The Flower Sermon

As expressed in the following sutra, the Zen school of Buddhism stresses the importance of wordless insight and discovering the truth within oneself through silence.

One morning, the Buddha took his disciples to a quiet pond and, as was their custom, the Buddha’s disciples formed a small semi-circle around their Master and sat waiting for the Buddha to teach them something about spirituality. On this particular morning, however, the Buddha said nothing.
Instead, reaching into the pond, he pulled up a lotus flower. With its roots dripping with mud and water, the Buddha continued to hold the lotus flower in front of his disciples, remaining silent as he did so.

After a while, the Buddha got up and, walking to each disciple in turn, quietly held the lotus flower in front of them. The disciples were greatly confused and did their best to fathom the meaning of the flower and how it might fit within the Buddha’s philosophy. When at last the Buddha stood before the last of his disciples, Mahā Kāshyapa, the disciple smiled and began to laugh. Buddha handed the lotus to Mahā Kāshyapa and said, “What can be said, I have said to you and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahā Kāshyapa.” From that day forward, Mahā Kāshyapa became Buddha’s successor.

The last quote shows us how important it is to listen rather than verbalise.

As long as I talked unceasingly about the Lord,
The Lord stayed away, kept at a distance.
But when I silenced my mouth, sat very still
And fixed my mind at the doorway of the Lord,
I soon was linked to the music of the Word
And all my talking came to an end.
_{Kabir, The Great Mystic}