Meditation - Sunday, January 13, 2008

Members:
Jenny, and Robert.

Our meditation focused on mindful speech and patience.

We opened with one of the usual bell invitations:

May the sound of this bell penetrate deeply
into the cosmos. In even the darkest places may living beings
hear it clearly,
so their suffering will cease,
understanding arise in their hearts,
and they can transcend the path of
anxiety and sorrow.

We prepared our bodies with some stretches and mindfulness of the body.

We followed with a gatha prescribed for phone answering:

Words can travel thousand of miles.
May my words create mutual understanding and love.
May they be as beautiful as gems,
as lovely s flowers.

(pg. 69 – Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness verses for Daily Living).

This was followed with walking meditation.

We had a reading on "right speech" from The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching – Thich Nhat Hanh)

Thich Nhat Hanh covers the traditional teachings that caution against:

1. Speaking falsely
2. Speaking with a forked tongue
3. Speaking cruelly
4. Embellishing or exaggerating the facts

He goes on to explain how our speech is directed by our thoughts so if we are practicing
right thinking we will practice right speech. Right mindfulness is also part of the practice.
Thich Nhat Hanh is constantly pointing out that all of the components of leading an enlightened
life exist together and if we really practice one part of the path properly we will be practicing
the entire path. (See the section on "The Noble Eightfold Path" in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching - Thich Nhat Hanh).

Bhikkhu Bodhi translates these elements of "Right Speech" as:

1. Abstaining from false speech
2. Abstaining from slanderous speech
3. Abstaining from harsh speech
4. Abstaining from idle chatter

(See The Noble Eightfold Path - by bhikkhu Bodhi).

Silent Meditation: 15 minutes

We had a reading from The Chocolate Cake Sutra by Geri Larkin.
Geri's great at applying our ideals to real life situations. She explains how
a lonely man named Eugene helped teach them tolerance and mindful speech
at Still Point in Detroit. There is a great lesson here in looking deeply into a
real situation and applying love but in a firm manner.
(See The Chocolate Cake Sutra by Geri Larkin, pg. 77. Tolerance).

In our open discussion Jenny and I talked about our own experiences with speaking mindfully and sometimes not as mindfully as we wish we had. Mindful speech is part of what is called skillful means. When we speak mindfully we create unity and can foster reconciliation and healing. When we use harsh words we only fuel hostility and cause increased conflict and division. Once unskillful words leave our mouth we cannot retrieve them and sometimes we are never able to repair the damage.

With Metta,

Robert