Greetings.
Thank you for being with me.
My name is Shane Wilson and I would like to spend a few moments with you and guide you through a meditation that is based on the third step of the Buddhist Eightfold Path.
And this step is skillful speech,
Or what might be called right speech.
Speech as we know is very,
Very important,
Whether it's directly talking with somebody or even doing a broadcast or a recording such as this.
The tenets of speech are that it be truthful,
That it does not have any falseness in it,
Especially when it's a deliberate lie,
Something that we should definitely stay away from because it does affect our karma as a result.
Another area of skillful speech is that it be non-malicious to abstain from slanderous speech,
Not to use our words as weapons.
This is something that we hear and probably witness quite a bit these days,
Unfortunately.
And just like telling a lie,
Malicious speech is a type of speech that can work against our karma as well.
And that's true with the remaining two areas of speech and that being gentle to abstain from harsh words that offend others and that our speech be meaningful,
That we don't use useless or meaningless speech.
In other words,
To abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.
So to speak the truth and to refrain from using our words as weapons,
To speak softly and to avoid useless chatter,
These are the areas of skillful or correct speech that the Buddha was talking about in step three of the Eightfold Path.
And I would like to lead a meditation about this area of the Eightfold Path and about this area of life.
So if you would please make yourself comfortable.
I invite you to close the eyes.
We're going to try to recall the last or the most prominent time that you told a lie to somebody.
Now try to recall either the most damaging lie or the most recent lie that you told another person.
We all tell lies.
They might be small,
Little,
What we call white lies or they might be a big lie.
But just see if you can recall the details leading up to that lie.
Was it a gentle,
Subtle untruth?
Was it a deliberate lie?
Is there enough clarity to realize that this lie was told in some way to better yourself or someone else?
Can you see what led up to this lie and how it unfolded?
Review every fine detail of how this lie came about,
No matter how painful it might be.
Notice how you feel about this lie at this moment.
What happens to your body when you review this lie?
Is there a tension or a feeling of uneasiness?
Notice if you can catch yourself possibly trying to justify this lie.
Is this a lie where you told yourself that you had just cause for telling it?
But what if you had chosen a different path,
Such as noticing the level of mindfulness at that time that the lie was told and incorporating mindfulness of speech,
Which may include not speaking at all or speaking directly from the heart.
If you would have spoken with mindfulness or directly from the heart,
Would the lie not have been spoken at all?
And instead of trying to justify this lie,
Perhaps it's time to let it go and simply forgive yourself for telling this untruth.
And know that by forgiving your unskillful speech of the past,
You're also letting go of unnecessary tension and uneasiness,
Allowing peace to enter.
Now that you can remain mindful and present with your speech now and in the future,
Perhaps this will guide your way for more mindful,
Skillful speech in the future to come.
Was there a time when you told a story to another that you exaggerated the truth to make you feel more important or substantial in some way?
Have you ever talked negatively about another when they were not present to defend themselves?
Can you remember a time when you spoke negatively about another one and they found out about it?
And did you have to lie to cover up what you said?
Was there ever a time when you or someone you knew lost a friend because of malicious speech?
How would a person's reputation stand in your mind if you heard that person talk negatively about another person?
If you heard a complete stranger talking negatively about another person whom you didn't even know,
Would that make you feel uneasy?
If you talked bad about another person and didn't realize that they were right behind you,
How would that make you feel?
One skillful speech in the form of malicious talk about another is damaging to friendships and to the reputations of all involved.
Think of a time when you were in a room,
Maybe a public place that was overly loud,
With a lot of noise and with many people loudly trying to talk over each other just to be heard.
How was your clarity and stillness of mind at that time?
Think of how the situation felt and how the stillness of mind while in that type of situation is different from this present moment.
Remember back to a time when you were bothered by someone using rude and loud unskillful speech.
How did you feel about this situation?
Can you remember a time perhaps when you were young,
When you heard words so hurtful that it put you in tears?
Think of a time when you were in the presence of a person who spoke very sincerely,
Lovingly and gently.
Were you calm and at peace in this person's presence?
Can you remember a time when you heard words from another that seemed to have a silent power,
A calmness that could bring about a feeling of kindness and love?
Can you remember hearing the words of another that were so kind and caring that they brought tears of joy to your eyes?
Such is the power of skillful speech.
Self-reflection is investigation and taking a good look at ourself as if looking in a mirror.
And often it involves stepping into the past as we have done with this meditation.
We do this in order to take a close look at our past activities and the activities of others,
Not to judge but to learn from.
But we seem to have a continual dialogue with the self,
Within the self.
This seems to be going on nearly all times of the day.
This is often looked at as thinking or thought,
But it can manifest from an inner speech to an outer speech.
So we should be mindful of this inner speech as well as our outer speech.
It's impossible to have unskillful speech as long as we are mindful.
We could actually use this unskillful speech as a monitor for our lack of mindfulness when we're off of the meditation cushion.
As long as we're watching our speech,
We are being mindful.
By talking,
We are transferring our thoughts from mind into words.
And these vibrations go into others' ears and travel throughout the world in many different forms through recordings,
Through the memory of others,
Of the words we said.
We can also use the mind to stay with this entire process,
The process of speech,
That of turning the information we receive through our senses from a thought into words into speech.
And if this process is done with mindfulness,
We will be practicing skillful speech.
Thoughts turn into words.
Words turn into actions.
Actions of body,
Speech,
Or mind.
These actions turn into habits,
And these habits define our character.
And this character is our destiny from one life to the next,
To the next.
Thank you for listening.
