No Absense. . .
Many believe stillness means the absence of thought, noise, or emotion. But true stillness is not emptiness — it is intimacy.
When we sit quietly, the mind does not suddenly behave. Thoughts continue. Emotions arise. The body speaks. Stillness is the willingness to stay present with all of it without turning away.
In Buddhist practice, stillness is a relationship, not a condition. It is the quality of attention we bring to experience. We learn to sit without needing things to change. We allow life to move while we remain grounded within it.
Stillness teaches us that we do not need to control everything to be at peace. We begin to see that awareness itself is spacious enough to hold joy and sorrow together. Silence becomes less about quiet and more about listening deeply.
In daily life, stillness may appear as a pause before reacting, a breath taken before speaking, or the ability to remain present during discomfort. It is not withdrawal — it is engagement without grasping.
When we cultivate stillness, we create room for insight. We see more clearly how suffering arises and how it dissolves when we stop clinging. Stillness becomes the soil where wisdom grows.
To practice stillness is to trust that nothing essential is missing in this moment. Everything needed for awakening is already here, waiting for our attention.
Peace and Love, Jim
#absense #thedailybuddha #tdb
