This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditation: Noticing Inner Speech -- Is It Beneficial? Idle Chatter? Kind?

Hello friends, hello and greetings from Mountain View, California. I'm seated alone. Hope you are well in this moment in time and delighted to continue our exploration together this week in the important practice of wise speech that we engage with every day externally and internally.

Today we will explore two of the invitations or directions that the Buddha gives us about wise speech. Given that there are six I want to explore and we have five days, so today we're going to do two. And the two today are: is it beneficial? Is it connected to the goal of the path, or is it idle chatter? So we're going to actually bring all of those together in one. And the other one is: is it kind? So, is it beneficial? Is it kind? So we will begin with exploring that, exploring these in our inner speech, in our inner practice, and then we'll explore them with Dharma. So let's begin.

Let's land in our bodies. Let's arrive in this moment in time together.

Letting there be a sense of uprightness in the body. Upright, but not uptight. A sense of uprightness, of integrity, in acting with your values. Why am I here? Why am I sitting, practicing in this moment in time? Answer that for yourself.

And after connecting with your intention, sending your intention toward this period of practice with kindness. Directing, turning your awareness inward to the body. Sensations of the feet on the earth, stabilizing, grounding. Sensations of your sit bones, your bottom on the cushion, the chair, your hands on your lap. These touch points... help them ground you.

Connecting with the breath and the abdomen, the lower part of the body, so that there's a sense of grounding, settling.

Connecting, becoming aware. Aware of the sensations of the breath in the body. Calm and settle. And then when thoughts arise, the inner speech arises, let us know not to be entangled with or absorbed with, but just to know: is this inner speech beneficial? Is it connected with the goal of the path? It's connected with my intention in this moment. Is it beneficial to me? Beneficial, defined in that way. Is beneficial connected to the goal of the path in this moment, or is it idle chatter? Simply getting to know. And if you decide it's idle chatter, can you be kind and maybe smilingly, smilingly let go?

And also noticing the tone of this inner speech. Is it kind? Is it spoken with a mind of loving-kindness towards yourself, towards others? Shining the light of awareness, of mindfulness on our inner speech.

And then when you've seen, when the heart has known, has seen with mindfulness and released, let go. Let the breath, the sensations of the breath in the body be primary. Settling, calming, centering.

Let the body be relaxed, the mind relaxed, and noticing the landscape of the mind, the heart. Seeing it with kindness, not deluding ourselves, and gathering, collecting with the breath, or with the sensations of the breath.

And we just utter and listen to silence with it, which is what's most beneficial in this moment, internally. Listening to the silence, kind silence within.

And as we turn to the end of this sitting together, let there be kindness, a heart, a mind of loving-kindness towards yourself for having showed up, for having practiced as best as you were able to, without an attachment to outcome in a particular way. You've done your best, letting go of any self-judgment. Let there be appreciation for yourself and others, this wonderful Sangha^[1], other practitioners who support you by their showing up for their practice collectively. Let us all recognize the goodness co-created here and offer a share of this goodness, this merit, to all beings everywhere.

May our turning towards goodness, this goodness serve not just myself, but all beings everywhere in ways I cannot imagine. May all beings be safe from harm, inner and outer harm. Be happy and joyous, be healthy as much as possible, and have ease in their lives, especially those in challenging circumstances around the world right now: natural disasters, wars. May especially those be free from suffering. May all beings be well. May all beings be free, including ourselves.

Wise Speech (4/5): Not Idle, Beneficial, & Imbued with Loving-Kindness

Greetings everyone, I'm delighted to be continuing to share these important teachings on wise speech, part of the Eightfold Path, the third path factor. So, wise speech, appropriate speech, not only important in the way that we impact the world—not just with our speech, but with our writing, our texts, our tweets, with their phenomenal speed and reach—but also how it shapes and forms who we are. So taking it on not just as a set of moral rules that I should not lie, I should not speak what's not beneficial, but really as an internal scaffold of who we are, to form our own karma. The person we are, the person we are becoming, is a sublime training.

One way that an author, James Clear, the author of the book Atomic Habits, a great book, puts it in a secular way, but really it's about how we build our karma, is about our actions. And note that in Buddhism, actions aren't just physical actions, they are mental actions. When you think, that's considered a mental action. Speech, the action of speaking, and of course physical actions. So action really takes everything into consideration. So with this quote, consider action in all these ways, including speech. So from James Clear: "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity."

I love the way they think about every action as a vote for the type of person you wish to become. So I want to be more ethical, I want to not speak idly and just blah, blah, blah.

So with this now, this being the fourth day we've been discussing this, I want to remind us of what we've discussed so far. So the first was: is it true? What I'm about to say, is it true and factual? There's some nuances of factual, it's not just our perception or our emotions, but also is it factual, supported by facts? So is it true and factual was the first one I discussed on Monday. And then the second day we discussed: is it divisive? Is it divisive or does it create harmony? Then we added some nuance to both of those. And then yesterday we discussed: is it harsh and abusive, or is it gentle? Is my speech uttered in anger, both internally and externally of course, or is it gentle, soothing to the ear, agreeable, as the Buddha directs us to speak? Thank you.

So today we're going to add two more, and tomorrow the last one. Is it idle chatter, or is it beneficial? These are from two different teachings, as I mentioned the first day, but just to remind you, the Buddha gives in one list four definitions of what is wise speech. And in another teaching he gives another five, and they kind of map, but not quite, and if you put them together you end up getting six. So, maybe I'll share that on the last day, given the remaining time. I'll just move on.

