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Silence: How to Find Inner Peace in a Busy World
Silence: It is a precious commodity that even the most successful of us may not have. As we work to ensure our status in the world, it is easy to forget that we are not merely physical creatures. The state of our spiritual health can be easily tested. When the noise of the world dies away and we are left with ourselves, we get a pretty clear indication of the true extent of our inner peace. In Silence, author Christina Feldman charts a four-part course to accessing and sustaining this nurturing state—even in the midst of our busy lives. She writes, "We can learn to find it in all moments and all things; we discover that it has never been lost only hidden. With over 230 color photographs and a striking contemporary design, Silence is a calming book to look at, to read, and—most important—to use.
- GenresBuddhism
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2001
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May 14, 2012“Silence” is an unusual book for a Buddhist. For one thing, it’s gorgeous — there are 230 photos and as many pages of photos as there are pages of text; it’s beautifully designed and produced, with sharp, well-reproduced photos and heavyweight, shiny paper. It looks at first to be more of a coffee table book, to be leafed through and admired, than a serious text.
You could, in fact, get a lot out of it simply by paging through, reading the captions and contemplating the photographs of clouds, landscapes, details of nature. But you would lose a lot by skipping the text.
Christina Feldman is a Buddhist teacher, but this book presents a broad view of the spiritual path, noting many common elements among the sages and mystics of wisdom traditions. The journey into silence — in pilgrimages, walkabouts, retreats, monasteries — is a path to individual transformation that can lead to societal transformation, she writes.
Silence is the home of compassion, of kindness, awareness, acceptance, calmness. In silence, she writes, we come face to face with our criticisms, judgments, preconceptions, and fears. We learn to connect with the present and find equanimity.
But silence is becoming an elusive quality in modern society. In this book, Feldman lays out ways to cultivate silence or stillness (she uses the terms interchangeably). While she honors all spiritual traditions, her path is Buddhist. That’s not surprising as Feldman’s bio says she’s trained in Tibetan, Mahayana, and Theravada Buddhist traditions since 1970, and has been teaching meditation throughout the world since 1974.
Feldman starts with a history of silence and its role in spiritual journeys. She begins to head down the Buddhist path when she identifies thoughts as noise that disturb the silence. “As long as we view silence as the opposite of sound we will always feel intruded upon and assaulted by life,” she writes.
Along with history and philosophy, Feldman offers practices — essentially, meditation techniques — to help the reader create “sanctuaries of silence.” Buddhist teachings permeate the work — mindfulness of body, concentration, non-duality, impermanence, non-self, and emptiness, the three poisons, the eight vicissitudes — but without being identified with Buddhist labels. If you know Buddhism, you’ll recognize it here. Her writing offers a blend of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism simply as wisdom.
One of the things I really like about this book is that there’s an entire section devoted to the fruition of the practices — enlightenment and beyond. Often books and teachers talk about the work you have to do to become enlightened but not what the result of that would be. “Enlightenment does not divorce us from the world but teaches us to engage with it with the compassion and care it so desperately needs,” she writes.
Feldman’s final chapter describes how throughout time awakened, liberated sages and mystics have come back from their internal journeys to engage with and help the world, essentially the bodhisattva path.
Feldman doesn’t shy away from the dark side of silence, noting the damage silence has done to victims of abuse and others who too intimidated to speak up. She doesn’t present the path as easy or quick. She makes it explicitly clear that while she is describing a common path, the journey is a personal one, and each person’s process of awakening will be different.
Feldman’s writing can be pedestrian at times when she’s speaking about philosophy, but that works when she’s describing the meditation process and its simplicity and clarity makes it easy to follow. Her vast array of sources from various traditions could be confusing for someone on a specific path or looking for a particular authority, but I found it fascinating. I wouldn’t recommend that book to someone who wants to learn about Buddhism. I would give it as a gift, though, to friends who have a grounding in a tradition and are open to other perspectives on the path.
You could, in fact, get a lot out of it simply by paging through, reading the captions and contemplating the photographs of clouds, landscapes, details of nature. But you would lose a lot by skipping the text.
Christina Feldman is a Buddhist teacher, but this book presents a broad view of the spiritual path, noting many common elements among the sages and mystics of wisdom traditions. The journey into silence — in pilgrimages, walkabouts, retreats, monasteries — is a path to individual transformation that can lead to societal transformation, she writes.
