There lived a teacher known as a wise man, someone who was said to have reached great understanding. He had many disciples, each working hard, hoping for a single word of insight. But the teacher never spoke at all. He simply sat with them in silence, and this only sharpened their expectations.
None of them questioned his method. They thought doing so would show ignorance. They remembered the saying: “Speech is silver, silence is golden,” and many believed that truth reveals itself only in silence.
One day a disciple reached his limit and asked: “Master, may I ask why we are always silent?”
The others stiffened. They expected anger, maybe a rebuke for ingratitude or foolishness.
The teacher said nothing. He only smiled. To the poor disciple it seemed the teacher glanced toward the door, as if hinting he should leave. Flushed, the student stood up and left the school forever.
The rest lowered their eyes. Some wanted to ask something but stayed silent. Others decided never to ask anything at all.
Years passed. The teacher died in old age without uttering a single word. Only after his death did the disciples discover the truth, written in his old notebook: “I keep silence because my tongue was never loyal to the truth.”
Moral: silence is golden only when the tongue is worthy of speech.
First published on my Substack: https://alisherfaizullaev.substack.com/p/silence-is-golden
#Wisdom #Truth #Teaching #Sage #Master
Alisher Faizullaev 