sacca1

The Power of Speech

The Statistics of Talking

How much time do we spend talking ?

Sometime we spend so much time talking ( some even talk in their sleep )

and yet we don't know what we are speaking.

Often than not, we failed to use the output from our speech to create happiness

to oneself and / or others.

Statistics showed that in 24 hours, an average person speaks 25,000 words

And if we were to translate all of it, in one year, one can compile a 105 volume of books with each having the thickness of 500 pages and about 200 words per page.

The 2 Parties

1. the person who talk
2. the person who listen

The 2 Options

1. the option of silence
2. the option to speak

Many a time, we think that we must voice up our opinion, so called "our right to speak."
We often forget the other important option that is not to speak at all.

In fact, this option of silence should be our first consideration before we open our mouth to produce the sound that may or may not be beneficial to oneself and others.

The question on the Right to speak or "Freedom of speech" does not consider at all the Right not to Listen or "The Freedom to be alone."

The 2 Characteristics / Natures of speech

    1. once spoken, it cannot be retrieved / taken back
        ( it travel to the ears that will become the door to the "broken" heart)
    2. it reflects the credibility of the speaker
        ( people will judge / measure by the manner / ways we speak )

“ it is better to keep silence and to be thought a fool,
then to open our mouth to confirm it. “ - Confucius

       Words = medium that send the vibration across
            a. great words are equally powerful e.g.. quotation
            b. if one know how to use it, it can create happiness
            c. is the oldest medicine in the world that cure ( worry etc. ) - don't under estimate it

The 2 Powers

1. The Power to create
- goodness and evil for oneself, others or both

2. The Power to destroy
- happiness and sorrow for oneself, others or both

What is the sharpest sword? - wrong speech
~ The Buddha ~

The 2 Type of Speeches

The Wrong Speech

1. Lying / falsehood

speak less than it should ( deceive ) - keeping the truth away
speak more than it should ( exaggerate )

2. Slandering

intention to separate or to endear others

3. Frivolous speech

gossip , speeches that are in excess.
unecceptable speech

4. Harsh speech

unskillful , gross , unrefined , sarcastic type of speech

Note   :   the followings are not consider as lying...
                 ~ fables, stories, analogy - that carry a message of goodness.
                 ~ in a letter; " I'm sorry ....," , " I regret to inform you that .... "

The Right Speech

1. Truth

what you see, hear, understand or cognize
wisely spoken

2. Beneficial

constructive, encouragement , motivating
if one lack of faith, he grows in faith and if he has faith, it become more refine,.....

( so are generosity , virtues , knowledge and wisdom )

3. Polite & Pleasant

not sugar coating

The 5 benefits of listening the dhamma -- ( AN V: 202 )

    i. what you've not heard, now you hear
        ii. straightening ones view
            iii. clarify ones' point
                iv. remove doubt
                    v. peace and joy

The 4 type of people

    i. when worthy they praise, when blame they keep quite
        ii. when worthy they keep quite, when blame they blame
            iii. when worthy they keep quite, when blame they keep quite
                iv. when worthy they praise, when blame they blame

        Now among the 4 types, who do you think is the wise one? And why?

~ The freedom to speak is NOT what you want to speak ~

Consideration of Speech

    Before you speak, .......
      you would like to consider ....
        who you want to talk to, the subjects, the surrounding, the tone to use
            and the feeling of the listeners ...

Abhaya-raja-kumara Sutta, Majhimma Nikaya ( MN-58 )

1. Truth

if the subject is not true, there is no need for a second thought,

consider what others feel when they are being cheated.

what you see, hear, understand and cognize ( verify )
Sometime gossiper / slanderer can be all true speaker

e.g.. during election.

Counseling = a profession with the art of speaking. "The beautiful art of speaking sometime lies is the way we go about telling the truth."

2. Beneficial

will not have any unprofitable / disadvantage state to oneself.
will not have any unprofitable / disadvantage state to the listeners.
will benefit to both oneself and the listeners.

