DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The disaster that comes from the mouth is the following part of the sentence that people often say:

- Diseases come in from the mouth, disasters come out of the mouth:

So first I talk about:

- Diseases that come from the mouth:

In the life of every human being, every day in all the gestures of walking, standing, lying down, and sitting, you often cause all kinds of unwholesome karma. For example, when walking or standing inadvertently you accidentally step on small insects that are already guilty, so on festive days, especially on the New Year, you cause even more pity. Which is killing creatures to serve your living needs, which is depraved play like smoking and injecting drugs. On festive occasions like this, you should enjoy it liberally, so it's easy to add bad karma. Talking about oral karma, this mouth is very harmful, eating and drinking is picky and wants to swallow delicious foods for pleasure. In Vietnam in particular, and in Southeast Asian countries in general, there are dishes such as snakes, hiss, field mice, locusts, grasshoppers, etc., which both waste money and bring diseases to the body. Because plants and animals are now produced for profit, producers use chemicals a lot, if you don't know how to abstain, incurable diseases will easily be brought into the body, then make the body miserable, and the whole family has to suffer taking care of medicine is natural. Now talking about:

- Disasters come from the mouth

Briefly summarize the benefits, when you have seen the mouth and tongue of the world, then the harm will be more than the good. Do you know why the Creator created man with two hands, two feet, two eyes, two nostrils, and two ears, but only one mouth, and one tongue?

If there were two mouths and two tongues, people would be miserable. Should have listened more than spoken, to be true to nature. But in reality, many people prefer to talk than to listen. Remember, it is difficult to have a human body, to have all the six senses and to have a full mouth and tongue is a blessing. So if you take advantage of this blessed capital and plant more blessings, you will be a wise person. Therefore, cultivating the mouth is the most necessary thing and is considered to be cultivating more than half 50%.

Talking about the mouth, it is also the mouth, but if it is only used for eating, drinking, nourishing the body, used to speak and communicating in daily life, creating deep love, harmonious relations, mutual understanding, use to preach, chant, teach, transmit knowledge and beneficial things to many people. Therefore, oral karma is very important in daily life. The virtuous deeds in your life can not be done every day, but the bad words, the harsh words, and the unrighteous words can be said every day, every hour, even every minute.

Over time, as the damage caused by oral karma accumulates more and more, the blessings will all disappear from this mouth. Therefore, for those of you whose words cause damage to your virtues, your whole life will be hard and hard. Speech virtue comes and goes with everyone equally, there are many blessings that are lost through words that come from the mouth. So someone did not know that, then always said:

- I didn't do anything bad, but it's still hard and hard.

You should remember that these verbal karmas can quickly drain your blessings and thereby take away your luck in life. That makes your life always not smooth. That is why the Venerable Ones often teach:

- If the mouth always says bad words, criticizes, slanders others, says curses, and insults others, they will quickly lose their virtue and lose their blessings.

Criticism, even one that denigrates the elders, can lose its merit. There are spouses who love to complain and speak ill of their husband/wife. When there is a conflict, even the parents or the ancestors of the husband/wife's family also dare to curse, even dare to say the most difficult words to hear.

If you always resent heaven and earth, your happiness will also be lost very quickly. Those lost blessings are caused by the action of your mind. In your mind then there will be a tendency to selfishness, a tendency to resent, a tendency to envy, and a tendency to gradually become stingy, greedy, and wasteful. And this is when the blessing will be lost.

You always resent the heavens and the earth, do not appreciate what you have, always generate resentment, and through your mouth constantly speak babbles, reproach, and slander others. Then the blessing is also quickly lost.

The mouth can hurt your blessings, because blessings are standard, conditioned, are the cause and condition of harmony, it is also an expression of a kind of good energy. Life is too short, if every second,  minute you focus on something bad, you lose a minute of joy that can't be regained. So you don't have to waste your life judging other people's mistakes. Indeed, although wealth is much, as big as a mountain, the mouth that has been eaten for a long time will also run out. Blessings, through hard work, create many lives, but because of the mouth that creates karma, criticizes, and speaks evil... it can be destroyed in a moment. The ancients also taught:

- Open your mouth and say a lot of words, it will drain your spirit,

Dynamic tongues often talk right and left, more than lose beautiful or ugly, praise and blame... then have to fight, and insult each other, causing many stories of discord. That's why Buddha often taught:

- Be silent as the true Dharma, speak as the true Dharma

This Buddha wants to say, a word must help many of you understand, be peaceful, and beneficial, you will not regret words and merit is also very boundless. But be very careful in every word you say when you have to say things that cause others suffering and damage, you will have to reap the corresponding things, so don't say them. Create merit for a lifetime, but just one word of malice towards others is destroyed in a moment.

This world has had many wars, killing each other just because of ignorance, but words play an important role. These are divisive statements that incite hatred, such as:

- Stab the bag of paddy, poke the bag of rice,

- Speak up, talk nonsense.

