Barbara Ann Kipfer - What Would Buddha Say?: 1,501 Right-Speech Teachings for Communicating Mindfully

When I ponder the question What would Buddha say? what first comes to mind isnt words at all, but rather an image. It is an image of a person, seated. The face expresses inner peace and kindness, combined with resolve, strength, and fierce loyalty to depth and directness, where everything extra is stripped away; a face that has experienced great joy and significant difficulty. One hand touches the earth, representing a connection to peace and compassion. The other hand wields a swordnot as a weapon, but representing the ability to cut through obstacles and falsehoods, clearing away the brambles to get to the simple and powerful truth that lives within each of us. Togetherthe face, a hand touching the earth, and the sword of compassionthey remind and encourage us to speak truthfully, without embellishment, and with the intention to help others.

What will you say? Isnt this the question?

Here Barbara Ann Kipfer serves us a rare meal. She combines a variety of ingredients: words to encourage right speech, essays to guide our speech during everyday life, and meditations on skillful speech meant to support us in finding our grounding. Each course contains words to guide our inner and outer communication. Some of these words are gentle, like a hand touching the ground. Other words have the power to cut through to the core of our being, like a sword.

Words are powerful. One way to view our lives is through our words. Our lives can be seen as one word following another, one sentence after another. Notice how our inner dialogue shapes our outer dialogue. See how our speech shapes our decisions and our actions. Pay attention to how dynamic and changing our lives arewe areand the need to grow and deepen and align our deepest intentions with what we say.

My scientist colleagues are fond of saying that our brains are story-telling machines, weaving our thoughts, story after story. Through deep listening, we can become more aware and more intimate with these stories, and little by little transform and align our inner and outer speech.

Underlying the practice of right speech is a core teaching of the Buddhathe teaching of impermanence, the fact that everyone and everything changes. Everythingyou, others, relationships, and our environment. How does right speech manifest at this time in your life, with the motivations and aspirations you currently experience, with the relationships you have in this chapter of your life? And how can you more deeply connect to your direct experience in order to communicate more authentically?

What stories do you tell yourself? Do you see the world through the lens of doubt and mistrust, or do you notice how love is being communicated? This practice, of noticing love, can reframe and transform how you experience yourself and others. Just this simple practice of noticing. How do you communicate love, with and without words?

Please, take your time with the words in this book. Relax, sit down, have a cup of tea. Let yourself drink in these words. Can you hear each sentence with an open, fresh, and curious mind? These are not just ordinary words. These are words meant to be considered, absorbed, and most of all practiced.

May our words create mutual understanding and love.

Marc Lesser CEO, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute