THIRD STEP

RIGHT SPEECH

WHAT, now, is Right Speech? It is abstaining from lying;
abstaining from tale-bearing; abstaining from harsh language;
abstaining from vain talk.
There, someone avoids lying, and abstains from it. He speaks the
truth, is devoted to the truth, reliable, worthy of confidence, is not
a deceiver of men. Being at a meeting, or amongst people, or in the
midst of his relatives, or in a society, or in the king's court, and
called upon and asked as witness, to tell what he knows, he answers,
if he knows nothing: "I know nothing"; and if he knows, he answers: "I
know"; if he has seen nothing, he answers: "I have seen nothing,"
and if he has seen, he answers: "I have seen." Thus, he never
knowingly speaks a lie, neither for the sake of his own advantage, nor
for the sake of another person's advantage, nor for the sake of any
advantage whatsoever.
He avoids tale-bearing, and abstains from it. What he has heard
here, he does not repeat there, so as to cause dissension there; and
what he heard there, he does not repeat here, so as to cause
dissension here. Thus he unites those that are divided; and those that
are united, he encourages. Concord gladdens him, he delights and
rejoices in concord, and it is concord that he spreads by his words.
He avoids harsh language, and abstains from it. He speaks such words
as are gentle, soothing to the ear, loving, going to the heart,
courteous and dear, and agreeable to many.
[In Majjhima-Nikaya, No. 21, the Buddha says: "Even, O monks, should
robbers and murderers saw through your limbs and joints, whoso gave
way to anger thereat, would not be following my advice. For thus ought
you to train yourselves:
"'Undisturbed shall our mind remain, no evil words shall escape
our lips; friendly and full of sympathy shall we remain, with heart
full of love, and free from any hidden malice; and that person shall
we penetrate with loving thoughts, wide, deep, boundless, freed from
anger and hatred.'"]
He avoids vain talk, and abstains from it. He speaks at the right
time, in accordance with facts, speaks what is useful, speaks about
the law and the discipline; his speech is like a treasure, at the
right moment accompanied by arguments, moderate and full of sense.
This is called right speech.
Now, right speech, let me tell you, is of two kinds: 1. Abstaining
from lying, from tale-bearing, from harsh language, and from vain
talk; this is called the "Mundane Right Speech, which yields worldly
fruits and brings good results.
2. But the abhorrence of the practice of this four-fold wrong
speech, the abstaining, withholding, refraining therefrom-the mind
being holy, being turned away from the world, and conjoined with the
path, the holy path being pursued-: this is called the "Ultramundane
Right Speech, which is not of the world, but is ultramundane, and
conjoined with the paths.
Now, in understanding wrong speech as wrong, and right speech as
right, one practices Right Understanding [1st step); and in making
efforts to overcome evil speech and to arouse right speech, one
practices Right Effort [6th step]; and in overcoming wrong speech
with attentive mind, and dwelling with attentive mind in possession of
right speech, one practices Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence,
there are three things that accompany and follow upon right
attentiveness.