- Talk horizontally, talk backward

- Eat on the wave, talk on the wind.

- Blatantly slandering people to the point of spitting blood on people.

Or more subtle under the sweet words of sugar cane backward by humans:

- Outwardly speaking and laughing, inside is murderous without a knife.

There are people who are very skillful in speaking sweetly to the bone and marrow. They are willing to lie to deceive people to achieve their own benefit. This will create very serious karma. Just like that will make you or the family in the house more and more miserable. It's because the blessings have all followed the insults, curses, or blame that has flown away. So this karmic mouth, in life you should definitely pay attention. The mouth should speak words to be able to keep merit, do not speak harshly about others so that you can keep blessings. That's also how each of you cultivates your own oral virtue. Therefore, the venerable ones also often teach:

- The mouth can release roses, and can also spit out ugly thorns.

If you want your mouth to always produce roses, you may need to cultivate them for a lifetime. Because when the mouth always speaks good words, the heart is also full of good thoughts, speaks beautiful words in the Buddhist scriptures, speaks good words, soft and kind, and pleases others. If you want to speak beautiful words in your mouth, you must be kind in your heart, just like the beautiful magnetic field that the universe has emitted so that you have good health.

Considered a kind heart, it is in the heart to know enough and to be grateful. Knowing enough is a kind of achievement. The more a person practices, the more he knows what is enough. Regardless of the circumstances in life around you, you always know what is enough, and being grateful can only make progress.

In the direction of oral practice, when this mind is emitted, the main energy of compassion of the universe is induced, now you will receive the blessing of this main energy, and it will create the fate for you to get blessings and good luck. This way, if:

-- If you understand people, you shouldn't say everything but keep three parts for them to understand for themselves, that's a way to save a little bit of oral virtue for yourself.

- Blaming People should not blame all the words, keep three parts for them to understand for themselves, and save a little tolerance for themselves.

- Even if you have talent, don't be arrogant, keep three parts for others to understand, and save a bit of implication for yourself.

- Even if you have an advantage over others, you should not reveal it all, keep three parts for others to understand for themselves, and save a deep convergence for yourself.

- Even if you are successful, don't brag, save the three parts for others to know for themselves, save the humility for yourself.

- To obtain morality, it is not necessary to go to war to rob, keep the three parts for others, and keep a little harmony for yourself.

Thus, cultivating virtue is actually cultivating your own temperament. If you have a good speech and good luck, you don't have to go around the corner, achievements can be obtained easily and conveniently. Meanwhile, a thoughtless word will hurt people, and you and your fortune will get worse and worse. Bad words are best not to say, that is the cultivation that you need to have. As a smart person, seeing the disasters that come from the mouth, you should never make mistakes. That's also how each of you cultivates your own oral virtue. Therefore, those who are inclined to practice oral virtue, must:

01- Speak less

Diseases come in from the mouth, and harm comes out of the mouth, so don't talk too much, because the more you talk, the more mistakes you make. In the book Mac Tu, it is recorded that Mac Tu's students once asked him:

- Is it beneficial to talk a lot?

Mac Tu replied:

- Frogs cry all day long, so loud that their mouths are tired, but no one hears them. But early in the morning when the sun rose, the rooster crowed, the whole world was shaken, and people woke up to prepare to go to work.

So call a lot, talk a lot only at the most reasonable times, you raise your voice, so words will only work.

The example that Mac Tu gives is to remind you that, in real life, you shouldn't talk much. People who talk, smart people will only say the right words at the right times!

02- Be careful with your words

Words, once spoken, should not be taken lightly. If you say it and have to correct it, it's better not to say it! Do not easily promise to others, because once you fail to do it, you will become a disloyal person.

03- Distinguishing between heavy and light words

As a human, you should be aware and distinguish between heavy and light words in each situation. Once you have uttered wild, thoughtless words, you will regret it later.

What people can express in front of others the most are words and actions, especially words. Therefore, when speaking arrogance are taboo. Arrogant will cause discomfort to the opponent, cause hatred and easily bring disaster to yourself.

04- Straight speech

Words that are too frank in many cases also cause trouble. So, instead of saying it directly, find a softer way of saying it, so the advice is:

- A wise man speaks little and listens a lot

Choose an answer, choose a question

A good man must be wise

Give way to people one step wide, the road wide is easy to go

The story of people who do not say anything

It's your story, it's wise for you to know it.

05- Words to end feelings

Those who live and know people who know us will never say words to end feelings. Instead, you will leave others some way out, save some of the merit of your mouth for yourself. Even if you blame the person, don't be so harsh that you don't give them a way back. Should give them a way out, your tolerance will be expanded.

06- Evil words

Do not use rude or malicious words to hurt others. Ancient says:

- Wounds caused by swords may heal, but malicious words are forever etched in the hearts of others, unable to be dismissed or forgotten easily.

