Thudnering Silence is Thich Nhat Hanh’s discourse on the Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a Snake.
It is a short read, about 70 pages, but packs a lot of value. Thich has a fantastic ability to unpack the wisdom line by line, bringing in many topics, considerations and parallels to reflect upon as he works his way through the sutra.
It is concise and well-explained, and covers themes such as the danger of misunderstanding the teachings, the raft not being the shore; the finger not being the moon, impermanence and no-self, not being swayed by praise or slander, right view and wrong understanding.
With regards to its namesake, thundering silence:
when asked by an ascetic, Vacchagotta, if there was a self, the Buddha did not say anything. When asked again, ‘then you do not think there is a self?’ the Buddha remained silence. Eventually, his questioner left. Later, when asked later why he didn’t respond, he replied:
“The teaching of no-self that I give the bhikshus is a means to guide you to look deeply in your meditation. It is not an ideology. If you make it into an ideology, you will be caught in it. I believe the ascetic Vacchagotta was looking for an ideology and not for a teaching to help him in the practice. So I remained silent. I did not want him to be caught by the teachings. If I had told him there is a self, that would not have been correct. If I told him there is no self, he would have clung to that dogmatically and made it into a theory, and that would not have been helpful either. That is why I kept silent.”
The teachings reflect a means, a way, to develop our understanding and compassion. They are not useful as dogmas, doctrines in themselves.