So is it idle chatter? Idle chatter is considered unwise speech, or wrong speech, inappropriate speech. And idle chatter, any talk that's not associated with liberation and freedom and the Dharma, for monks, is considered idle chatter. And the word actually for idle chatter in Pali is an onomatopoeia, it's a word that sounds like what it is. It's samphappalāpa^[2]. The first 'p' has an 'h' after it, so samphappalāpa is like samphappalāpa, right? You get the sense. So any speech that's not associated with liberation for monks—they have a higher standard—is considered samphappalāpa. We're lay people, we have a different standard. We do engage with others in a social way, with our coworkers, with our friends, family. Speech has a way to bond, has a way to make relationships, and not every conversation will be about liberation. And yet, to consider, is it idle chatter? Are we just opening our mouths to just fill the space, blah, blah, blah? Are we feeling uncomfortable with silence and just rushing to fill it in? How are we feeding our mind with what we say, and also what we consume? Are we consuming samphappalāpa, just blah, blah, blah, just like idle chatter? Social media, idle chatter. Yeah, somebody went on vacation, okay, great, I'm happy for them, but is it all samphappalāpa? What are we consuming? What are we putting in, and how are we engaging? Are we indulging because we are trying to get our self-sense, or are we getting riled up?

So all of these questions about why am I speaking. In fact, there is a great acronym from the teacher Jonathan Faust, and the acronym is WAIT: W-A-I-T. And it stands for "Why Am I Talking?" I love that. Why am I talking? So, internally: why am I talking? Why am I talking in this moment? Why am I talking? And having a little bit of humor with that can be helpful. Why am I talking? What is my intention right now? What is my intention? And again, it goes back to the intention. Why am I talking? Am I just filling space, or is it beneficial? Is it beneficial for my own benefit, for others' benefit? And benefit not of greed, hate, or delusion, but is it connected? Benefit is defined as the goal of the path. So whatever is connected to the goal of the path is considered beneficial, for my benefit, other people's well-being. Benefit in this way: why am I talking? Why am I talking?

So the Buddha instructs us to abandon idle chatter. "Abandoning idle chatter, one abstains from idle chatter. One speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, and the Vinaya^[3]." Vinaya is the rules for the monks, so this part was for the monks. And then, "One speaks words worth treasuring." I love this: one speaks words worth treasuring. "Seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal. Words worth treasuring." So that is one question to ask ourselves: is what I'm engaging with idle chatter, or is it beneficial? Bringing those together.

And then the other directive the Buddha gives us, I want to cover that in the time remaining, is: am I speaking with a mind of loving-kindness? Am I speaking with a mind of loving-kindness? And in shorthand, this guideline is often expressed as: is it kind? What I'm saying, is it kind? And I like the shorthand, "is it kind," because it's short, and yet I don't love the shorthand, and I'll tell you why. Because "is it kind" is cutting ourselves short of the goal of how actually the Buddha speaks it. You know, the directive in the sutta^[4] is given: "Am I speaking with a mind of loving-kindness?" Yes, it's a mouthful, it's long, but it's different from just being kind. You can say something that's kind but may not be completely spoken with a mind of loving-kindness, right? You can just try to be kind. Yeah, great, it's a great start, please say things that are kind, wonderful, it's a great start. But imbuing, speaking with a mind, with the heart of loving-kindness, is the more wholesome, the more complete aspiration for training ourselves. Am I speaking with a mind of loving-kindness? And yes, of course, whatever comes from that mind of loving-kindness, spoken with that, then it is spoken with kindness, it is going to be kind. But that is the invitation.

Imbuing our hearts with a mind of goodwill for ourselves, for others, 360 degrees. So not just speaking for their benefit and to our own detriment, or the other way around, but really kindness 360 degrees. And in fact, in another teaching, the Buddha says that one doesn't say something that's to one's own detriment. So this mind of loving-kindness covers it all. It's not just other-focused, it's really internally and externally focused, because you are part of all beings. This being is part of all beings. So for the benefit of all beings, no one left out. And imbuing our hearts, our minds, with loving-kindness before we speak can support us to minimize the agitation of remorse and regret later.

So a lot of beautiful teachings, just grateful to the Buddha for all these beautiful teachings. And tomorrow we will turn to the last one, which is: is it timely? Is it the right time? As with all these things that we have discussed so far, if they are satisfied—yes, yes, yes—but it's not the right time, it's still not wise speech. And the Buddha gives some beautiful teachings about is it the right time, and that I'd love to share with you tomorrow.

So thank you so much, everyone, for your practice today, for your showing up. And for today's practice day, I'd like to invite you to become sensitive to your speech in regards to these two things. One is, is it idle chatter? What I'm consuming and what I'm speaking, is it idle chatter, or is it beneficial? And bring in this acronym: WAIT. Why am I talking? Why am I talking in this moment? Is it better to be silent? And then also, am I speaking with a mind, with a heart of loving-kindness? What am I bringing in here? Am I speaking with a heart of loving-kindness? And if you feel like it's juggling too many balls, just pause. Pause, come back to your body. It's okay to have silence. It's okay to be silent for a moment, get your bearings, get reconnected with your body, heart, and mind, and engage again.

So thank you all, delighted to be practicing together. Thank you for your practice. May you be well. May you be free. See you tomorrow.