Silence is the home of compassion, of kindness, awareness, acceptance, calmness. In silence, she writes, we come face to face with our criticisms, judgments, preconceptions, and fears. We learn to connect with the present and find equanimity.
But silence is becoming an elusive quality in modern society. In this book, Feldman lays out ways to cultivate silence or stillness (she uses the terms interchangeably). While she honors all spiritual traditions, her path is Buddhist. That’s not surprising as Feldman’s bio says she’s trained in Tibetan, Mahayana, and Theravada Buddhist traditions since 1970, and has been teaching meditation throughout the world since 1974.
Feldman starts with a history of silence and its role in spiritual journeys. She begins to head down the Buddhist path when she identifies thoughts as noise that disturb the silence. “As long as we view silence as the opposite of sound we will always feel intruded upon and assaulted by life,” she writes.
Along with history and philosophy, Feldman offers practices — essentially, meditation techniques — to help the reader create “sanctuaries of silence.” Buddhist teachings permeate the work — mindfulness of body, concentration, non-duality, impermanence, non-self, and emptiness, the three poisons, the eight vicissitudes — but without being identified with Buddhist labels. If you know Buddhism, you’ll recognize it here. Her writing offers a blend of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism simply as wisdom.
One of the things I really like about this book is that there’s an entire section devoted to the fruition of the practices — enlightenment and beyond. Often books and teachers talk about the work you have to do to become enlightened but not what the result of that would be. “Enlightenment does not divorce us from the world but teaches us to engage with it with the compassion and care it so desperately needs,” she writes.
Feldman’s final chapter describes how throughout time awakened, liberated sages and mystics have come back from their internal journeys to engage with and help the world, essentially the bodhisattva path.
Feldman doesn’t shy away from the dark side of silence, noting the damage silence has done to victims of abuse and others who too intimidated to speak up. She doesn’t present the path as easy or quick. She makes it explicitly clear that while she is describing a common path, the journey is a personal one, and each person’s process of awakening will be different.
Feldman’s writing can be pedestrian at times when she’s speaking about philosophy, but that works when she’s describing the meditation process and its simplicity and clarity makes it easy to follow. Her vast array of sources from various traditions could be confusing for someone on a specific path or looking for a particular authority, but I found it fascinating. I wouldn’t recommend that book to someone who wants to learn about Buddhism. I would give it as a gift, though, to friends who have a grounding in a tradition and are open to other perspectives on the path.
October 2, 2010
Like most people, I crave serenity. I dream of a quiet place where no one is needs my attention and everything is in its place. I can catch my breath and commune with something far greater than myself. My reality, of course, is quite different. More like the definition of chaos. It is not surprizing then that my favourite icon is the calm, peaceful (smiling) individual amongst absolute chaos.
Silence looks at exactly that scenario- creating peace while living in the real world. Taking a moment and enjoying the gaps we do get. Experiencing the moments fully. Being. Breathing. Allowing. You really don’t have to go to a mountain or ashram. Silence has much more to do with inner calm than the absence of sound.
Silence is a beautiful coffee table book. The wonderful pictures show a wide variety of scenes that could define silence. As expected, there are a variety of amazing scenes. Surprisingly though, my favourites were of people just going about their daily life. Food for thought.
Silence looks at exactly that scenario- creating peace while living in the real world. Taking a moment and enjoying the gaps we do get. Experiencing the moments fully. Being. Breathing. Allowing. You really don’t have to go to a mountain or ashram. Silence has much more to do with inner calm than the absence of sound.
Silence is a beautiful coffee table book. The wonderful pictures show a wide variety of scenes that could define silence. As expected, there are a variety of amazing scenes. Surprisingly though, my favourites were of people just going about their daily life. Food for thought.
November 21, 2024
Pictures are awesome.
March 8, 2016
I read this book years ago during a time of meditation and contemplation to ease a stressful time. It is in my library and I like to return to it on a regular basis. It is one I recommend to others needing a calming read. Similar to Wendell Berry, Thomas Merton, and that sort of writer.
March 5, 2012
Great book, great photos. How do we find the Silence within.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews