When the Stomach Speaks: The Sound of Acceptance

During a recent meditation session in the Sim hall, I experienced something both distracting and in retrospect. My stomach was grumbling loud enough to rival the temple bells. As each rumble echoed through the quiet, my mind filled with embarrassment and irritation. I judged the noises as interruptions, imperfections in my otherwise “serene” practice.

After the session, however, the head monk approached me with a gentle smile. “Your stomach is strong and healthy,” he said. “It is a good sign. Some have much, some have little, some have none. Yours is as it should be.”

His words were simple, but the lesson was profound. In Buddhism, we are taught to observe the arising and passing of all phenomena, sounds, sensations, thoughts without clinging or aversion. Yet how quickly I had fallen into the trap of labeling: “This is bad. This is embarrassing. This shouldn’t happen.” The sound of my stomach, rather than being a problem, was simply another part of present-moment experience, a reminder that my body is alive and functioning as it should.

It made me realize how often we judge ordinary experiences, especially those that don’t fit our expectations of how things “should” be. The problem was never the grumbling. It was my resistance to it. The monk’s words echoed the essence of Buddha’s wisdom, suffering arises not from what happens, but from how we relate to what happens.

Now, when I hear my stomach in meditation, I offer it a silent smile. It’s just the body speaking, a sign of life, a reminder to meet each moment no matter how rumbling it maybe and see it with gentle awareness. After all, even the loudest belly has a place in the quietest hall.