Date: 12/07/2024 12/08/2024
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Otto Huang
Dharma Talk
Between Saying and Not Saying
Once, a minister named Yushe Brahman from the Kingdom of Magadha visited the Buddha at the Bamboo Grove Monastery in Savatthi.
Yushe Brahman said to the Buddha,
“Revered Gautama! I am the kind of per son who describes accurately whatever I see with my own eyes; I report exactly what I hear with my own ears; I speak based on my own realizations without distortion.”
The Buddha did not completely agree with this approach and responded to Minister Yushe,
“Brahman! I do not say that ‘one should reveal everything one sees,’ nor do I say, ‘one should not reveal everything one sees.’ The same applies to what is heard or realized. I do not assert that ‘one should’ or ‘should not’ disclose everything one has heard or understood.
Brahman! If revealing what one sees leads to an increase in unwholesome actions and a decrease in wholesome actions, then I would not speak of it. Conversely, if it promotes the reduction of unwholesome actions and the increase of wholesome actions, then I would speak of it. The same holds for what is heard and realized.”
