In his ‘Song of Realising the Way’, Yungchia says:

It speaks in silence

In speech you hear its silence

The Great Way has opened and there are no obstacles.

It’s difficult to practise listening unless our minds become quiet and our thoughts aren’t clamouring for attention, or for expression in speech. We practise noticing thoughts and returning to the count or the breath or the koan.  We do this so we can remember to come back to this silence in our everyday lives.

A monk introduced himself to the teacher Hsuan-sha, saying, “I have just entered this monastery.  Please show me where to enter the Way.”  “Do you hear the sound of the valley stream?” asked Hsuan-sha. “Yes”, said the monk. “Enter there!”

This teisho was given by Gillian Coote, roshi at SZC’s Spring sesshin 2023 on day 5