seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

ego is so important." The layman, looking at his watch, responds, "Yea, same here! I've been
seeing that the ego's concerns are so petty, in fact the ego, itself, is so petty... Hey! Gotta go
- I'm late for the New Trainee meeting."
As he departs, one priest says to the other, "Would ya getta load of that! He hasn't
been here two months and he thinks he understands how petty the ego is already."
And the man reading the newspaper chimes in, "The nerve..."
The cartoon strip illustrates some of the Right Speech problems people on the Path
should avoid. That the priests are gossipy and snipe at the layman is an obvious error. That
they are casually discussing their intellectual insights into Buddhism is another. And that
they are engaged in a kind of one-up competition with each other is a third. That they are
trying to impress the layman is a fourth. And the eavesdropping bystander commits yet a
fifth error in Right Speech.
There are many other ways to err.
Many people think that Right Speech has something to do with Free Speech and its
related Constitutional rights and responsibilities. This confusion frequently allows political
activism to contaminate religious life; and, unfortunately for the heroic crusaders who dwell
within our breast, few things are as harmful to a person's spiritual practice than political
activism.
When government is immoral, society looks to its religious leaders to promote
change. Sometimes, as is often the case in undeveloped countries, a religion is the only
organization available to form an opposition. Sometimes, ironically, it was the unwarranted
intrusion into secular matters by the religion, itself, which engendered the poverty,
oppression and corruption which the people are engaged in opposing. But no matter, whether
trying to change conditions for which they are largely responsible or whether trying to change
conditions for which they are entirely blameless, religions seem always to get involved in
politics.
Unripened religious professionals, believing it incumbent upon themselves to set
society straight on moral issues, frequently can be found marching in protest lines or parades.
They do not realize that by publicly protesting injustices of one sort or another they are
practicing Six-Worlds' Chan. Don't warn them that if they expend all their energy correcting
the misconduct of others, they'll have no strength left to root lust or greed out of their own
hearts. They are prepared to make the sacrifice.
Charge that their devotion to the issue far exceeds their understanding of the issue and
they will rebuke you, gnashing their teeth in vehement denial. They are authorities on Good
and Evil. They have studied the issue (nuclear energy, alien rights, ozone depletion, military
CHAPTER 13 RIGHT SPEECH
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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