Exploring how compassionate speech and mindful listening can transform our lives, Jack shares how we can navigate culture’s web of lies by using the energy of Wise Speech to truly awaken.
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“[Wise Speech] is really about compassion—it’s being aware of the power of speech, and using it to express what is conscious and what brings freedom.” – Jack Kornfield
Exploring the third step of the Eightfold Path, Jack mindfully shares on:
- Wise Speech / Right Speech as a factor of awakening
- Compassion, non-harming, and embodying Buddha Nature
- Ram Dass’s “Hopi-Hippie Be-In” and what it means to ‘speak the truth’
- Navigating culture’s and advertising’s web of lies
- Speaking from your deepest truth and knowing
- Buddha and using the energy of speech to awaken
- What it means to truly listen to another human being
- Compassionate communication and listening
- Discerning your intention and motivation when talking to people
- Speaking like a Buddha and treasuring our speech
- The simple pleasure of talking and communication
- Using your words for justice, truth, love, and wisdom
- Letting go of pride and needing to be right
- A “Wise Speech” guided meditation
- Chanting the seed syllable “Ah”
“The key to listening and speaking wisely is the intention—our intention to learn, to discover, to hear something that we haven’t understood.” – Jack Kornfield
“The possibility, if we are to live an awakened life, is to foster that speech that comes from our deeper knowing.” – Jack Kornfield
This Dharma Talk recorded in 1992 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.
Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of new dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.
Listen to more from Jack:
Tune into Ep. 109 of Heart Wisdom: This Too Shall Pass
Learn about Living with a Peaceful Heart in Ep. 91 of Heart Wisdom
Check out Ep. 90 of Heart Wisdom to learn about Healing Through Loving Awareness
Listen to more Stories That Open the Mind, Mend the Heart and Lead to Joy with Jack Kornfield in Ep.92 of Heart Wisdom
Tune into Ep. 102 of Heart Wisdom: The Wisdom of the One Who Knows
Check out Ep. 1 of Heart Wisdom to gain wisdom on Impermanence
Feature Image via Ratana21