Mindful Speech

Just as any of our actions can have a benevolent impact, our speech also has the capacity to bring others a feeling of being accepted, revered, or respected. The practice of generosity can also be incorporated into your speech by being generous with words of kindness.

Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten

Dear Dharma Friends,

By virtue of having taken our refuge vow, we hold the intention to practice the eight-fold path. An important part of this path is the practice of right speech.

Speech is the venue in which we express our thoughts and feelings as well as the medium in which we communicate with the world. It is a very important aspect of our life and we cannot pay enough attention to it since it carries such wide reaching consequences. Sometimes our speech can cause hurt without our intention to do so. The impact of our speech can be felt very strongly by those receiving it and all the while we may be unaware of that effect. We might say something that the person it is directed to experiences as belittling or sarcastic and negative. This causes hurt even when not intended. We can speak in a casual fashion out of habit. Speech can operate almost automatically - just like walking or breathing - or it can be practiced with a thorough intention. Right speech is ethical speech that is in alignment with truth and does not cause hurt or division. The best thing we can do is to practice mindful speech which includes checking our underlying intention, as well as the quality of what we are trying to express.

All we need to remember is that our speech has an impact on the world and that we could call right intention to mind. We don’t necessarily need any radical modifications to the way we speak. Speech is not always one’s own creation but is partly conditioned by the culture and environment within which we live. For example, there are words, phrases, and slang that are used often in any given culture that can have unwholesome connotations or that objectify others. When we engage in that speech, it will keep us in that lower state of consciousness which eventually becomes a hindrance to our inner growth. So we need to reexamine the very nature of the language we are using every day and bring some changes to it in order to align it with our intention of mindful speech.

Just as any of our actions can have a benevolent impact, our speech also has the capacity to bring others a feeling of being accepted, revered, or respected. The practice of generosity can also be incorporated into your speech by being generous with words of kindness. We can intentionally practice giving kind words to others. By doing so, we bring them joy through praising their qualities in a gentle tone of voice. Everyone has the experience of happiness through hearing kind words or even reading kind words of appreciation and love on a birthday card. This is just one example of how to be generous and use right speech to create happiness in others. By bringing humor and kind words, we give a gift to someone that allows that person to be touched by the grace of life.

Life is like sailing on the sea; sometimes the surface is very still and it's easy to maneuver, and other times the surface can be agitated by turbulence. We have to learn to use discernment to manage the rough seas. Sometimes we may not want to say what is on the tip of our tongue, but rather consider the impact it might have and whether it is aligned with what is beneficial in the moment. Therefore, skillful speech has to do with our assessment of the complete situation in order for our speech to have the beneficial result we desire.

During this sojong, I invite everybody to hold the intention to practice mindful speech and to consider changing one’s own habits to create more happiness in the world through the generosity of kind speech.

With palms joined, Anam Thubten