feeling of loneliness
and restlessness.

So you go and open the refrigerator
and find something to eat.

But you know that you are not hungry,
you do not need to eat.

You eat because you want to cover up

the feeling of loneliness,
restlessness in you.

And you get fat after eating so much.

(Laughs)

Or you play music,
or you turn on television,

or you pick up a newspaper.

And that is what people in the world do
when they feel empty in themselves.

That is the collective disease of
human beings in our civilization.

So the market place provides us
with every kind of means

in order for us to try and
forget the suffering inside,

the loneliness inside.

And among these items they sell for us
to use in order to cover up the suffering

there are many things that
have toxins and poisons.

And if we consume them,
we get more loneliness,

we get more anger...

and despair.

Because many of the things
we read in books and magazines,

many kinds of things we see on television
or we get from the internet,

give us more despair, more anger.

So the situation becomes more
and more serious every day,

because of our
non-mindful consumption.

And that is why we need to practice
the fifth mindfulness training,

about right consumption.

We have to learn how
to generate joy and happiness

with the practice of mindfulness,
mindful breathing, mindful walking.

We have to learn how
to generate peace

so that we have something
good inside to be with.

And in these moments
silence will only help us

to taste and enjoy more
the feeling of joy and happiness

that we have generated by our practice.

Suppose I sit here and
I pay attention to the sunshine outside,

the beautiful trees outside,

the grass and little flowers
that are springing up everywhere.

It is beautiful outside!
It is summer!

And our planet is so beautiful.

And many of us do not have the capacity

to get in touch with these wonders
of life in us and around us,

because we do not know
the practice of mindfulness

to bring our mind home
to the here and the now

and to get in touch with these
nourishing and healing elements

that can bring us joy and happiness.

So we do not have these
beautiful things in us.

We have only the negative things
like anger, loneliness and so on.

It is possible to sit on the grass,
to breathe and to be happy.

And then you can hear
the sound of the birds,

and the music of the wind
playing in the trees.

And these are very
nourishing and healing.

And not many people
know how to do that.

So the practice of mindfulness
helps us to nourish us, to heal us.

And then...

When there is a painful feeling
arising inside of us

and we know the practice of mindfulness,

we do not have to go out and buy something
and consume in order to forget.

In fact, we know how to recognize
the painful feeling, the painful emotion.

We know how to hold it tenderly,
how to understand it.

And we can begin to transform it
into something more positive.

We can transform the garbage into flower.

And that is why you have to practice.

So in order to deal with
the collective suffering in society,

we have to learn
the practice of mindfulness.

We want to take care of our body,
of our feelings, of our emotions.

And the practice of
mindfulness helps us to do so.

The practice of mindfulness
can help bring a feeling of joy

a feeling of happiness.

The practice can help us handle
a painful feeling, a painful emotion.

And we can generate love
and understanding in us.

And we get the feeling
of fulfillment.

And we become a source of joy
and happiness for other people,

for our beloved ones,

because we have so many things to offer.

And sitting close to us they will
feel peaceful and happy,

because we have
the feeling of fulfillment,

compassion and happiness in us.

And...

during the practice we need silence,

because that silence helps us
to come back to ourselves

and to get in touch with
our breathing, with our body

with our happiness, with our suffering,

so that we can take care
of ourselves, body and mind.

And when we can produce
the feeling of happiness and peace,

we can help the others to do the same.

We can offer the energy of
joy, mindfulness, compassion

and help him or her to suffer less,

and help him or her to...

to generate the feeling of joy
and happiness in him or in her.

So that kind of silence
is very fruitful, is very...

is very active,
is very eloquent.

It is not the kind of silence
that represses you.

It is a kind of noble silence.

In Buddhism we call this silence
'The Thundering Silence'.

It is very eloquent.
It is very full of energy.

Like in the meditation hall,

if...

if 900 people know how to
practice mindful breathing in and out

and how to generate the energy
of mindfulness and peace,

that silence is very powerful,
very healing, very nourishing.

It does not oppress you.

That is called 'Thundering Silence'.

And with that silence the children
are happy, adults are happy.

If everyone is angry or anxious
and they sit together,

they create a collective anxiety,
a collective anger.

That silence is very negative.

We cannot bear that kind of silence.

It kills us.

But when we know how to
sit together and breathe together

and generate the energy of
peace, relaxation and joy,

that collective energy of silence
is very healing, very nourishing.

And therefore we have to learn
how to generate that kind of silence

in our family, in our classroom,
in Congress, in the town hall.

If you are a schoolteacher
you should know how to

generate that kind
of silence in your class.

If you have a household,
you should know how to

bring that kind of
silence into your family

to nourish you and your children
and others.

If you are the chairman
of the National Assembly,

you can propose that kind of practice
in order to generate that kind of silence.

When I was in India, I visited
the president of the National Assembly.

I proposed him

the practice of listening to the bell,
breathing and smiling, in Congress.

You start a session by mindful
breathing and listening to the bell.

And every time the discussion gets hot

and people are not capable of
listening to each other anymore,

then you can invite the bell.

And the whole assembly will
stop talking, stop listening

and practice mindful breathing
to calm themselves down.

Mister Narayanan,

who was chairperson
of the Indian National Assembly

was very excited about that.

And he tried to bring
that practice into Congress.

So ten days later, when I was
conducting a retreat in Chennai,

someone brought me a newspaper.

There was an article saying that
Mr. Narayanan had formed a committee,

taking care of that kind
of practice in Congress.

And he asked the former prime minister
to be chairman of that committee,

named 'Committee for Ethics
in the National Assembly'.

And we don't know how far
they have gone in the practice.

But very soon, he became
the president of India.

So he could no longer be with the assembly
in order to continue the practice.

If you are a member
of a National Assembly,

you may try to (laughs)

to persuade the spokesman, the spokeswoman
of the House, of the Senate to do the same.

This is the practice.

And in fact if you are
a schoolteacher,

if you are a director of a business,

if you are chief of an enterprise,

if you are a head of a family,
if you are...

if you are the Mayor,

you can very well create
that kind of silence where you work.

And it will nourish you
and your colleagues.

So it depends on
the kind of silence we create.

(Half bell)

(Bell)