You’ve probably noticed that, as you sit here meditating—thinking about the breath, evaluating the breath—you’re talking to yourself. Right Speech is not just a personal virtue. And as a meditator you can’t engage in that sort of justification at all, because that’s precisely the ignorance that’s going to keep you suffering. Right Concentration is most often associated with meditation. You may find yourself dealing in that negativity as you meditate, so you’ve got to learn new habits. Right Speech is one of the Five Precepts for ethical conduct, along with protecting life and not killing, taking only what is freely offered and not stealing, using ones sexual energy in ways that do not harm oneself or others, and refraining from the use of intoxicants to the point that they cloud the mind. Remind yourself of what greed has done for you in the past; what lust has done for you in the past; anger, delusion: all the unskillful mental qualities. This is why right speech is a factor of the path. So there are those areas you just leave alone. You can change the world, or at least your experience of it, by discovering how mindful speaking can change our realities. It tends to yield right speech. Each of these is defined by the intention behind it. As for harsh speech, you don’t want to yell at yourself in a way that gets you discouraged on the path, but there are other times you have to come down hard on yourself. Divisive speech is done with the intention of breaking up or preventing friendships. The third of the Eightfold Path is right speech is really about speaking and communicating your truth in a way that others can hear it. You’ve got to be clear about the point at which it starts to become totally pointless, purposeless, where the grease is mucking up the works. Silanussati, remembering all the times when you’ve avoided doing harmful things; caganussati, remembering all the times when you were generous, not only with things but also with your goodwill, your compassion, your forgiveness. Right View, Dhamma Talk of Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Dharma, Meditation, Buddha - Duration: 10:02. Meditation In San Francisco In Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind In a fog you do not know you Are getting wet but as you keep Walking you get wet little by little. by Peter Carlson | Oct 22, 2020 | Listen to Dharma Talks. As for idle chatter, there are times when simple social-grease conversation is necessary, to get a particular situation lubricated—as at work, when you want everyone to work smoothly together. You’re reminding yourself, “Now stay here,” commenting on how the breath is, and trying to think up ways that the breath could be better, where to focus, what you find interesting, what you find useful. Then as the wellbeing gets more and more firmly established and the mind gets more centered, you can drop a lot of the chatter, because it’s served its purpose. If not, don’t think it. One, you never lie to yourself. Let’s take a … It tends to yield right speech. Thus these three states run and circle around right speech, that is, right view, right effort, and right mindfulness. This is why right speech is a factor of the path. Second, is it beneficial? b. It happens in dialogue, not silence. Otherwise the meditation gets dry. Two, is it beneficial? You’ve got to catch that, throw the light of your awareness on it, highlight it to yourself. The goal of the talk is to support applying the insights and discipline that regular mindfulness of breathing meditation can provide for coping with these challenges. Additionally, insights are included that reference contemporary psychological concepts that help in understanding the manifestation of “Fake News” and “Misinformation” narratives that create much distress and confusion in contemporary life, particularly regarding politics and conflicts regarding global warming and how to protect oneself and others from covid-19. Very few people would like to admit that they’re operating on corrupt intentions. Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  Valuing Right Speech During These Trying Times  These notes include references to websites that provide resources for checking the validity of what might be encountered within social media. You see yourself giving in to unskillful habits again and again and again, and there comes a time when you’ve got to say, “Hey, look, this is foolish; this is stupid.” Use whatever language you find is effective to get the message across. What you’re trying to do as you meditate is to learn how to make this chattering, which is often a problem, actually part of the path, an element of your concentration that helps the mind to settle down with a sense of interest, a sense of comfort, a sense of wellbeing. Chunda Sutta – (An-10:176) (1) "Here, someone speaks falsehood. The Noble Eightfold Path: Right Speech, Action & Livelihood In this course, we will explore the teachings on the eightfold path as a relevant guide for our practice. As they say in the sutta on mindfulness of breathing, there are times when you need to gladden the mind. In other words, there are times when you’ve got to learn how to put yourself in a good mood. At 5:00 PM each day thousands of people in their respective time zones around the world sound this affirmation – strengthening their inner link with the Source of Life and weaving closer connections among the global network of those who seek to serve the Common Good. Once you understand the nuances of right speech, you can start applying the same principles in your mind. That doesn’t mean he would lie, simply that he would avoid those topics. There are nuances. Lying is speaking with the intention to misrepresent the truth. Harsh speech is what you say with the intention of hurting someone’s feelings. For episode 142 of the Metta Hour, Sharon speaks with mindfulness and meditation teachers Devon and Craig Hase. If it’s not true, don’t think it. The Buddha taught that ethical conduct is the foundation of meditation practice, and is also the ground upon which our life and our spiritual journey rest. Comment by davidji meditation Artwork by Kari Anapol www.bloominglotusstudio.com 2017-01-29T23:27:10Z Buy Cultivating Right Speech Users who like Cultivating Right Speech Users who reposted Cultivating Right Speech This talk reviews the Wholesome Cetasika of Sammavaca, translated as Right Speech, which is also an important element of the Noble Eightfold Path. It hurt Devadatta’s feelings.” And if the Buddha said Yes, he would say harsh things to other people, then the response would be, “Well, what’s the difference between you and other ordinary people?” So the Buddha’s enemies put the question to the Buddha, but he replied that the question didn’t deserve a categorical answer; it deserved an analytical answer instead. 