Joking? What is "right speech"? (video)

Geoff DeGraff (a.k.a. Ajahn Thanissaro) from Noble Strategy edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

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As my Buddhist teacher once said, "If you can't control your mouth, there's no way you can hope to control your mind." This is why right speech is so important in daily practice.

 

Right speech can be explained in four ways as avoiding harmful speech:

• lies (words spoken with the intent of misrepresenting the truth);
• divisive speech (spoken with the intent of creating rifts between people);
• harsh speech (spoken with the intent of hurting another person's feelings);
• idle chit chat (spoken with no purposeful intent).

We can focus on intention: This is where the practice of right speech intersects with the training of the mind/heart. Before we speak, we focus on why we want to speak. This helps get us in touch with the real machinations taking place in the committee of voices running our minds.

If we see any unskillful motives lurking behind that committee's decisions, we can veto them. As a result we become more aware of ourselves, more honest with ourselves, more firm with ourselves.

We also save ourselves from saying things we'll later regret. In this way we strengthen qualities of mind helpful in meditation, at the same time avoiding any potentially painful memories and misgivings that might get in the way of being attentive to the present moment when the time comes to meditate.

In positive terms right speech means speaking in ways that are trustworthy, harmonious, comforting, and worth taking to heart.

When we make a practice of these positive forms of right speech, our words become a gift to others. In response, others will start listening more to what we say and will be more likely to respond in kind. This gives us a sense of the power of our actions/karma: The way we act in the present moment does shape the world of your experience. We are not a victim of past events.

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For many of us the most difficult part of practicing right speech is in how we express our sense of humor.

Particularly here in the USA, we're used to getting laughs by using hyperbole, exaggeration, sarcasm, group stereotypes, and pure silliness -- all classic examples of wrong speech.

If people get used to these sorts of careless ways -- as we go about trying to be funny -- they stop listening carefully to what we say. We cheapen our own discourse. There's enough irony in the world such that it needs no additional exaggeration or sarcasm.

The best humorists are the ones who bring us to look directly at the way things actually are. Things are funny because they're true.

Expressing our humor in ways that are truthful, useful, and wise may require thought and effort, but when we master this sort of wit we find that the effort is well spent. We've sharpened our minds and have improved our verbal environment.

In this way even our jokes become part of our Buddhist practice -- an opportunity to develop positive qualities of heart/mind to have something to offer of intelligent value to everyone around us.

As we pay closer attention to what we say -- and why we say it -- we will improve ourselves with every word spoken or better left unspoken. When we do we'll discover that opening our mouths can be a great blessing. More