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Wind in the cave:
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.
In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth, but this makes the sound on one's own heartbeat and breath audible. In the same way, contemplative stillness turns us away from everyday clamor but allows us to hear the subtle in our own lives.
When listening ot with the ear but with the spirit, one can perceive the subtle sound. By entering into that sound, we center into supreme purity. That is why so many religious traditions pray, sing, or chant as a prelude to silence. They understand that the repetition and absorption of sound leads to sacredness itself.
The deepest sound is silence. This may seem paradoxical only if we regard silence as an absence of life and vibration. But for a meditator, silence is sound unified with all of its opposites. It is both sound and soundlessness, and it is in this confluence that the power of meditation emerges.
sound
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
dedication to Donald Adams and his life's work (Tao)
Sage's Contemplation of Water
Anonymous
Choson Dynasty, 16th to 17th century
Gold pigment on silk
27.2 cm x 22.8 cm
This anonymous painting is from an
album of 16 leaves, which includes eight landscapes and eight bird pictures,
all skillfully painted with gold powder on black silk. A solitary scholar
leaning against a boulder is immersed in thought as he watches a stream
flowing in the valley below. The focus of attention is on the scholar,
who appears prominently in the foreground in a style typical of the Zhe
School of Ming China and subsequently followed by Korean painters of the
mid-Choson period.
Among other favorite themes were
scholars in retirement enjoying hobbies such as watching waterfalls, strumming
zithers, playing go, or riding horses and donkeys.
The skillful application of gold
in this particular painting evokes a remarkably serene and sophisticated
mood.