Right Speech
You must be kind to others. You must foster a caretaker personality of gentleness and perseverance, even in the midst of adversity.
There are really only three important things to remember in life: To care, to share, and to be fair.
A way of spreading the dharma is just telling people, sharing with them your experiences. Never push it, never be a missionary. Be completely selfless; realize you're only an instrument of eternity.
Care, but don't be pushy! Don't preach about enlightenment to people who don't really want to hear about it.
Share the way by being a good example.
Be fair. Don't present your version of the truth to others. Lose your ulterior motives! Be accurate and pure in your presentation of the way, and you will become the way.
The purpose of all of this is not to walk around with new vocabulary words, but to cause you to speculate on the marvel of your own being.
The etiquette is higher consciousness, sensitivity, gentleness, gracefulness, intensity, power, and knowledge.
It is good to have respect for all beings because who knows what anyone can do?
We interact with others and we decide who we are. Are we reclusive? Are we outgoing? Are we successful? Are we going to be a failure? We cast a role for ourselves and we step into it.
We must be able to deal with ridicule and scorn, which it always seems that Buddhists receive. But we feel that it doesn't matter. God's laughing at us; God's laughing at God. We can take a joke too. We're pretty funny.
You don't want to become so sensitive that you can't interact with people in the world. If you get to that point, you are not practicing psychic development. You are running away from the world, and you've made yourself weak.
Self-discover is not as someone would have us think, a heavy, awesome, moral process where everyone sits around and frowns. As you progress towards enlightenment, you become funny.
Enlightenment is not about being political. It is not a social club. Ashrams often turn into that, I know. Societies of enlightenment often just become cliques.
I think cosmopolitan spirituality is the best, where we go beyond "My teacher is better than yours" or "My meditation form is better than yours." It's not Ford versus Chevy. But it's rather the transition of our limited awareness into eternity.
Feel the underlying meaning of the teachings that are espoused by me or anyone else. The word's don't mean much. Words are supposed to be catalysts for higher states of attention. That is where the action is.
