Silence is Golden (And Less Troublesome!)
July 8, 2008 Those who have listened to me talk in the last several months know I am having trouble speaking due to vocal cord damage.
A few days ago I arrived back in Nanango, Australia where I am living in a small Buddhist community. I had mentioned to Celine this morning that my throat was painful again, and she responded that I had been speaking too much yesterday at the centre but could be quiet today. So, I used the Etch-a-Sketch like board she had gotten for me to write questions, etc. during the morning. At lunch, however, I didn't have the board handy so started to join in the conversation. (We are social creatures of habit and remaining quiet even when everyone knows we're not to talk still feels antisocial.) So I began to talk, but Celine reminded me I was not to talk and jokingly said what I was going to say was not that important anyhow.
And she was absolutely right.
What I was about to contribute to the conversation was unnecessary. The conversation about the garden Nancy and Kelly were working on continued beautifully without me. What I was about to contribute wasn't important. There's nothing unusual about that. (No. Not just for me. ;-)) Much of what most of us say isn't important. Now, a little unimportant conversation to be polite to others isn't that bad, but how many of us stop at "a little."
How much of our time is spent in unnecessary conversation every day? One hour? Two? Whatever it is, it adds up. And how many times in that unnecessary conversation do we say something that irritates or even hurts another person? However many times we did, it was that many times too much. For the sake of meaningless conversation, we will have created an enmity. One that we will encounter in the future.
So while I do not in any way recommend you go out and damage your vocal cords, I do recommned you consider before you speak. Is what you are about to say really important? Would it be wiser to simply remain silent.
Reader Comments (2)
Your article makes me think that it's good to be silence once a while. Instead of using our voice (+ mouth), let it rest for a while so we could just listen and observe. Perhaps,we will create lesser bad karma from our mouth during our silence.I do agree that we should think before we speak. However, most people will tend to speak before they think, especially when one is angry.
I've come across a very valuable word printed on a bookmark from Amithaba centre years back : "Chant more, Speak less" (translated from chinese) which i've keep in my mind and heart. Like many other layman, I am still working hard to learn not to speak so much and only speak when necessary. Being silence perhaps is a good tool to control our mouth.^^
Hope you are better now. Get well soon.
May all be well and happy
Still learning,
Layman
Yes, the easiest way not to create bad speech karma is to simply keep our mouths closed. It's so difficult to do though! I think a lot of it is ego. We believe we have something important to say. But I've noticed in the past months that upon consideration of what I almost said, I discover that it was completely unnecessary.
Thank you for your concern and for contributing to the conversation here.