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@@DougsDharma Hi Doug, big admirer of your channel since years. Can you please make a highly specific video on the journey of Buddha's enlightenment. I mean how much he travelled and how much he fasted and what he learned in those 6 years and how he remained on an empty stomach for 49 days, etc. Also you mentioned Buddha did speak harshly once or twice. Can you please elaborate more on that.
9:24 always when I reject gossip I feel at least little bit of a nice feeling, like a calmness or small happiness from not producing negative emotions out of gossiping (this person did X, that Y, they were these - bad adjective etc.), because gossiping about people in its roots is a divacive speach and often a lie due to being strewn of exagurations
@@DougsDharma hence we should never gossip in bad meaning of this world, it's like geese talking about everything-and-nothing instead of taking matter in our hands and doing healthy and good actions haha
Well done, tackling a tricky subject which seems (on the surface) to be saddled with ambiguities and contradictions. I find it useful to remind myself of the nature of the second fetter when dealing with seeming problems like those presented here. “Rites and rituals” to me include thoughtless adherence to “moral rules” in a totally (or solely) literal fashion. Use your head, one might say; or, go by the spirit (the implicit sense) of a teaching, not necessarily by the letter. Thanks again, Doug, for your edifying work!
I believe we should be especially cautious about speech rooted in taking pleasure in the suffering of others or, displeasure in other's good fortune. Gossip is often like that.
Very interesting that this both assists with crippling self doubt and thoughtless arrogance in terms of self reflecting on one's capacity. Also, kindness and truth working in parallel to do the least harm. In terms of accumulating negative information about others, surely the intention and aim to highlight one's negative behaviour is to open the door for them and others to change behaviour, but I don't feel that's why many people do it. Great as always, cheers from Scotland Doug
@@Johnoines Ouch! Please don't take that person's response negatively. I read it as trying to get at foundations and corrections that help us towards Right Speech.
@@nsbd90now I'm really not interested in your advice either. Neither of you know my situation. I advised the first commenter in a respectful manner (Right Speech).
Makes sense. The main form of focused-attention meditation I have been trained in (in addition to open-monitoring/mindfulness) involves focusing on the mental vibration of a mantra within a bodily energy center (esp. heart center and forehead center). The mind begins to take on the qualities of whatever it focuses on, so by focusing on a phrase that has a sattvic resonance and meaning we cultivate clarity and discernment and compassion, and create a wholesome subconscious karmic pattern (saṃskāra) that, with consistent practice, begins to override unwholesome patterns of thought and behavior, e.g. negative self-talk, addictions, trauma, etc.
Hello Doug! I wish you a blessed life 🙏🏻 I have a question regarding the story with the Buddha and the Naga King thst protected him from the storm. How do you interpret that from a secular point of view? Thank you! 🙏🏻
Thank you! Two thoughts arising. Is it good practice to avoid contexts or people where one might be tempted into harsh speech? Also, could it generally be appropriate to prefer silence to speech, speaking only when there is a clear reason to do so?
Both of these are great places to practice, which is to say, best to take each situation individually and decide for yourself what is most skillful in that situation.
Kamma is intention and action born from that intent, by thought, speech, body. Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort - they can all be called Right Kamma. Not good or bad, just right. We can see which of the 8 folds belong under intention, and which are actions. Also which relate to kamma by thought, which are kamma by speech, and which are kamma by body. It is obvious. The purpose of Right Kamma, i.e. of doing right, is to avoid doing "good" and "bad". Because in reality, what we deem to be good are acts that make us feel good, and what we deem to be bad are acts that make us feel bad. However, both of these acts reinforce craving, lead to attachment, and result in the making of "me, mine", which is Self, which is Selfishness, which is Dukkha. Doing right is truly right only when it doesn't make us feel good about ourselves for "successfully" grabbing more of the "good" stuff or for "successfully" avoiding the "bad" stuff. "Good/bad" only from our self-ish perspective of course. By avoiding the "me, mine" self-making trap, we effectively extinguish the causes of dukkha. Don't do good, don't fear bad, just do what's right and take no rewards for it.
Well the Pāli word is "kusala" which means in this context variously, "good at; competent, clever; skillful, skilled, expert; knowledgeable (about)". The idea is of a skill we learn how to be proficient at during a course of training.
