Hi there,
I know there are threads out there already about the Sound of Silence. I've read them and still think there is more claritity to be gained from bringing it up again. I'm particularly interested in if anyone has had conclusive fruition experiences using the nada sound as the primary object of meditation. If so, please explain the method used for observing the nada and the fruition experience itself. Beyond that, I am open conversation and sharing experiences about the sound and trying to dig into whether or not it produces the results we're looking for.
As for me, I'm in my mid-twenties and started meditating about 4 years ago. In 2015 I was doing an intensive two-month retreat in Nepal and started to notice intermittent ringing in my ears. I was interested in the ringing at the time because I remember watching a YouTube Video of some kid saying that this ringing was "angels" delivering messages... whatever. Regardless the sound intruiged me so whenever it showed up I perked up and paid close attention. One night I was just sitting there and then "bloop", all the sudden it was as if the sound wiggled its way through my skull bones and has been continuous every since then. That is if I choose to listen to it.
The sound is always in the background, but as described by Salim in his book, the sounds get grey and dull if it is not given attention. I also find this to be true. When I do give the sound attention, the sound immidiately responds by getting clearer, louder, and then progrossively more subtle and sublime. As Salim recommends in his book, it's the subtle and sublime aspects of the sound that the meditator should relentlessly try and listen to... A lot like kenneth folk listening for ships in the harbor 50 miles away or one hand clapping.
My confusion/apprehension/discussion comes in as one really starts to dig into the sublime aspects of the sound. One of the motto's im currently living by in my meditation is "the sound comes first". What I mean by this is that the sound seems to be leading the charge in insight vs other objects, even when other objects present themselves strongly. To put this another way, the sound does the "dirty work" and brings up my stuff. Particularly it brings up strong sensations in my jaw, right, hand, and solar plexus. But when this happens if I go ahead and think, "Hey Look! my hand is practically on fire, I should investigate", and then I go on to take the hand as the primary object, I will lose the the penetrative insight and start to regress.
And this is what's confusing - I'm listening to the sound through the ears, which are "up here" and the effect it has can be "down there". But then when I go down to investigate, I start to get lost in thoughts and lose the insights. While I'm not terribly concerned I'm just interested what people have to say to this effect. Ultimately It seems a little counterintuitive and extreme to just pay attention to the sound. But with that said it also seems perfectly reasonable to just pay attention to the sound because it rocks my socks off as an object. I suck at meditation if I have to sit there with my breath. I can hardly do it for 30 seconds and the mind just goes wandering and wandering. Give me the sound of silence and I'm off to the moon.
Thoughts?
