Blessing Ten:
Artfulness in Speech
Artfulness in Speech
B. UNWHOLESOME SPEECH
From our study of self-discipline in Blessing Nine, we already know to avoid the different sorts of unwholesome speech described in the Tenfold Path of Unwholesomeness [akusaladhammapatha] — these go beyond lying to enumerate no less than four different sorts of unwholesome speech which should be avoided:
1. Telling lies
2. Divisive Speech
3. Harsh Speech
4. Idle Chatter
B.1 Telling Lies
Telling lies means saying or writing words that are untrue in order to take advantage of someone else. As this subject has already been dealt with in Blessing Nine, no further detail will be repeated here.
B.2 Divisive Speech
Divisive speech or malicious gossip is speaking divisively to set one person against another. There are four components to malicious gossip:
1. There is someone to set against one another;
2. You have the intention to set one side against the other.
3. You make the effort to speak divisively;
4. You manage to make yourself understood;
The amount of evil involved in speaking divisively depends on several factors:
1. The Debt of Gratitude between the Perpetrator and the Victim: If you speak in such a way as to cause your own parents’ marriage to break up or to set up one of your teachers against another or to set one monk against another, the evil will be very heavy. The degree to which the victims are divided: If the victims are completely unable ever to get back together again, the evil will be very heavy.
2. The Strength of the Intention behind wanting to cause a division: The stronger the divisive intention, the heavier will be the evil.
3. The amount of effort put in to making a division. The more the effort the heavier the evil
B.3 Idle Chatter
Idle chatter is speaking purposelessly just to pass the time. There are two components to idle chatter:
1. To have the intention to talk about something meaningless: Meaningless words are the sort of words that don’t lead a conversation anywhere.
2. Speaking those meaningless words
The seriousness of retribution of idle chatter depends on the importance of the meaningfulness that you impede be speaking. Even those who always speak in a joking way that lacks seriousness don’t have to wait for next life to see the results of their misdeeds — no-one will take them seriously. The amount of evil involved in idle chatter depends on several factors:
1. Amount of chatter: The heaviness of the retribution depends on whether you chatter a lot or a little.
2. How much the speaker is believed: The more others are taken in by what we say, the worse will be the retribution.
3. The strength of the intention: The stronger the intention the worse the retribution.
B.4 Harsh Speech
Harsh speech includes swearing or insulting others to the degree that it upsets them. Harsh speech even includes sarcasm and sarcastic comparisons. There are three components to harsh speech:
1. There is someone to insult
2. The speaker has the angry intention to insult that person
3. The speaker gets down to insulting that person
The amount of evil involved in speaking harshly depends on several factors:
1. The Debt of Gratitude between the Perpetrator and the Victim: If you speak in such a way as to insult your own parents or teachers, the evil will be very heavy. The evil is also heavy if the victim is of high mental attainment.
2. Whether the insult is to their face or behind their back. An insult to someone’s face is worse in its retribution than an insult behind their back.
3. The strength of bad intention behind the insult. The stronger the bad intention, the worse will be the retribution.
4. The amount of effort behind the insult
B.5 Retribution of insulting those of virtue
There are eleven forms of disasters befalling monks who (unfoundedly) verbally abuse others who have already attained the stages of sainthood:
1. failing to attain the due mental attainments;
2. falling away from the previous mental attainments;
3. their Sadhamma will become clouded;
4. will delude themselves into thinking they have already attained Sadhamma;
5. will become discontented with pursuing the Brahma-faring;
6. will commit monastic transgressions;
7. will give up the training and fall back into the low (household) life:
8. will be struck down by grave illness;
9. will be struck down by madness or mental distraction;
10. will commit mortal blunders, and;
11. has the hell realms as an afterlife destination.
AN.XI.6
Thus if at all possible, whether concerning a monk or not, never be someone to find fault in others. Always try to look for the good in others. You may notice the weaknesses of others. Observe them, remember them but don’t use them as the subject of conversation. If you are always immersed in the good deeds of others then even if you try to think of evil things you will be unable to. You won’t be tempted to find fault with that person or that person to the degree that you end up finding fault with people who have no fault.
B.6 Disadvantage of saying too much
Most people in the world believe that they are men of principle. However, when it comes to speaking, many find that they just say what they feel like. If people do have a governing principle about the things they say, then usually they just try to say the things that are pleasing for the other person to hear. The trouble with such a principle is that people will always say what is easiest to say instead of saying the things that need to be said. Such a principle, when you come to speech at the level of politicians or those in power will impede the progress of the country because politicians are always saying what is easiest to say instead of speaking out about the things in society which ought to be changed.
If one has no clear principles then the more you speak, the more damage you do. The people of old had the saying that, “The more you say the more trouble you create.” The reason is that when we have already said all that is beneficial and necessary to say and we keep on speaking then the next things to come out of our mouth are worthless or harmful speech such as gossip, slander, abuse, chatter and lies. Thus the people of old said, “Keep what you have to say to minimum and you will minimize your problems. However if you refuse to speak at all then no-one understands you!” Thus we all have to say something, but for our own benefit we should clearly understand the nature of speech and the principles of artful speech that is beneficial so say so that we can be confident in selecting the things we say or keep to ourselves.
B.6 Disadvantage of saying too much
Most people in the world believe that they are men of principle. However, when it comes to speaking, many find that they just say what they feel like. If people do have a governing principle about the things they say, then usually they just try to say the things that are pleasing for the other person to hear. The trouble with such a principle is that people will always say what is easiest to say instead of saying the things that need to be said. Such a principle, when you come to speech at the level of politicians or those in power will impede the progress of the country because politicians are always saying what is easiest to say instead of speaking out about the things in society which ought to be changed.
If one has no clear principles then the more you speak, the more damage you do. The people of old had the saying that, “The more you say the more trouble you create.” The reason is that when we have already said all that is beneficial and necessary to say and we keep on speaking then the next things to come out of our mouth are worthless or harmful speech such as gossip, slander, abuse, chatter and lies. Thus the people of old said, “Keep what you have to say to minimum and you will minimize your problems. However if you refuse to speak at all then no-one understands you!” Thus we all have to say something, but for our own benefit we should clearly understand the nature of speech and the principles of artful speech that is beneficial so say so that we can be confident in selecting the things we say or keep to ourselves.
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