Interpreting "right speech " can be deviated from what Buddha talk. Buddha talk " suitable or relevant act " သမ္မာ( in Burmese Pali). Telling the right speech is impossibilile when things are against individual rights or losing one's benefits and against ethics and majority rights in some cases.
Sure, well the Buddha did say that we should speak hard truths as well, even if they were painful to hear. It's just that we should do so at the proper time and place.
That was a royal mess. I will say it can be logically cohesive if we take a doctrine of particularism, where the particularities overrule any of the general rules. However, then the rules are really just guidelines, in which case, who knows what right speech is anymore? Anyone with ill intent can game these guidelines and always be able to use them to justify anything they say.
We mustn’t get caught in anachronism. These are meant, as you say, as guidelines. They aren’t anything like necessary and sufficient conditions. At the end of the day, intention is what mattered to the Buddha in all action, though he never proposed nor was interested in anything like a foundationalized ethical system.
@johnjohn8850 i can see what you mean and it is an understandable concern, but we can’t force others to be kind or share the same ideas; we can only control how we ourselves act. as long as you aim to do no harm unless necessary and you reflect and act thoughtfully, it’ll be ok.
🧡 If you find benefit in my videos, consider supporting the channel by joining us on Patreon and get fun extras like exclusive videos, ad-free audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: www.patreon.com/dougsseculardharma 🙂
📙 You can find my book here: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
@@DougsDharma Hi Doug, big admirer of your channel since years. Can you please make a highly specific video on the journey of Buddha's enlightenment. I mean how much he travelled and how much he fasted and what he learned in those 6 years and how he remained on an empty stomach for 49 days, etc. Also you mentioned Buddha did speak harshly once or twice. Can you please elaborate more on that.
9:24 always when I reject gossip I feel at least little bit of a nice feeling, like a calmness or small happiness from not producing negative emotions out of gossiping (this person did X, that Y, they were these - bad adjective etc.), because gossiping about people in its roots is a divacive speach and often a lie due to being strewn of exagurations
Yes we should be careful with such gossip.
@@DougsDharma hence we should never gossip in bad meaning of this world, it's like geese talking about everything-and-nothing instead of taking matter in our hands and doing healthy and good actions haha
Well done, tackling a tricky subject which seems (on the surface) to be saddled with ambiguities and contradictions. I find it useful to remind myself of the nature of the second fetter when dealing with seeming problems like those presented here. “Rites and rituals” to me include thoughtless adherence to “moral rules” in a totally (or solely) literal fashion. Use your head, one might say; or, go by the spirit (the implicit sense) of a teaching, not necessarily by the letter.
Thanks again, Doug, for your edifying work!
I believe we should be especially cautious about speech rooted in taking pleasure in the suffering of others or, displeasure in other's good fortune. Gossip is often like that.
"Schadenfreude" I think is the word.
Yes, agreed. It’s all to easy to fall into these syndromes.
Very interesting that this both assists with crippling self doubt and thoughtless arrogance in terms of self reflecting on one's capacity. Also, kindness and truth working in parallel to do the least harm. In terms of accumulating negative information about others, surely the intention and aim to highlight one's negative behaviour is to open the door for them and others to change behaviour, but I don't feel that's why many people do it. Great as always, cheers from Scotland Doug
🙏😊
Yes, I agree "Right Speech" is, for me, the most important and difficult aspect of Eightfold Path, particularly with loved ones...
@@Johnoines That's because power of right view and thought, is lacking. And also Sila and Samadhi are lacking.
@@Samana-Recluse I was commenting. I was not looking for advice. Please save it unless it is asked for.
@@Johnoines Ouch! Please don't take that person's response negatively. I read it as trying to get at foundations and corrections that help us towards Right Speech.
@@nsbd90now I'm really not interested in your advice either. Neither of you know my situation. I advised the first commenter in a respectful manner (Right Speech).
@@Johnoines Sorry John!
