Principle of "Truthfulness" P2/2 - precepts

Principle of "Truthfulness" P2/2 - precepts

The Four Precepts, by Suvannavira.

Buddhism usually teaches four speech precepts:
I undertake to abstain from false speech,
I undertake to abstain from harsh speech,
I undertake to abstain from useless speech
I undertake to abstain from slanderous speech.

And their positive counterparts:
Truthful communication I purify my speech,
Kindly communication I purify my speech,
Helpful communication I purify my speech,
Harmonious communication I purify my speech.

Four precepts are not just four qualities of communication,
not just four independent qualities.
They can be seen as four levels of communication,
each level being higher than the preceding one.
Each higher level requiring a higher level of awareness.

So we can look at each of the positive counterparts as independent qualities,

and as a level of communication.

We can look at them in everyday terms, and from the perspective of spiritual development.

1/ So beginning with Truthfulness.

I undertake to abstain from false speech,

Truthful communication I purify my speech,

We’ve already looked at this.

As our first level of communication it means saying what we really think,

meaning knowing what we really think,

it means saying what we know independently of parents, teachers, friends,

independently of what we’ve read in books and online and seen on the TV.

2/ Then moving on to kindly speech.

I undertake to abstain from harsh speech,

Kindly communication I purify my speech,

It means not rough speech.

Not shouting, swearing, or just talking non stop without listening,

or just trying to be the only one talking.

It means not gaslighting, not being judgemental.

It means not changing what someone else say,

often quite subtly changing what someone else says, to their detriment.

You say something and the other person say, ‘I am assuming you mean such and such’.

Maybe the ‘such and such’ is a view they love to hate,

and they attack you for having ‘such and such’ a view.

So kindly speech isn’t just kind,

it can be gentle, it can be gentle but firm,

we can speak in a pleasant tone of voice, using beautiful language,

where we listen as well as talk,

talking with respect for the other person,

and responding to what they actually say,

so paying a lot of attention to what the other person says,

so we look at them, maybe we look at them in the eyes.

All of this is included in kindly speech.

Let’s look in particular at the question of white lies, lies for the good.

People often experience truth and kindness as being opposites,

as being mutually exclusive.

You can be kind, but not truthful.

You can be truthful but not kind.

You can’t be both kind and truthful.

But let’s look at a story from the life of the Buddha,

so see how to resolve the problem.

The Buddha’s teachings are important,

but also stories from his life are important,

they show how the Buddha acted in everyday situations.

The was a woman called Kisa Gotami, who has a child,

only sadly the child died.

But Kisa was not able to accept that fact.

She kept carrying the baby around, asking people to bring her baby to life.

She got into a state, and people started to think she was mad.

Children started throwing clumps of earth at her.

Eventually she found her way to the Buddha.

She asked him if he could heal her child,

and he said yes. She was beside herself with joy, and hope.

But under one condition he said, yes, yes, yes, yes ….

You bring me a mustard seed …. that is easy to do ….

From a house where no one has died.

So Kisa joyfully ran off to fulfill her task.

Of course she didn’t find a house where no one had died,

and slowly it dawned on her that the dead are many, and the living are few.

She returned to the Buddha to tell him and was ready to bury her baby.

The story demonstrates the Buddha’s skill in communication,

his ability to be kind and tell the truth at the same time.

Speaking with awareness of others

We start being aware of others with quite practical steps.

We can simply look at another person,

we can notice how they are reacting.

Do they seem happy and relaxed,

or do they seem tense, and irritated,

or holding down what they are really feeling?

We can simply look people in the eyes,

let them know we are taking them in as a fellow human being.

Sangharakshita taught that the spiritual essence of kindly speech is love,

and what love really is is being aware of the

And not accroding to roles and projection.

We’ll look more at roles and project later.

3/ Helpful speech:

I undertake to abstain from useless speech
Helpful communication I purify my speech,

Sometimes this precept is translated as helpful speech,

sometimes it is said to be meaningful speech,

which means we don’t talk nonsense, we don’t talk rubbish.

As helpful speech it starts with giving people the information they need.

But it also means not giving unwanted advice,

not everybody always appreciates being given advice.

Following the preecpt means knowing what to say, but also what not to say.

On a higher level it also means being appreciative,

which includes being able to see the positive in a situation,

and express it.

There is a story in one of the apocryphal gospels,

Jesus is walking along the roads of Galilee with disciples,

and they see a dead dog, a dead dog does not look nice,

and Jesus said, “what beautiful teeth”.

So appreciative speech meaning being able to see the positive.

On the highest level this precept means being able to

raise the level of conscious and being of another person by our speech.

Maybe they are raised up by honesty,

by a work of art or poetry,

by the Dharma meaning an expression of truth.

4/ Speech promoting harmony between people.

I undertake to abstain from slanderous speech.
Harmonious communication I purify my speech.

What is slanderous speech?

The Buddha taught it as repeating words in this place,

something that you heard in another place,

to the detriment of the people in the other place.

Also repeating words that you heard in this place,

in another place,

to the detriment of the people in this place.

Harmony occurs when there is no:

power in relationships, everybody is free to say what they want and do what they want.

Misunderstandings, we see others and they really are without projections.

In the Pali Canon there is the story of the Aniruddhas,

three monks living together in perfect harmony.

They each reflect why should I do what I am minded to do,

why not do what my friends in the good life are minded to do?

They all see what is needed to be done,

and do it without any fuss.

Their harmony is described as the blending of water and honey.

Harmony depends on real communication,

communication which is very receptive and attentive,

and we explore the spiritual word in complete honesty and openness.

Sometimes we may sit in silence and that is enough.

Our four levels start with truthful communication, where we say what we really think,

then kindly communication, where we see the other person as they really are,

then helpful communication, where our words raise them to a higher level of consciousness and being,

and end with harmonious communication, where we are in complete openness, honesty and harmony about all aspects of our lives with our friends.