07- Arrogant speech

People who often say these words are arrogant and egotistical. And no matter what kind of person they are, such arrogant speech is detrimental to their growth, even making others hate them.

08- Bad words behind your back

The bad words behind others' backs, most of them are petty people. Philosopher of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Sung once said:

- Bad words behind your back will crush honest and good things.

A person with the merit of his mouth absolutely does not speak ill of others, because the consequences of this can even be so severe that the world cannot be at peace.

9- Hot words

Hot words, when you say it, you will hurt others a lot. Saying without thinking, being overwhelmed by emotions, leading to angry words not only makes others uncomfortable but also the person who said the sentence is not happy.

Outbursts of anger when you are angry, and losing control will hurt both the other person and yourself. Buddha also taught: Be silent as the true dharma, speak as the true dharma, so you understand that:

- One word must help many people understand, peace, and benefit, you will not regret words and merit is also very boundless. But be very careful in every word you say when you have to say words that cause others suffering and damage, then you will have to reap the corresponding things.

As once said, creating merit takes a lifetime, but just one word of malice towards others is destroyed in a moment. Especially if you want to practice diligently and achieve success, you must avoid right and wrong things, because right and wrong take a lot of time in vain, but create a lot of karma, speech, and the knot of hatred. That's why it's not natural that our grandparents taught you very carefully about learning to talk to yourself, and the generations after you. Because blood ancestors, as well as spiritual ancestors, see very clearly that words can be disruptive, self-harm, and create terrible verbal karma. For yourself, your grandparents remind you:

If you want to say something, you must bend your tongue seven times before you speak.

It is a profound admonition to think carefully before you speak, should not like something just say something, but do not care about right or wrong, speak without thinking, and do not think your words will be blown away by the wind, and say what you like to say. Thoughtless words can make a person angry, miserable, or even die instantly if he still clings to right and wrong judgments. And especially when it's uttered by a dear, important person.

In the practice of Buddhism, there is a method of loving speech, that is, saying lovely words. The words have liberating material, and bring peace to the listeners, to the sentient beings who are privileged to hear you speak. The word love is suggested in the Four Elements of Popularity. However, if you want to have a loving language, you must have the right thought, that is, you must think right, if you think wrongly or misunderstand an issue, you will say the wrong thing and conclude wrongly. In order to have loving speech, it is also necessary to have the condition that there is no anger, ignorance, and no greed, from which to be able to say cute words. Because when you are angry you can easily say destructive words, when you are greedy you may say untruthful words and in delusion, you may say sweet words but behind that may contain consequences because it leads people into madness.

The motive of a heavy or gentle speech is very important, or rather, the idea of what the word comes from, will produce good or bad karma. The same criticism, but if you criticize with love, reflect on others to realize the truth about yourself, and live better, that criticism is good karma. And vice versa. Choosing the right words to say is the same, if you want to choose the right words, for each specific object, you must understand what your audience wants. Someone you have to say strong, straightforward words, but someone you are soft, gentle words. It is a humanistic art that not everyone, not always you can do the same because it depends on the object.

There are people who are considered lovers and friends, but they say things that are not cute. When speaking, they may also know that the statement is wrong, hurting them, and the other person also hurting; but they couldn't control it. Perhaps because of the wrongful karma of the left owner, meeting each other in the form of friends and relatives to hurt each other! Or maybe because you yourself have been nourished by the forgiveness of loved ones, you think that no matter what you say, you will be forgiven. Reliance in behavior, especially when speaking, will cause you to spontaneously arise and say painful words. But, in the end, the words containing the dagger, you yourself hurt yourself, because your mouth at that time spits out the words of the dagger, it must be painful.

In short, it is not natural that the ancients often say:

- Diseases come from the mouth, and disasters come out of the mouth.

This saying is reminded and transmitted in the world as a process of experience of the ancients. To avoid the dangers of oral karma and improve one's personality, you need to practice. During the internship period, there are moments of great silence to send a message to everyone, especially those who talk a lot, say bad words, say cruel, that:

- I do not speak because my heart is no longer wavering before your cruel words, and also for you to reduce your cruel words.

Such a practice is also a practice of compassion, a way of nurturing your mind to become more stable. Once upon a time, your Buddha had practiced such majestic silence many times when he was slandered and humiliated. You are His child, must learn from Him about silence and face it. Especially when you are still full of greed, hatred, and delusion, obstacles such as slander, humiliation, or being directed at you by daggers in someone's mouth, are also normal.

Knowing is difficult because your mind is still narrow, and your practice is not deep, but tolerating difficult things you have to practice starts with awareness, and nurturing as long as it is precious. Forbearance is knowing how to be silent, knowing how to smile even though life's thorns sting your feet. And actually, the ring is also loving you. Because if you don't know how to be patient if you don't know how to take care of the loving energy in you, then when you encounter a person's immense anger expressed by cruel words, you will also be angry. When you also react strongly, you are no different from other people.

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