Sounds of Silence

One constant through out the duration of the seven-day retreat was the requirement to remain silent. There no talking, no cell phones, no radio, TV, email, newspapers, books, writing in a journal, or making blog posts. This rule was in effect for the duration of the retreat, even in the break rooms or at night in the dormitory. Other than the morning, evening, and mealtime chants, the only sound uttered by the participants was some nighttime snoring. One of the benefits of Zen meditation is achieving a better understanding of the self. Minimizing the external distractions aids in turning inward to deal with the internal distractions – the monkey mind. An example of the extent that I had turned inward and shut out external distractions came to light on my fourth day at the retreat. During one of the breaks between sessions I was walking around the building when I noticed a car with a California license plate. Then I noticed the next car and the one after that also had California license plates. My first thought was wondering haw far they drove to come to the retreat. Then I realized that I was in California. It was not that I did not know that I was in California, it was that this fact had not entered into my thinking until then. Being or not being in California had played no part in the retreat. The journey inward was far more important than the journey from Oklahoma to California.