I now submit to the World Honored One That all Buddhas in this world appear to teach the most appropriate method which consists in using pervasive sound.
Samadhi can be realized by means of hearing. Thus was Avalokiteśvara freed from suffering.
Hail to the Regarder of Sound who, during aeons countless as Ganges’ sand, entered as many Buddha lands to win the power and comfort of his independence, and bestow fearlessness upon all living beings.
O you who (have achieved) the sound profound, the seer of sound, of sound the purifier, who, unfailing as the sound of ocean tides, saves all beings in the world make them secure, ensure their liberation and attainment of eternity.
Reverently I declare to the Tathagata what Avalokitesvara said:
When one dwells in quietude, rolls of drums from ten directions simultaneously are heard, so hearing is complete and perfect, the eyes cannot pierce a screen, but neither can mouth nor nose, body only feels when it is touched. Mind’s thoughts are confused and unconnected, (But) voice whether near or far, at all times can be heard.The five other organs are not perfect, but hearing really is pervasive.
The presence or absence of sound and voice Is registered by ear as ‘is’ or ‘is not’.Absence of sound means nothing heard, not hearing devoid of nature.
Absence of sound is not the end of hearing, and sound when present is not its beginning.The faculty of hearing, beyond creation and annihilation, truly is permanent. Even when isolated thoughts in a dream arise, though the thinking process stops, hearing does not end, for the faculty of hearing is beyond all thought, beyond both mind and body.
–Śūraṅgama Sūtra
What is the inner sound?
What is referred to in this guide as the “the inner sound” is also known by other names such as the Śūraṅgama sound, the sound of silence, nāda and the self-arising sound of the empty mind.
The inner sound is often experienced as a continuous high pitched, crystalline or silvery ringing that is present in the background of awareness. For many people that perceive the inner sound, it initially seems to fall within the range of 2700-19000hz. This “sound” has no perceivable external source.
The inner sound is a potent tool. While experiencing it, it does not lend itself to conceptualizing, labels or thoughts about it. Prolonged experiencing of it leads into non-production and non-dual experiencing in a very direct and simple fashion.
This guide outlines ways of working with the inner sound in spiritual cultivation. Please keep in mind that some people have a hard time finding or hearing the inner sound. If you find that this practice method does not seem to work for you please remember that there are other methods of liberating practice.
Finding the inner sound
The first step in working with the inner sound is to find a way to directly experience it.
If you don’t already experience it, here are some of the more reliable approaches that can be used for finding the sound.
- Go somewhere quiet and listen intently to silence.
- Plug the ears and listen for it.
- Listen for it in a very dark room or outside when it is dark.
- Submerge the head under water and see if it appears during that time.
- Listen for the inner sound right as you awaken from sleeping.
- Follow the ring of a long-ringing bell from the moment it is struck into silence.
- Develop another meditation method (such as mantra, experiencing the body, or breath meditation) and the inner sound will often appear.
Once you find a way to experience the inner sound, begin experimenting with ways to reproduce finding it. This could be considered the first stage on the path of working with it.
Growing familiar with the inner sound
Now that the inner sound is experienceable, set up regular practice periods where you do the following exercise.
Re-find it and then listen to it continuously.
In this stage of practice, we simply listen to the inner sound, no matter what comes up during the practice period. This act of paying attention to the sound is sometimes referred to as “taking it as an object”
Whenever you notice that the attention has wandered to focusing on something else, simply return to the sound again.
Working with the inner sound deeply develops healthy qualities like patience, diligence, and listening. Practice purely listening as best you can, listening to the inner sound without creating a response.
This will not only help build sensitivity to it, it will also lead to the inner sound becoming increasingly accessible as a meditation method as well. With diligent practice the inner sound can be found and listened to quickly and easily, even in the midst of noisy and busy experiences and environments.
Listening to the sound can be energizing
Listening to the inner sound has an energizing quality to it in some cases. Some find listening to the sound to be a quite effective method when dullness and sleepiness show up.
However, if the experience becomes too energized or overstimulating, combining listening to the inner sound practice with soothing aspects of breath meditation or increasingly gentle and less effortful observation can be skillful approaches to finding a healthy feeling balance. Be curious and experiment to see what works best.
Deepening work with the inner sound as meditation
Once skill and familiarity have grown around listening to the inner sound, practice can progress to a greater depth.
The root skill in this meditation practice with the inner sound is to listen to the inner sound while letting thoughts come and go freely on their own. This should serve as the lens that the rest of this guide is understood through. Each piece of the practice described from here one also serves as a skillful means to experience the inner sound while letting thoughts come and go.
As we move deeper into the inner sound practice, transition to periods of gently and continuously attending to the inner sound. This phase of practice is more subtle than the willful act of treating it as an object and focusing on it.
At this stage the inner sound still functions as something that is listened to, but in a much more gentle manner. Maintain interested attention while expending only the minimum amount of energy needed to do so successfully. This process will refine over time through experimentation.
This further develops the skill of listening, letting the experience happen without holding a sense of being ready with a response. It may become apparent that listening to the inner sound has a purifying quality over time. Let it do what it does.
Let this practice become like an anchor, maintaining gentle but persistent attention to the inner sound, regardless of any thoughts, impulses, sensations or other sensory experiences that occur. When they show up, let them come, and et them go.
As skill develops, even when attention drifts, it will tend to not be able to completely wander due to the presence of the sound as an anchor within the experience. This will call awareness back again and again.
The subtleties of the inner sound
With careful and sustained observation of the inner sound, it will become increasingly clear that it appears to be composed of more than one tone or type of sound. Explore this and see what different facets of the sound can be discovered.