Angry speech is painful, blows for blows will touch thee - DHP chapter 17
I like the side panel list at 1:20
me too, a nice edition ^^
Those take a bit of time to construct, so I'm glad it's useful! 😄
Makes sense. The main form of focused-attention meditation I have been trained in (in addition to open-monitoring/mindfulness) involves focusing on the mental vibration of a mantra within a bodily energy center (esp. heart center and forehead center). The mind begins to take on the qualities of whatever it focuses on, so by focusing on a phrase that has a sattvic resonance and meaning we cultivate clarity and discernment and compassion, and create a wholesome subconscious karmic pattern (saṃskāra) that, with consistent practice, begins to override unwholesome patterns of thought and behavior, e.g. negative self-talk, addictions, trauma, etc.
We are all doing the best we can. Great reminders. Thank you so much.
Absolutely!
This is a challenging area. Good job on making this relevant in our time. I have work to do.
Glad it was helpful!
Real good video Doug, thanks!
You are welcome!
Thank you Doug for this video ^^
Hello Doug! I wish you a blessed life 🙏🏻
I have a question regarding the story with the Buddha and the Naga King thst protected him from the storm. How do you interpret that from a secular point of view?
Thank you! 🙏🏻
My pleasure! I have a discussion of nagas in this video: ruclips.net/video/ClPdO5Vib90/видео.html
@@DougsDharma thank you !!!
Thank you! Two thoughts arising. Is it good practice to avoid contexts or people where one might be tempted into harsh speech? Also, could it generally be appropriate to prefer silence to speech, speaking only when there is a clear reason to do so?
Both of these are great places to practice, which is to say, best to take each situation individually and decide for yourself what is most skillful in that situation.
Love from Germany... ❤️🐱🙏
Ugh. I definitely don't have Right Speech.
I’m far from perfect as well. It’s a practice.
Join the club. Lying to myself….just the beginning.
"TELLING THE TRUTH IN A LIAR WORLD" By C.V. .."EVERY WISH FULFILLED" ET.
Kamma is intention and action born from that intent, by thought, speech, body.
Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort - they can all be called Right Kamma. Not good or bad, just right.
We can see which of the 8 folds belong under intention, and which are actions. Also which relate to kamma by thought, which are kamma by speech, and which are kamma by body. It is obvious.
The purpose of Right Kamma, i.e. of doing right, is to avoid doing "good" and "bad". Because in reality, what we deem to be good are acts that make us feel good, and what we deem to be bad are acts that make us feel bad.
However, both of these acts reinforce craving, lead to attachment, and result in the making of "me, mine", which is Self, which is Selfishness, which is Dukkha.
Doing right is truly right only when it doesn't make us feel good about ourselves for "successfully" grabbing more of the "good" stuff or for "successfully" avoiding the "bad" stuff. "Good/bad" only from our self-ish perspective of course.
By avoiding the "me, mine" self-making trap, we effectively extinguish the causes of dukkha.
Don't do good, don't fear bad, just do what's right and take no rewards for it.
Oh, so that is why the judge refused me bail. Joke.
When you say the word skillful, is it being used the same as the word useful. If so, why not just say useful.
Well the Pāli word is "kusala" which means in this context variously, "good at; competent, clever; skillful, skilled, expert; knowledgeable (about)". The idea is of a skill we learn how to be proficient at during a course of training.
Interpreting "right speech " can be deviated from what Buddha talk. Buddha talk " suitable or relevant act " သမ္မာ( in Burmese Pali). Telling the right speech is impossibilile when things are against individual rights or losing one's benefits and against ethics and majority rights in some cases.
Sure, well the Buddha did say that we should speak hard truths as well, even if they were painful to hear. It's just that we should do so at the proper time and place.
That was a royal mess. I will say it can be logically cohesive if we take a doctrine of particularism, where the particularities overrule any of the general rules. However, then the rules are really just guidelines, in which case, who knows what right speech is anymore? Anyone with ill intent can game these guidelines and always be able to use them to justify anything they say.
We mustn’t get caught in anachronism. These are meant, as you say, as guidelines. They aren’t anything like necessary and sufficient conditions. At the end of the day, intention is what mattered to the Buddha in all action, though he never proposed nor was interested in anything like a foundationalized ethical system.
@johnjohn8850 i can see what you mean and it is an understandable concern, but we can’t force others to be kind or share the same ideas; we can only control how we ourselves act. as long as you aim to do no harm unless necessary and you reflect and act thoughtfully, it’ll be ok.