On Right Speech

It seems that I continue to receive some very confrontational and even
offensive messages from people who are incensed that I would criticize their
unflawed, perfect and righteous tradition. Please understand I have no intention to
belabor debate.

When I criticize various traditions and religions (including Theravadan
Buddhism) for assumptions, beliefs or practices that I find unproductive for the
greater good, or the journey to nibbana, I invariably encounter some criticism.
The typical argument is based upon invoking the Noble Eight Fold Path, by
questioning whether my criticism is a violation of Right Speech (samma-vaca).

What the Abhaya Sutta, MN 58, says on the issue of speaking out, when an
issue seems to be harming to the dhamma, I found very interesting. I recommend
reading the whole sutta, it is only a few pages. But I will not burden you with
the whole thing here. I will just quote a few stanzas.

Please note the Buddha was speaking from his point of view, so please do not
assume that I am saying that I am a Tathagata . I only want to point out,
that anyone in the greater sangha has a right and a responsibility to challenge
beliefs and practices in the sangha that they do not believe follow the dhamma.

Abhaya Sutta, MN 58

"Now at that time a baby boy was lying face-up on the prince's lap. So the
Blessed One said to the prince, "What do you think, prince: If this young boy,
through your own negligence or that of the nurse, were to take a stick or a
piece of gravel into its mouth, what would you do?"

"I would take it out, lord. If I couldn't get it out right away, then holding
its head in my left hand and crooking a finger of my right, I would take it
out, even if it meant drawing blood. Why is that? Because I have sympathy for
the young boy."

"In the same way, prince:

[3] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true,
beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper
time for saying them."

[6] In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true,
beneficial, and endearing & agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time
for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living
beings..."

"Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was
overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost,
or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in
the same way has the Blessed One -- through many lines of reasoning -- made the
Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the
Sangha of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone
to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn058.html

Please understand I am not invoking the authority of a Tathagata. I am only
saying that anyone in the greater sangha has a right and a responsibility to
"place upright what was overturned," or to speak out on beliefs and practices
of their tradition or religion that they perceive as unproductive to the dhamma
and sangha. I do not however believe that gives anyone the right to
endlessly filibuster for their agenda. Because there is a right time and place for
everything.

Access To Insight has a excellent discourse on Right Speech (Samma-Vaca)
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/samma-vaca.html

May you become enlightened in this very lifetime,

Jeff Brooks