NOBLE SILENCE

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Ariyo tuṇhībhāvo, ariyo tuṇhībhāvoti vuccati.
'"Noble silence, noble silence," it is said.
katamo nu kho ariyo tuṇhībhāvo’ti?
But what is noble silence?'

SN 21.1

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Pali tuṇhī = Sk. tūṣṇīm
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तूष्णींभाव tūṣṇīṃbhāva
- the state of being silent , silence MBh.
(cf. तूष्णींसार tūṣṇīṁsāra - chiefly silent AitBr.)

Note: this "silence" is the fact of not allowing the verbal coaction process (vacīsaṅkhāro = vitakka-vicārā). That is to say the abstract and concrete thinking process, leading to the naming process (nāma). 

But tūṣṇīṃ has also this following underlying root meaning:

√ तुष् tuṣ 

- to become calm , be satisfied or pleased with anything ŚāṅkhŚr. MBh.
- to satisfy , please , appease , gratify RV.
MBh.

॰नीम् -nīm
forms adv. of circumstance.

 

TRANSLATIONS:

 

With noble silence
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Moggallana, Moggallana, do not be negligent regarding the noble (appeasing) state of silencing the vacīsaṅkhāro brahmin. Have your citta to stand [saṇṭhapehi/santiṭṭhati ( √ स्था sthā - wishing to stand ŚBr. )] in the noble state of silencing the vacīsaṅkhāro , transcend your citta in the noble state of silencing the vacīsaṅkhāro , establish your citta in the noble state of silencing the vacīsaṅkhāro.

OR (original Bodhi)

Moggallan, Moggallana, do not be negligent regarding noble silence, brahmin. Steady your mind in noble silence, unify your mind in noble silence, concentrate your mind on noble silence. (Bodhi)

Moggallāna moggallāna, mā, brāhmaṇa, ariyaṃ tuṇhībhāvaṃ pamādo, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṃ saṇṭhapehi, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṃ ekodibhāvaṃ karohi, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṃ samādahā’ti.
SN 21.1

"Then, friends, on a later occasion, with the subsiding of abstract "popping" thoughts and the settings about making them more "concrete" *, I entered and dwelt in the second jhana, which has internal clear serenity (प्रसद् prasad) and transcendence of citta, is without popping thought and their concrete lucubrations, and has suffused contented pleasance and bliss born of the establishment in (the transcended) citta".

* (vitakka can be willfull or not - like the (abstract/conceptual) willfull thinking about breath, (viz. setting one's mano on breath,) in anapanasati. With a vicāra that corresponds to the concretization/embodiement of this breath (see third step of Anapanasati - प्रतिसंविद् pratisaṃvid [ prati-saṃ √ ववद vid ]: an accurate knowledge of the particulars of anything (viz. its concretization - its "vicarizing" - First, vitakking about breath, then vicarizing about it (knowing its particulars - its embodiement).
Or vitakka can just be those popping thoughts, with their later ("concrete") lucubrations) .

OR 

"Then, friends, on a later occasion, with the subsiding of thought and examination, I entered and dwelt in the second jhana, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and examination, and has rapture and happiness born of concentration". (Bodhi)

So khvāhaṃ, āvuso, aparena samayena vitakkavicārānaṃ vūpasamā ajjhattaṃ sampasādanaṃ cetaso ekodibhāvaṃ avitakkaṃ avicāraṃ samādhijaṃ pītisukhaṃ dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharāmi.

 

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