Karma Law for Evil-Speaking People

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The Buddha taught that evil-speech or evil-speaking is one\r\nof the four unwholesome things belonging to speech (wrong speech, sexual talk,\r\ndouble-tongue, evil-speech). It can make people feel remorse in their life\r\nafter saying it.

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Effects of speech are that they can appease a broken heart,\r\nrelieve sad mood. Gentle words, timely advice can change negative thoughts of\r\nother people, and then it will gradually change unwholesome behaviors and\r\nactions.

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On the contrary, speech can lead people to abyss of guilt,\r\nmake people feel remorse in their whole life. Wrong speech, or evil-speech is\r\none of the reasons that lead to the mentioned results.

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Be careful with bad karma

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It is easy to be seen through the causality in Buddhism.

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Wrong speech, or evil-speech is rude, wicked, abusive,\r\nuncivilized and unethical words in communication.

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Of course, harsh or loud speech in some level is not\r\nevil-speech, especially in the teaching of parents for their children, teachers\r\nfor students.

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In the sutra, there is a religious teaching:

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A person heard that the Buddha is very merciful, virtuous,\r\nso a person deliberately came to inveigh against the Buddha. However, when the\r\nperson was inveighing, the Buddha kept silence without response.

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After the person inveighed, the Buddha asked:

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- If you give a gift to another person but he does not\r\nreceive it, who will the gift belong to?

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- The person answered that the gift still belonged to\r\nhim.

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The Buddha spoke:

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- Now, if you inveigh against me but I do not receive\r\nit, you are inveighing against yourself. It looks like the echo is created by\r\nsound, and its shadow is created by a shape. It could not be avoided.\r\nTherefore, be careful, avoid saying abusive, evil-speech!

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(Extracted from the Sutra of Forty-two chapters)

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According to the causality law in Buddhism, an action, word,\r\nidea, thought of body, mouth, mind, regardless of wholesome or unwholesome,\r\nwill lead to its certain result.

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If actions, words, thoughts are repeated again and again,\r\nthe results are clearer, have stronger effects on daily life of that person.

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Therefore, there is a sentence “When doing anything, you\r\nmust think about its consequence,” or “Bodhisattvas fear causes; living beings\r\nfear effects.” It means that wisdom, enlightened people are always careful, and\r\nthey consider the consequence when doing, saying or thinking about something.

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But deluded people keep doing, saying, acting emotionally to\r\nbe satisfied for themselves but feeling worried when knowing the result.

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Unpredictable consequence

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For people who usually use rude, wicked, abusive words,\r\nfirstly, in their daily life, they show that it is themselves that show a life\r\nlack of personality, morality, civilization in speech, communication and then\r\nlow their reputation. People around them will gradually keep away from them.

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Their relatives will be partly influenced by these\r\nevil-speeches. If parents use evil-speeches with their children, the children\r\nwill take the speeches, and in their maturation, they will be influenced by\r\nthis unwholesome factor.

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If a child is raised and educated in an environment having\r\nmany unwholesome factors, it is a certainty that he will be partly influenced\r\nby the factor. If a child says rude, wicked words, it is also a certainty that\r\nhis parents and teachers cannot be away from being heart-broken.

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Especially, in today’s society, it is not a rare that some\r\nonline friends on social network such as facebook, twitter, etc. usually use\r\nevil-speeches, rude words to offense other people. Maybe, they think that those\r\nspeeches are not for a certain person, not direct to anyone, it will not be\r\ndangerous. However, in reality, it is very dangerous not only with\r\nevil-speeches but also with a mouse click to show support and agreement. If\r\nrepeating the action for many times without being ashamed or advised, it will\r\ngradually become a habit. In Buddhism, it is called Karma, which will dominate\r\nthe life of the person. Therefore, an evil-speech, evil-mouth can lead to an\r\nunpredictable consequence.

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Thich Hue Nhan

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Translated into English by Huynh Thi Thao.

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