Ernest Henry Shattock. An Experiment in Mindfulness

There is nothing more encouraging to discrepancies then trying to describe the greatest spiritual truths and experiences to those who had not experienced it themselves. As you cannot understand it the other way. Inevitably they will be distorted, somewhat fit into particular understanding of certain personality of the listener. To pass knowledge a teacher must possess qualification and such qualification can be of two kinds. To begin with a teacher must possess the tightest involvement in that separate aspect of the truth he teaches. He needs to possess an intellectual development as well, which should provide him a possibility to interpret such experience in terms apprehensible by other people as well. If such interpretation is successful, then in fact the understanding of his listeners is recognition of something they have already experienced. If a knowledge can not be received in this way then it’s not a knowledge, but information. In Buddha’s teachings we meet over and over again with intentional rejection of questions that are not helping in a struggle for freedom from sufferings and recurrent births.

That is the “silence” of Buddha.

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