"Silence is the bridge; knowledge, noise, is a barrier. And all knowledge creates noise in you. The more you know, the more you become indoctrinated, the more you are full of rubbish, junk.

"You need a spacious being within you, utterly empty, so empty that even you are not there, so silent that even the idea of 'I' has disappeared. Then there is no barrier between you and existence. You fall in harmony. You become part of this tremendous celebration that goes on and on. You dance with the stars, you dance with the wind, you dance with the clouds. Your whole being becomes a dance, a song. You burst forth into thousands of flowers. But a silent being is a must; in a noisy being, nothing is possible. The noisy mind is impotent; it is not fertile, it is not creative. The silent mind is the right soil for your being to grow – to grow to its ultimate heights and depths.

"Hence the first sutra: Quieten your mind.

"One sometimes feels surprised the way Buddha starts. The way Buddha approaches reality is so unique. It is utterly revolutionary, radical. One would have thought he would start with a prayer to God – but there is no God. In Buddha's vision God has no place. God is the invention of the ignorant people.

"For Buddha there is no God as a person; there is no creator because the creation is eternal. Yes, there is creativity, but no creator. There is godliness, but no God. The whole existence is overflowing with godliness, but God is not a person so you cannot pray to him.

"Remember, prayer is impossible with Buddha. Prayer presupposes a God, a personal God who can favor you if you praise him, who can be very disfavorable to you if you annoy him. This is childish – the whole approach is childish; it is not religious at all.

"Buddha begins in a very scientific way. Rather than talking about God he talks about you and about your reality. As you are, you are nothing but noise. Look within and you will see the facticity of Buddha: you are just noise; not even a moment of silence happens to you."