rightspeech

Right speech follows on from right intention and comes down to being honest, having peoples best interests in mind, not gossiping, not bullshitting, and not trying to hurt people with words.

I think the b-man would give me a pass for my potty-mouth. He viewed language as a tool, and the people I speak to also have potty-mouths so it’s just a case of talking to your audience. The important thing is *mind*. What is the intention behind the speech?

The 4 things to avoid are:

• False speech

• Divisive speech

• Harsh speech

• Idle chatter

False speech is lying. Sorry, post-truthers, but you’re bad. You need to stop. 

Divisive speech is words that are intended to create discord. Again, post-truthers… not raising your stock on this front.

Harsh speech is words that are abusive or cruel. Err… post-truthers…

And idle chatter is pointless chatter about who shagged who after the 80’s disco last week. 

These aren’t so hard to get your head around and even the buddha kept this part of things quite short.

The key thing is that your intention needs to be good. You don’t always need to tell the truth black-and-white if it is going to cause someone unnecessary pain. You don’t need to avoid talking about the weather if doing so is a salve to your conversation partner.

It all comes back to not clinging to a lasting and permanent self, and not talking in ways that are focused on self-promotion at the expense of others.

You can have a bit of banter with your friends, but don’t let it drift into gossip or harmful jokes. Unless you’re a monk, in which case the bar is a little bit higher.

Do not use words to spread falsehoods. Do not use them to sow division. Do not use them to hurt people.

Someone could do with telling this to some of the politicians, but they are trapped in the delusion of self and pursuit of legacy; the hungriest ghosts of all.

/jb202509181329