The Deeper Purpose of Mindful Speech, Part I: Observing Our Speech
What is called Right Speech is one of the central components of the Eightfold Path laid out by the Buddha as his program to eliminate suffering. Right Speech, more appropriately called Mindful Speech, has often been presented as a collection of rules for us to follow: speak truthfully, do not speak cruelly, avoid exaggeration, speak charitably, and speak kindly. While this has some value, this understanding is very superficial. Instead of starting with a resolve to speak nothing but the truth, we will do better to start further back, with a resolve to notice how many times during the day we deviate from the truth, and to follow this up by asking why we did so. Similarly with speaking with kindness. We begin not by resolving never to speak an unkind word, but by watching our speech and noticing the specific instances where we have spoken unkindly. In doing this we learn about ourselves and this puts us in a position to change ourselves. This the first step,
