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Inner Speech (Madhyamā)

The silent voice of the mind: words fully formed and thought through, but not yet spoken aloud.

Madhyamā, the 'middle' speech, is the silent language of the mind — the inner voice in which we form sentences, think things through, and rehearse what we mean, all without making a sound. Here word and meaning are already distinct and articulated, but they have not yet been spoken aloud. It is the bridge between the wordless flash of insight above it and the audible speech below it.

Key passages(1)

Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Relevance: Moderate