this is the transcript of the talk I gave to the Zenways community in March 2024
A couple of weeks ago, we had a session on the teachings of the Buddha in which I talked about the 4 Noble Truths. One thing that I said that evening is that, during the 45 years of his teaching the Buddha said that he taught ONLY one thing, suffering and the transformation of suffering.
He wanted to help people to recognise their own suffering, why people, why we suffer and, very importantly, how to reach the cessation of this suffering, this sense of unsatisfaction that we can experience at time. What can we do about that? And, in the 4th of the Noble Truth, the Buddha offers us the practice of the Eightfold Path consisting of eight different practices: right view, right resolve, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration and right speech. And, this is what I want to talk about this evening, right speech. Speaking as a practice towards awakening, speech as a practice towards seeing things more clearly. Well, as you heard in the announcements, next Wednesday Vic is going to run the session on the Eightfold path. Tonight, I just want to talk about right speech.
Depending on the situation and the people I am with, I enjoy speaking and I can spend a fair amount of time talking to other people. Of course, with some people it feels easier to speak than it does to others. I am guessing that you possibly experience the same thing. Perhaps, it is somehow easier to talk to like-minded people, people that genuinely share something in common or have a common purpose, maybe as we do here in this community.
Perhaps, it is a bit more difficult to communicate to people that do not share the same interests and communicating can become a great opportunity for practice.
I work in an office and I interact with people most of the time I spend there. Pretty much, I spend 90% of the time speaking to people. I consider myself fortunate when it comes to work as I really work with a nice and considered group of people so, I know, I am not particularly challenged by my colleagues. Yet, I feel that every time I speak to someone, I have a great opportunity to practice right speech. How much awareness do I bring when communicating with others? How do I communicate? Any idle talks? Any divisive talks? In an office, gossip is always around the corner, perhaps not about people working with us but about “celebrities”, about family members, about people we know or we don’t know, in general. What is my attitude when this ‘talking about others’ happen? Also, still talking about my life in the office, 2 new people just started. That is definitely another great opportunity to notice what I say, what I want to say, how the mind works around these situations. Am I always talking skilfully? Am I try to boost mine/our attainments as a company? What am I try to convey in my speech? Of course, there is not right, there is not wrong, however, I feel, there is something that feel more appropriate, truer, more skilful than other things.
What I find very useful is to go back to the precepts in particular the precepts which are around this element of right speech. These can really help to bring awareness to what I say, why I say what I say, how I say things and so on. So, we have, do not lie, do not criticize others, do not boast of your attainments and belittle others…. do not defame the three treasures. Of course, having these intentions in mind, to follow these commitments we make to ourselves can really help to notice when our speech is not conducive to truth, to peace, to honesty. But instead, it is divisive and creates suffering.
So, how do we use right speech in our practice? What do we understand by idle talks? What happens when we use language in general? Of course, it is very easy to see that when we talk to people we have somehow a great responsibility I believe since, with language we can create suffering or we can create peace, don’t you agree?
Abstaining from telling lies, from backbiting and slandering. Abstaining from harsh, impolite, abusive language. Abstaining from idle and useless gossip. When I abstain from these, I believe that quite naturally I bring an element of care, a quality of awareness into the way I use language.
So, what do we create in our speech? Do we bring awareness in our speech? And that to me applies to the way we speak to ourselves. How do we speak to ourselves? Do we notice that at times we say things to ourselves? Are we self-critical towards ourselves? What do we create when we do that to ourselves? Is it what we say to ourselves true? How do we use this “talking to ourselves” in our practice? Well, a fundamental element of our practice is to bring that quality of awareness that can expose the many facets of our mind. What do we experience when we pause for a moment and become aware of what is going on within our mental space? Is there something we can learn about suffering and the transformation of suffering there? Who is speaking? What is the source of that chattering? Where does it come from? These are, in my own practice, great elements of reflection.
And again, going back to my personal experience with using right speech as a practice, I happen to speak to people about my past, what I did, how I was, how I ended up living in this country, how I ended up being part of this group of people practising Zen….and I hear myself as I talk…. Am I just saying the truth? Am I adding something? Am I avoiding to say something? Why am I not saying this or that? Why do I choose to talk about certain things rather than others? There, there could be that strong sense of a fixed I which somehow finds the way to come forward. How am I going to use right speech to dissolve, even a little bit, this strong sense of a fixed I which might make us speak in an unskilful way, in an untruthful way? What is speaking when I speak? Am I trying to create an image of myself?
The practice we are doing is exactly that, revealing our mind to us. Showing what our thinking is and how it does affect our speech, the way we talk to people, the way we talk about people.
So how can our meditation practice help us? Well, our meditation practice can definitely help us to become more and more accustomed to the mental activities we experience. We sit on our cushion and we spend some time being actively inactive, just noticing things, just getting used to all the different mental processes. We can start noticing more and more clearly the formation of ideas, of thoughts, of wanting to say things, wanting to have a specific effect in our speech. That to me is key. That to me is fundamental as I get more and more used to the mental chattering without reacting to it, just offering that openness where everything can simply arise and pass.
When we bring this quality of awareness off our cushion, we might be able to respond more skilfully, perhaps more wisely when we use language. We are definitely more aware of the constant chattering that happens within us and we have, most likely, learned not to react impulsively to that. Not to say whatever comes to mind just because it is there. Knowing that a certain use of the language can create suffering, could be a way to hide something, to fortify a delusional thought or idea. A way to solidify even more this sense of a fixed solid I which we might have about ourselves.
So, perhaps, next time we speak to someone, why don’t we try to tune in wholeheartedly and mindfully to how we are expressing ourselves through language? Why don’t we take a moment before talking? Simply reflecting a little bit on what we are about to say. Of course, a conversation doesn’t have to become unnatural and fake. On the contrary, it can still remain very natural and truthful even when we don’t rush through our speeches. Just bringing a quality of reflection, just refining more and more that quality of alertness before communicating something, knowing that we have a responsibility towards ourselves and towards the people we are talking to.
We can definitely communicate more effectively and more truthfully in the present moment when we are able to read the whole situation and we are not totally absorbed by our mental activity.
Right speech can be a very powerful practice when we do our best to remain open and willing to get to know our own mind and our own way of communicating. Do have fun in your own exploration and thanks for listening!
Zen Mindfulness Cambridge Zenways Italia 