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Inner Silence and the Five Faculities

I'll continue with the talk I was thinking about giving, and that's been on my mind for a few days, and the topic is the five faculties^[1]. But as an introduction to the five faculties, I want to read a story from my little book, The Monastery Within. The title is "Noise and Silence."

The monastery work leader always appeared peaceful. This was not so unusual among the monks and nuns of the monastery. He was unique, however, in that he remained peaceful and calm even when the monastery was at its busiest. For example, when large crowds of people visited to celebrate the Buddha's birthday. If a person was needed to visit the hustle and bustle of the local market town, this was the monk the monastery usually sent.

When asked how he managed to remain peaceful, he said, "I entered the monastery for peace and quiet. I spent years in the harried world of commerce and people. I longed for the silence the monastery was rumored to have. I was delighted with my first weeks in the monastery. The silence was exquisite.

"However, as I settled into the silence of the place, I was shocked to learn how noisy my own mind was. The real noise was within. It was the busyness of my own mind that oppressed me, not the noise and activity of the world. Now it doesn't matter where I go, I carry the silence with me."

The noise of the mind is all the thinking that goes on, the swirl of thoughts and images that go on in the mind. When those are strong and we are somehow obsessed with it or swept away in those thoughts and concerns, it's almost like losing our life. And when we stop being obsessed and swept along by the current of thinking, it's kind of like getting our life back. For some people, meditation is maybe one of the primary places where they get their life back, because in meditation, the mind quiets. There, we learn to let go of our preoccupation with thoughts or being pulled away in them, and the mind starts to become quieter and stiller. It doesn't necessarily mean that thoughts have to go away, but that it feels like there's silence. It feels like there is a peace there as well. The idea of silence in meditation is the reference point for how I want to teach today about the five faculties.

The background for this talk is the idea that before the Buddha was awakened, he went and studied with two spiritual teachers of his time. They were meditation teachers, or their access to the truth they were teaching was through meditation. First, he learned the teachings of these teachers, and he learned them well. Together with others who had learned those teachings, he mastered them. He assumed—and this is an amazing story—he assumed that he now knew and saw what was true. But actually, he didn't. He just learned the teachings. Sometimes teachings can be so compelling and enlightening that people confuse a cognitive understanding of this life with this deeper life that has to do with a kind of a more silent knowing, a silent seeing of what's happening here.

He went to those teachers and he said, "How do I have access to really know and see what you're teaching?" And so they taught him the kind of meditation practice they were teaching. Both of them were kind of meditation practices where you really disappear from this world of senses and experience. One of them is a meditative state of nothingness where you dip into a place of tremendous absence; nothing is there, just absence. The second one went a little bit further along, where even the perception of absence disappears. It is so rarefied, so simple, lacking input on the mind. The mind is very, very still and peaceful. But the Buddha thought, "This is not freedom."

Then he had a realization or a self-reflection that he had five qualities that he could rely on to find his way. He had confidence, he had courage, he had the capacity to bring attention to his experience, he had the ability to be centered in his experience, and he had the ability to be discerning—to see clearly what's going on and differentiate between what's happening. These are my translations for today for the five faculties, usually translated as faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.

Now, faith—because sometimes it is assumed to be a kind of faith in something, like in teachings or a teacher—this is not what the Buddha had faith in at this point. Rather, he had confidence in himself. He was able then to go to meditate and call on this confidence. He didn't know what the truth was. He didn't know what liberation was yet. He just knew that that's what he was pursuing. Not knowing where this is going, not having a teacher to accompany him on the path or point out the pitfalls to keep him on track, he was on his own. So it took courage—not just energy, but real courage.

And then certainly it took mindfulness, but probably it took a real sense of presence with all the attentional faculties that he had to engage attentively with what's happening. The concentration part was to be centered, to be one-pointed or one-centered, really here. And then to be discerning.

Each of these five could be seen in why I started with this little teaching about silence. One reference point for understanding how to evoke these and have them support meditation practice is to evoke them in such a way that they help the mind become silent, to quiet the mind. So this confidence—or faith—is not to stir us up with beliefs, ideas, and thoughts about what we have confidence in. Rather, it is a kind of embodied confidence which allows the anxious mind, the planning mind, the confused mind, and the obsessed mind to quiet down. Almost as if the thinking is not really needed much; what's needed is for the mind to become still and silent. Silent from its chatter, silent from its inner noise that spins around.

So, call on a confidence to sit here and become still and quiet. And have the courage to do so. The pull and the authority of our concerns—the things we're anxious about, the things that we're resentful for, the things that we want, the thoughts about "me, myself, and mine"—these have a lot of authority. People are often quite ready to defend how important they are and think, "How can I be safe? How can I find my way in my life unless I engage in these authoritative kinds of thoughts?" Which, if we engage with them, are just more noise. To have the courage, at least in meditation, to not pursue a career, not pursue and fix a relationship, not to be worried about the future, not to be caught up in what's happened in the past. All those things are appropriate at times; there's a time and a season for thinking about the future, the past, our desires, the problems we have in our life. But it takes a kind of courage to not succumb to them, to not get sucked into them. It takes courage to really sit and say, "Okay, now is a time to be here, silent and still."