    In the conversation with Vassakara
        " whatever hear, see, understand and cognize to be true,
           there is no reason why I can't convey it to other."
        “ I'm not saying you should neither say it nor you should not,
           but only after you consider it is beneficial ...” - Buddha

“ the truth is not for all man in all occasion “ ~ Voltaire

If that person have unprofitable state ( thought ), when you speak, that negative state will subside; if not yet arise, it will not arise;
If profitable state not arise, it will arise; if already arisen, it will grow even more.

Unprofitable states are worry, stinginess, anger, .....

Profitable states are faith, generosity, virtue, knowledge, wisdom

3. Pleasant

The listeners can appreciate, happy,
Not the subject of conversation that are pleasant but the reaction of the listeners

e.g.. Breaking of the bad news

With the above 3 criterias, we can make the following permutation; The Permutation

a. Truthful - beneficial - pleasant            : dhamma, praise
b. Truthful - beneficial - unpleasant        : constructive criticism
                                                                ( most listeners don't know how to take it )
c. Truthful – un-beneficial - pleasant        : gossip - easily indulge in it ( phone for hour )
d. Truthful – un-beneficial - unpleasant    : swallow talk, ridiculous talk
e. Untruthful – un-beneficial - pleasant    : practical jokes, senseless
f. Untruthful – un-beneficial - unpleasant : exaggeration

Note: The Untruth - beneficial combination does not exist at all in the true sense.
eg. white lies ( it is a matter of time before it shows its' ugly face.
No such thing as short term benefit & long term not OK )

The Solution here is - Is there any other alternatives that can achieve the same result without telling a lie?
e.g. require certain skill or method ....

              “ An unbeneficial truth must be spoken. No matter how pleasant or unpleasant,
                No matter how we postpone it, it must be told. “
              - Unbeneficial truth is like a poison, you can't take a little bit - it is the intrinsic of it.

         " honesty is the best policy “ ~ George Washington.

A person who can tell a lie, is a person who can break any principle, any evil.

4. Timely Speech

One should not speak “ faith” to a person who is lack of “ faith” .... generosity, virtue, knowledge, wisdom ....... he will becomes more defensive.
e.g. when the tree is on fire, no bird will come near it.
when a person is really clouded, nothing can go in.
.

The choice is now not only GOOD and BAD, but GOOD and BETTER, VIRTUE and VIRTUOUS
A Test in life : You've make a promise ( spoken truth ) not to tell the secret, and later
found out that it was a murder case. You are now questioned by the
authorities if you know .... What would you say?

The Listener must also observe the Rule of Option ( choice of silence )
if one is not ready to accept the answer, then don't ask.( consider the benefit of it )
“ Are you ready for the answer ? “
.

The Purpose of speaking is to bring up the best to the person you are talking to and yourself.

One cannot decide the feeling of the listeners.
e.g.. We can't decide how other feels.
Therefore we should not let others’ feeling determine on our speech.

One should speak, not blunt but frank, not foolish but tactful, without compromising on the Truth.

The Choice of Words are very important.
The Tone of Voice reflects our kindliness.
The Intention of the Speech reflects the virtues of compassionate, friendliness, sincerity or
the ulterior motives.

Answer : The 4 type of people
He who praise when worthy and blame when neccessary because he is one who has ...
the ability to recognize good as good, bad as bad and have the courage to speak out. In others words, he has the wisdom to know when and where to say it.

-- praise = specific and sincere
( Go Back )

Answer : "To speak or Not to speak?"
Sometime one has to be cruel, to be kind.
It is how the other takes it.

An illustriation :
There was this monk invited for an alms dana at the gold-smith house. While having his meal, he saw the gold-smith's parrot swallowed a large diamond that belongs to the King. Later the gold-smith realized that the King's diamond was missing and there were no one at home at that time except the monk.

The monk knew that if he were to tell the gold-smith who have stolen the King's diamond, then he will caused the parrot to be killed. And he has chosen to keep silence in this case.

Now, it is the King's diamond that we are taking about here. Therefore the gold-smith has suspected the monk for stolen the diamond and requested him to return it back. Still keeping his promise not to tell the truth, the gold-smith become impatient and try to kill the monk.

So what will you do if you are the monk?

Sometime it is rather better to break the smaller precept and keep the bigger one.
( Go Back )