Monday, May 9, 2011

Monday Morning Blues; precept #4.1 - Winning Boy


Jelly Roll Morton - Whinin' Boy




Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech.

Though I've only ever seen one Buddha statue depicted with its mouth open, he actually had a lot, A LOT to say, and a fair part of that was on right speech.

"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech."


 -Buddha


One of the parallels between Vipassanna and Zen practice is to see things as they truly are, starting from within. To see yourself as you truly are requires absolute self honesty. It requires whatever's behind that inner voice to suck it up and admit reality. Once we admit to ourselves who we are, with some more effort, we may begin to actually change. We might even open ourselves up to the rest of the world!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the effort you're putting into these posts on the precepts. They illuminate the deep importance of these old teachings, their role in clarifying our intentions and actions.

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  2. Without intending it, I'm wondering if this is plagiarized from you! If you want to call me on it, I'll make it up in bows, or something! *^^*

    Seriously though, much of your writing is put in a way that has helped me understand more clearly and given me a more focussed direction.

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  3. Well, if there's plagiarism involved, it's me doing it to the ancestors.

    1,000 bows, all around!

    (Great story about the gangsta downstairs!)

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  4. We can both call ourselves on the ancestors, who have explored this territory with great intimacy for the last 2,500 years!

    1,000 bows, all around!

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