While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
~ William Wordsworth
Sometimes there would be a rush of noisy visitors and the Silence of the monastery would be shattered. This would upset the monks; not the master, however, who seemed just as content with the noise as with the Silence. To those protesting he said one day:
"Silence is not the absence of sound,
but the absence of self."