This morning, Sensei introduced the revered ‘Speech Saint’ to the Monks. Speech Saint was a guest of the Monastery. The interesting aspect about Speech Saint was that he rarely spoke!
Head Monk came up on stage and explained, “A few years ago, Speech Saint began to meditate on the speed of speech. He figured that the speed at which thoughts travel from the mind to the lips, and then become words, was faster than the sound of light. This intrigued him. He realized that if that process could be slowed down, many of us would not have to regret what we spoke.
So he meditated on the path of thought to speech and slowly and gradually slowed the journey down. He attained his enlightenment in doing so.”
Sensei addressed the Monks and said, “A few days ago, I asked Speech Saint about his technique. He wrote me this letter – Sensei, while I was thinking of how to slow my thoughts from becoming words, I saw a letter that had been written to me by a disciple very far away. The letter had taken a few days to reach me. That moment I realized that if I could think of my thoughts as a letter, slowly reaching my lips and then changing the content just before the letter was opened, I would be able to succeed in my meditation. That is what I did.”
Sensei continued, “The mind can write anything it wants. You become the postman of those thoughts. Deliver them at ease and even change the words if you want, before you deliver them…”
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