Then attentiveness, to do so with attention—an attentiveness that partakes of the silence. It's not an attentiveness that is thinking about what's happening. Some people confuse mindfulness with thoughtfulness, a kind of thinking about what's happening in the present moment. But a silent attentiveness is to enter into the silence that is not the lack of sounds, but rather an ability to be more attuned, more sensitive, to take in all the data that's happening.

And then the support that being centered in our experience gives to being silent. The ability to be within the middle of our experience and find a place of center. It could be the object of concentration, the belly as it moves, the sensations of the breathing someplace in the body, or the tip of the nose. It isn't so much that we're focusing, like from a control tower, onto this singular place of attention. It's more like we're composing ourselves on it—a composure, a centeredness. Some people like the word "grounded" in this. From this composure, groundedness, and centeredness comes an embodied experience where all of us is here, present.

Then this discernment and wisdom faculty operates in the service of silence, in the service of differentiating and seeing, "Oh, now I'm getting obsessed with thoughts. Now I'm involved with the noise and contributing to the agitation of the mind. What is it like if I turn my attention and keep it in the realm of what's quieting and stilling?" A part of the function of wisdom is to see, discern, and work with the other four faculties.

One way of understanding these five faculties is that they are not separate from each other. It isn't like five separate capacities, but rather, when what we're doing is a silent attentiveness, they are actually five facets of the same jewel—the jewel of stillness, the jewel of silence, the jewel of peace.

So it's possible in meditation to go through a kind of checklist and check in with oneself: "Where is my confidence?" And to evoke it if necessary. But don't evoke it with thoughts and ideas. Where is there an embodied feeling of confidence that allows something to be still and quiet? Embodied feelings are not thoughts, and so they don't partake of the world of chatter or noise. Feel the silent quality of embodiment, an embodied sense of confidence, maybe a strength that's there.

And then the embodied quality of courage. Not talking yourself into being courageous or being strong in your dedication, but a courage to allow yourself to be still, to allow yourself to be silent. This probably takes a lot of courage because sometimes the concerns that we have are important. Sometimes they have tremendous power and strength themselves—so much so that if we try to sit still and quiet, we might get very restless, anxious, or angry. All kinds of things can happen because we're meeting and confronting these deep operating systems or conditioning that sometimes have been formed over a difficult lifetime. But what is the courage that allows us to sit still and quiet? I love the fact that courage comes from the French word cœur (heart). Maybe courage comes with compassion, with heartfeltness, with care.

And then attentiveness. What is the attention that has a chance to shine when we're still and quiet? If we're not distracted by thoughts, if we're not busy talking to ourselves, how would attention appear? It's kind of like if the curtains have been pulled, we don't see outside. But if we pull back the curtains, what do we see? How has the weather changed, and what do we notice?

This silent attentiveness is the attention that is left when the mind is silent. Rather than being something that we have to apply and do—"do the mindfulness"—it's more of an allowing of that natural attentiveness. Whatever the attentiveness is for you at any given time, when the mind is allowed to be quiet enough, still enough, and receptive enough, the attentiveness just surfaces and is there. It's very hard not to be attentive, not to be aware, not to know what's happening if the mind is quiet, still, and alert. That's why the courage, strength, and confidence bring that alertness.

Then the centeredness provides stability and steadiness. What is the steadiness, stability, centeredness, or groundedness that you can feel your way to when the mind starts becoming quiet and still?

And then the discernment. Recognizing, keeping the attention, and noticing these things. Going through the checklist and saying, "Oh, here's my confidence. Here's my courage or my strength. Here is my attentiveness. Here is stability, steadiness, centeredness. And here is the discernment, the understanding, the seeing clearly." Perhaps in going through that checklist, rather than thinking of each of them as being separate, they are each part and parcel of this quality of attentiveness. It's all one big package, one thing. It's a jewel that has five sides, and depending on what side you're looking at, you see a different quality. The qualities are not distinct practices, but things that are there when we are stably attentive.

It's kind of like if you've been on a train for a long, long time. You're shaking on the train, and you have to kind of get your balance all the time. Then you come off the train, you're no longer cooped up, you're no longer on this moving vehicle, and you step out onto a train stop in some rural place with open skies and vast fields. You step down, and it's so good to be on solid ground. Maybe that sense of stability, solidness, space, aliveness, and attentiveness is all one thing. We're experiencing it all at once; it isn't like we're developing each one of them by itself.

