This week, Guo Gu explains the term “silent illumination,” a principle we can use to guide us in meditation both when we are scattered and when in perfect concentration. Silent illumination is actually one way to express a Chan (Jp., Zen) concept of awakening. Silence is in the intrinsic freedom within us and our inherent selflessness. Illumination is the function of this wisdom of our lack of a core self. Guo Gu suggests that our “no-self”—and the Buddhist truth of emptiness—is actually our connections with others. 

Sometimes people start to have a pessimistic, nihilistic understanding of [no-self and emptiness]. Actually, emptiness and no-self just mean relationships. We exist because of everyone else. Everything about us, our thoughts, feelings, our knowledge, our intellect, our ability to think, comes together because of our connection with others. 

Silent illumination can also be understood as a simultaneous practice of shamatha and vipassana: stillness and awareness, or wakefulness and insight. Summing up the teachings of these last four weeks, Guo Gu invites us to reflect on what we’ve learned about progressive relaxation, working with the breath, direct contemplation, and learning to bracket our words, language, and discrimination to experience things as they are as much as possible, and move toward the clarity that comes from embodying silent illumination. 

Download a transcript of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.

  • Missed Guo Gu’s live call on Friday? Watch a replay here.

More meditation material to support your practice:

  • Pleasure is something we might shy away from, or be told outright not to seek in Buddhist practice. But teacher Peter Doobinin writes that the Buddha often taught about pleasure when instructing on breath meditation. 
  • Discipline is the way—through skill and carefulness—that we align our actions with our fundamental dignity, writes Tibetan teacher Phakchok Rinpoche. 
  • As the momentum of our practice grows, there may be more space between thoughts and more awareness of whatever is arising in our bodies, our minds, or in the external environment, writes Joseph Goldstein

This week’s Meditation Month articles:

Sign up for Meditation Month!

* indicates required

Tricycle Foundation will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Please let us know all the ways you would like to hear from us:

You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at tricycle@tricycle.org. We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here.

Thank you for subscribing to Tricycle! As a nonprofit, to keep Buddhist teachings and practices widely available.

This article is only for Subscribers!

Subscribe now to read this article and get immediate access to everything else.

Subscribe Now

Already a subscriber? .