Learn to attune awareness to whichever part of the sound seems more subtle or difficult to follow. Remaining sensitive to these subtle parts of the inner sound will not only help build greater sensitivity to it, it will also naturally:
- Lead to less discursive-thought with a sense of calm
- Generate greater interest and clarity
Each time you practice, spend the practice period finding and then maintaining gentle but continuous attention to the more subtle parts of the inner sound, returning to it again and again if the attention wanders. Eventually you will notice that no matter how much or how far the attention tries to wander during practice, the sound remains present and does not allow the wandering to go past a certain point even with very little effort.
Advanced practice with the inner sound
Make your will one! Don’t listen with your ears, listen with your mind. No, don’t listen with your mind, but listen with your qi and spirit. Listening stops with the ears, the mind stops with recognition, but qi and spirit is empty- and waits on all things. The Tao gathers in emptiness alone. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.
-Zhuangzi
Up until now practice has involved using energy to place attention on the inner sound. To move into more advanced practice employ wuwei (absence of acting).
Without using any special attention or concentration, continuously notice the inner sound in the most non-effortful and ordinary manner possible.
Noticing the inner sound naturally arising, using only the effortless awareness of it that occurs naturally.
It is present, it is noticed.
Surrender, let the sound be experienced, let it do what it does.
It will become increasingly mysterious, fascinating and beautiful. While noticing it, wise responsiveness will also naturally manifest as well. This responsiveness is not something done on-purpose, but instead is a natural, intuitive arising that will show up and help handle what is occurring.
This is the natural play of:
- Wuwei (absence of action)
- Ziran (natural arising)
- Weiwuwei (acting in harmony with nature)
Using the sound to illuminate the “hearer”
Up until now the practice has consisted of listening to the inner sound in different ways. Now we begin to listen in such a way that we also may perceive “our true self”.
While experiencing the sound, begin also noticing the experience of the perceived “knower” or the “hearing” of the sound. This may feel like the sound is being experienced at the ears, in the head, or any other way the “hearer” seems to manifest in the experience. Do not be concerned about experiencing it in a certain way, simply remain aware of the inner sound and how the experiencing of it seems to feel moment to moment.
Allow the continuous stream of the inner sound to continually illuminate this experience of the “hearer” and notice any perceived disturbance, discomfort or effort that becomes apparent as part of the experience. These feelings also bring a sense of separation between “the inner sound” and “me”.
Through simple and diligent observation this disturbance tied to the sense of the “hearer” will be sensitized to and understood more and more deeply; as if through osmosis. Wisdom will build naturally and will begin to relax and release the disturbance and perceptions of separation. This will in turn begin to alter the way the “hearer” and the inner sound are perceived.
No matter how the experience of the “hearer” of the inner sound changes, simply remain aware of both the inner sound and how it seems to be sensed.
Notice how the inner sound is not felt to be made by you, does not require effortful attention to be noticed, and how what feels like the “hearer” shifts and changes.
With diligent practice the experience of both the inner sound and the “hearer” will go through many permutations. These will occur as part of a natural unfolding if the instructions given above are followed.
Some of these changes in how the inner sound seems to be experienced are listed below.
- A feeling of finding the inner sound to be pleasant (or perhaps unpleasant).
- Hearing the inner sound at or in the ear.
- Experiencing the inner sound as part of what feels like the experience of hearing.
- Noticing that the inner sound seems to be mental, as opposed to a physical experience.
- Experiencing the inner sound as happening to that which knows.
- Inner sound as activity within emptiness.
- Inner sound as emptiness.
- Etc.
Returning to Nature with the inner sound
The inner sound can also be used in the practice of returning everything to nature.
The inner sound arises from nature, as does the awareness of it.
Continuously remain sensitive to the presence of the inner sound, curious both about how it seems to be experienced and where it seems to emanate from.
Hearing the inner sound, let its presence continually illuminate where it emanates from, and how it is known. Continually observing this, allow the activities of body, mind and world to be operated by nature.
That which breathes handles the breathing, that which thinks handles mental activities, that which animates the weather animates the weather, that which generates the inner sound makes the sound, that which experiences the inner sound experiences the sound, etc. Nature, when truly allowed to operate freely, finds what is a good fit.
Experiencing the inner sound is already happening, let it happen.
Where does it come from? Where does it go to?
Let nature operate everything freely, remaining sensitive to it all.
Inner sound practice as life practice
“Kwan um” means “perceive sound”. This means perceive your true self. At the same time, perceiving world sound means perceiving that many, many beings are suffering. If you can hear this sound of suffering, then helping is both possible and necessary. That is the Bodhisattva Way. Helping other beings is our practice and our job.
-Seung Sahn Sunim
Remain resolute and keep practicing formally and all throughout daily life. This type of practice with the inner sound leads to the erosion of mistaken ideas of how experience and experiencing take place. This leads to directly realizing freedom and growing familiar with the true nature of mind.
Repeated exposure coupled with learning Dharma from a skilled teacher will lead to liberating changes and increased freedom from vexation. For this reason it is vital to not only practice regularly, but also to become familiar with the Dharma concepts that bring deeper meaning and context to the practice.
As freedom is realized, responsiveness to the suffering within the world manifests naturally and spontaneously. The sound is like an alarm clock. Remaining awake, helping all beings, the Bodhisattva way manifests
If you find that inner sound practice takes hold for you and you wish to learn more, feel free to contact me to discuss working with it.
May this reference guide serve as a support and benefit for all beings across the Dharma realm. May all be liberated, released and quenched.
Namo Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva