The experience of silence Is there anything out there in the zen tradition about whether "silence" (do I mean this metaphorically) is to be embraced in meditation?
If you are coming at this from a Zen perspective, I wouldn't use the word "silence" so much as "emptiness" or mu-shin.  And I wouldn't say that the word "embraced" quite gets at what you need to be doing.  Emptiness is embraced, but there is also an element of investigation.  One should become both "one with" mu-shin while looking deeply into it.

I think it's important to understand, however, that this sort of investigation is not a preliminary practice.  The mind has to be quieted and the concentration developed to a certain extent before one has an experience of that emptiness.  Once it is beheld, it should then be stabilized.  This can be done through various techniques - most famously the mu koan.  If you are beginning your meditation practice, you are better off just watching the breath.  This will help lay a foundation for later investigation.