The Sacred

Dalat, Vietnam 

Thien vien Truc Buddhist Temple

It is the quiet I find sacred. 

Not silence. 

Silence distracts me. My mind wanders to the absence of things and creates stories that prevent me from finding peace.

But the quiet -a mosque nestled against the ocean, a temple tucked into a hill- the quiet lulls me like a parent comforting a child.

Here, at this temple, I can hear the wind rustling trees. Leaves loosening from their branches and scratching softly on the ground.  Birds singing from different directions,  their sound carried on different breezes. Nature whispering reassurance that I am not alone. 

A bell sounds... deep throated and ancient sounding. 

I do not know what the bell means and yet it is comforting. 

I do not know the intricacies of this temple.  I do not not know how the monks - hair shorn to scalp, dressed in mustard colored robes - practice their devotion. 

But sitting in the quiet, eyes scanning the lake peeking out  from the hills coated in verdant green...I understand I am in the presence of the sacred.