2020-06-21: Right Speech: Talking, Listening and Singing Talk given by Andrea Martin. Meditation retreats practice silence because we use up a TON (up to 80%) of our energy on speaking. Is this the time to pry it away from its friendship with greed, anger, and delusion? Self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech. And if it’s one of those rare cases when saying something harsh would be beneficial, then the next question is, is this the right time and place for that? And idle chatter is basically speech without any real clear intention at all, just chattering away for the sake of having something to say. You have to develop a sense of how much you should say to make people feel at ease, and then when to stop. Suppose someone comes up and says, “Have you seen my husband with another woman?” And you have, but you don’t want to get involved. Turn the question on the woman and say, “Why? He will offer a guided meditation and dharma talk on Right Speech at Common Ground this Sunday, May 16, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:40 a.m., and from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; and on Wednesday, May 19 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The way we talk to ourselves has a lot to do with the way we’ve heard other people talk, and the way we’ve been talking to others. Sunday Talks from the Zen Meditation Center on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Say to yourself, “Look, this is simply not true.” The mind tends to put up all sorts of walls of denial. You learn new habits by actually engaging with other people with right speech. This turns from idle chatter to what is actually a purposeful kind of meditation. Now what counts as lying is clear-cut. This inner conversation is actually an important part of the meditation. So there’s a skill to right speech, both inside and out. "He [the enlightened person] speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing and pleasing to people at large." a. If it wasn’t true, he wouldn’t say it. We are continuing with our series of the Eightfold Path according to the Buddhist tradition, in celebration of our Thailand retreat and our Visionaries in Light Convergence. A short meditation exploring the hindrances of sensual desire and aversion or ill will, together with their antidotes Auckland Insight Meditation : Introduction to Insight Meditation Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . . The classical understanding of Right Speech is reviewed, which is coordinated with previously posted reviews of Hiri, Moral Shame  and Ottappa, Respect for Consequences, two other Wholesome Cetasikas, those factors that condition the organizing of the experience of selfing. Someone once called him on this, asking him, “Would the Buddha ever say anything harsh to anyone?” This was meant as a trick question, the idea being that if the Buddha said No, then they’d say, “What about what you said to Devadatta? Along with Action and Livelihood, it is interconnected to the other parts of the Eightfold Path -- Right Mindfulness, Right Intention, Right View, Right Concentration, and Right Effort. RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD (Samma Vaca, Samma Kammanta, Samma Ajiva) The next three path factors -- right speech, right action, and right livelihood -- may be treated together, as collectively they make up the first of the three divisions of the path, the division of moral discipline ( silakkhandha ). In other words, you have to encourage yourself, say nice things about yourself, remind yourself of all the good things you’ve done in the past. It’s called verbal fabrication: the way the mind chatters to itself. “Skillful Speech is not something you practice on the cushion. You want to divide yourself from them. Buddhist bhavana is not a relaxation practice, nor is it about having visions or out-of-body experiences. So if most of the recordings in the mind are of unskillful speech, you’re going to find yourself engaging in unskillful speech in your meditation as well. There is a rule Ajaan Fuang once gave, which is that if somebody has gotten really deluded in their meditation, and you’re not that person’s teacher, you don’t talk to them about it. The Buddha himself said that he would not tell the truth in areas where it would give rise to greed, anger, and delusion. Is this the time to come down hard on the mind, or is this the time to encourage and console the mind? The Buddha gives an analogy: It’s like having a child, a young baby who still doesn’t know what to eat and what not to eat, and she’s put a sharp piece of glass in her mouth. You don’t want to misrepresent any truth to anybody, ever. Hence, we have given you this speech on the importance of yoga in our daily life to tell you how important and beneficial the yoga is for our health and disease-free life. Studies have shown that meditation has many health benefits, such as better sleep, less stress and more focus. But with yourself, you should be a lot more frank about where your friendship with your various ideas and attachments really is leading you. One, is it true? A lot of conceit can build up around this. During formal meditation, however, you can think about your habits of speech and try to convert the thoughts that arise to skillful thoughts—those motivated by generosity, loving-friendliness, and compassion. Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech. Because sometimes, if you do it in an ineffective way, the mind gets more defensive. These support the ethical part of the eightfold path: right speech, action and livelihood. And as for idle chatter, you try to turn it into purposeful chatter. The classical understanding of Right Speech is reviewed, which is coordinated with previously posted reviews of Hiri, Moral Shame and Ottappa, Respect for Consequences, two other Wholesome… This talk reviews the Wholesome Cetasika of Sammavaca, translated as Right Speech, which is also an important element of the Noble Eightfold Path. Right thoughts and understanding is the 3rd of the 8-fold path to awakening. Manifest a magnificent life RIGHT NOW…and for many years to come. This principle applies to harsh speech, and it also applies to divisive speech, because there are times when you see one of your friends suddenly developing a friendship with someone you know is abusive, you know is corrupt, you know is going to harm your friend, and you’ve got to find the right way to protect your friend. Devon has been committed to meditation since 2000, spending years in retreat in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions, and has been mentored by Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. This is one of the reasons why people find it hard to see their intentions: because they’re used to lying to themselves about their intentions. That’s a special case, but still even with special cases, you can’t misrepresent the truth, which is why that principle is a precept. People are exposed to a lot of negativity. Zen meditation is cited in Managing Stress as being developed from Zen Buddhism. Right Speech means to abstain from lying, tale-carrying, use of harsh language and vain talk. In the Buddha’s case, he said harsh things about Devadatta, to his face: one, in hopes that Devadatta might come to his senses, and two, to warn all the other monks around that Devadatta had really gone off course. 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