This is the transcript of a talk I gave to the Zenways community in March 2024.
Right Speech is one of the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, the path traditionally associated with the Fourth Noble Truth. It is usually described in terms of refraining from false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech and idle or careless speech.
We also find similar guidance in the Zen precepts: not lying, not criticising others and not praising ourselves at the expense of others.
All of this sounds reasonably straightforward.
Then we start talking.
I spend a large part of my working day speaking to people. I have colleagues I get on very well with, and naturally we talk about work, other people, things that have happened in the office and whatever else is going on in our lives.
And sometimes there is gossip.
It is easy to notice gossip when somebody else is doing it. It can be slightly more interesting to notice the moment when I am about to contribute.
Why am I saying this?
Is it necessary?
Is it true?
What am I hoping to achieve by saying it?
Recently two new people joined us at work, and this gave me another opportunity to observe speech. When somebody new arrives, I inevitably tell them things about the company, the people who work there and sometimes about myself.
But every time we tell a story, we make choices. We include certain details and leave others out. We emphasise one thing and barely mention another.
The same is true when I talk about my own past.
Am I simply describing what happened? Am I adding something? Why am I choosing this particular detail? Am I trying to create a certain impression of myself?
There is nothing necessarily wrong with telling stories about ourselves. We all do it. But Right Speech can become an opportunity to listen to ourselves while we are speaking.
What am I constructing through these words?
And Right Speech does not have to apply only to the words we say aloud.
How do we speak to ourselves?
Most of us have an almost continuous internal conversation. We comment on what is happening, judge ourselves and other people, rehearse conversations, replay old ones and imagine conversations that may never happen.
Who is speaking?
Where does all this chatter come from?
Again, we do not necessarily need an answer. We can simply begin to notice the conversation.
Zazen gives us plenty of opportunity to practise this. We sit and thoughts appear. We do not have to follow every thought, fight it or turn it into something important. We can notice it and allow it to pass.
Perhaps something similar can happen with speech.
Someone says something and an answer immediately forms in the mind. Usually the journey from impulse to mouth is extremely short.
But sometimes we might notice the impulse before the words come out.
There is the thought.
There is the desire to speak.
And then there is a small space.
Right Speech does not mean that every conversation has to become slow, serious or painfully controlled. We do not need to analyse every sentence before opening our mouths. Conversation is spontaneous, messy, playful and alive.
But perhaps we can become a little more aware of what we are doing with words.
Is what I am about to say true?
Why do I want to say it?
What effect might these words have?
Am I speaking because something needs to be said, or simply because the impulse to speak has appeared?
Sometimes we will still say something stupid. Sometimes we will gossip. Sometimes we will exaggerate, complain, defend ourselves or say something we later wish we had not said.
That too can become part of the practice.
We notice.
And perhaps next time we notice a little earlier.
Right Speech does not begin when the words leave the mouth.
Perhaps it begins in that small moment before we speak.