So, before the Buddha left his teachers—or after he left his teachers—he called on these five qualities that he had to support him in sitting still and quiet. They helped him delve deeply into the realms of freedom, of letting go, of being here, and seeing and knowing clearly what this lived life is. I think of the Buddha's liberation as giving him life. If we get caught up in too many thoughts and preoccupations, we kind of lose our life. In the Dhammapada^[2], it says—to paraphrase it wildly—that to spend too much time distracted and obsessing in thoughts can be as if we're already dead, but to really show up and be attentive is to never die. Something like that.

Guided Meditation

In these last minutes of this talk, what I'd like to do is suggest we do a short, maybe five-minute meditation. I will name each of these five faculties and see if you have any reference point for how each of these faculties—each of these sides of the jewel—can support you to become quiet. A kind of inner silence. It doesn't have to be one hundred percent quiet of thoughts, but a kind of silence that allows the thoughts to be there without you being obsessed.

It might not be that you have direct access today, but to kind of feel in and imagine. Maybe at some point in your life, something happened, or you had some contact with these things that can be a reference point for you about how these five faculties support you in becoming still and quiet.

So if you're comfortable with it, you can close your eyes. And if you are sitting, you might sit up a teeny bit straighter than you are, especially if you're listening casually on the couch or something. Sit up straighter because you want to find a way—this is an embodied practice we're doing here, where the embodiment of these qualities is what supports the silence. If we have to think about them, then maybe we get more noise.

As you exhale for the next three exhales, allow yourself to relax. Alert and relaxed. Settle in, quiet down.

And then to hear these words, the names for each of the faculties, and maybe not think about it so much, but feel your way. Is there some embodied quality, someplace in your body where these qualities live, or some way you associate with bodily feelings that if you center yourself on them, they support more silence and quiet?

So the first is confidence. Is there any confidence already in you? Confidence in your capacity for a few minutes to just sit, to be still, to be quiet.

The second is courage. Is there a courage to show up for what's here? To be present for this experience now, your embodied experience. A courage which is calming, steadying. A courage that helps you become more embodied here and now.

And as you enter into the world of inner silence, stillness, is there a quality or form of attentiveness which is part of that silence? That is part of the stillness. That's not something you do, but something you become attuned to. A quiet, still attentiveness.

And then there's a quality of being centered. Steadiness, stability. Where attention is centered in the midst of your life, the midst of your body. Is there a kind of centering that is part of the stillness, part of the silence, that enhances the silence of now?

And then your ability to notice confidence, courage, attentiveness, centeredness—that is discernment. Maybe a silent recognition, silent attunement.

And maybe these five qualities make up part of the whole experience of sitting here with an inner silence, stillness, and peace.

And then to end this meditation, you can take a few long, slow, deep breaths. Feel your body more fully. And when you're ready, you can open your eyes.

Reflections and Announcements

So thank you.

If you found this interesting, the five faculties—it's one of the foundational teachings about these inner capacities we have that can support meditation. You might find it interesting from time to time to go through them systematically. I've done it sometimes by doing a different one on each breath. First breath: confidence, strength. Next: courage. Attentiveness. Centeredness. And then discernment. Just kind of go through them. There's something about having a little task that is focusing and quieting, and maybe you'll come to appreciate your capacity for inner stillness. It's a stillness you can carry with you wherever you go. It doesn't matter how noisy it is around you because you carry the stillness inside.

So thank you very much for this time.

And then one announcement. I think that probably many of us have been moved by many of the serious difficulties existing in the world right now. I thought it'd be very nice for this YouTube community, and people watching, sharing, and being with these teachings for so long, joining together and practicing together. You know, I often end every meditation—except today—with a dedication of merit, or an expression about the value of allowing the momentum of the meditation to go into living a life that benefits the world around us. So one way that we can do that, if you're interested, is I thought collectively to make donations to help the people of Haiti, a country that has been having challenges for years and years.

The donations will go to Partners In Health, a wonderful non-profit that provides health care in Haiti, and they do it at a grassroots level. They really go out there into the towns, the villages, and work with grassroots medical care teams, nurses, and people to make sure that it goes to the people who need it. They have quite an extensive network in Haiti, so it's a great organization to support. You can certainly go there directly to do it yourself; I think pih.org is the website. Or it would also be nice if you want to do it through IMC. What we're doing Friday, Saturday, and today is that any donation that goes to IMC—whether it's to me, sometimes people make a teacher donation, or it goes to the IMC general fund—we will turn right around and donate it to Partners In Health. All of it will go that way.

The way to make that donation—we don't have a special Haiti button. You just have to go to the donate button, and you'll see different options on the donate page. One of them will say IMC/AudioDharma, and there's a window where you type in how much you want to donate. So that's the place to put it. As I said, if it comes in today, it will go to Haiti, to Partners In Health. I just got delighted by this idea that maybe our community, which has been together for so long over the pandemic, might have a little project like this. So if you'd like, that's available.

And hopefully now we're on track with our internet service here at IMC. I apologize to those of you who found it confusing or difficult to connect today because the internet service provider was down.

So thank you very much.