Always skillful and good humored, Ajahn Sumedho's teachings defy boundaries. Anyone — from laypeople looking to deepen their grasp of the Buddha's message, to lifetime Buddhist monastics — will appreciate the author's sparkling insights into to such key Buddhist themes as awareness, consciousness, identity, relief from suffering, and mindfulness of the body. The Sound of Silence represents the best of Ajahn Sumedho's masterful work to help us all see each life with a new and sustaining clarity.

Praise & Reviews "The American-born monk Ajahn Sumedho is one of the foremost teachers of Theravada Buddhism in the West. He is a longtime disciple of the Thai master Ajahn Chah. The Sound of Silence is a reader-friendly collection of his talks [though there are] detailed explanations of Theravada meditation. The teachings combine Ajahn Sumedho's thorough grounding in the Pali sources of the Thai forest tradition with the humor and humility of a teacher who speaks frequently from his own experience."—Buddhadharma "A superb collection of Ajahn Sumedho's simple, direct, profound, and often humorous teachings. This treasure-house of wisdom and kindness will be of great value to all schools of awareness meditation."—Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath "Sumedho's work is acutely practical and easy to read."—Library Journal "Ajahn Sumedho’s warm, human, and reverently playful style illuminates so clearly the causes of our suffering and the possiblities of freedom. His words are a treasure-house of dharma understanding."—Joseph Goldstein, author of One Dharma “This book conveys very powerfully and beautifully a sense of being in the presence of an extremely wise and caring teacher. Ajahn Sumedho speaks with clarity and directness from the depths of his practice and experience. Inspiring and illuminating, this is a wonderful guide to all of use seeking a greater freedom and peace.”—John Teasdale, co-author of The Mindful Way through Depression and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression "Teachings from Ajahn Sumedho, a popular American-born teacher, have been hard to come by in print. So it's good to see that the talks collected in this volume preserve his warm, humorous style, and reflect his flexible view of teaching as 'presenting things for you to investigate.'"—Tricycle "For those who are unfamiliar with Ajahn Sumedho's teachings, this book is a clear and inviting introduction; for those who know and love him, these reflections are like water smoothing over stones. Ajahn Sumedho brings a vast, intensive and insightful investigation to the teachings. He deftly encapsulates direct observations ….of living with the human mind and body."— Inquiring Mind "The Sound of Silence is a mind-to-mind transmission-it's impossible to read more than a few pages before one's thinking mind gets stopped in its tracks."--Kate Lila Wheeler

Ajahn Sumedho, Author For more than 30 years Ajahn Sumedho has embodied the Buddha’s way. As a young man he completed an M.A. at the University of California at Berkeley, was a medic in the Navy, and taught in the Peace Corps. For 12 years he studied closely with the renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, who appointed him to be the first Western abbot of a Thai monastery. Now based in England, he is the spiritual head of a global community of monks and nuns. ,