Humour - wrong speach?

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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salayatananirodha
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by salayatananirodha »

bhante: i don't think a metaphor is entirely comparable to satire
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zerotime
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Re: Humour - wrong speech?

Post by zerotime »

Aloka wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 10:55 am It's worth noting that the Buddha was advising monks in your quote, and not lay people.

it seems this confussion on sila for the lay people is popular in these times.

Maybe just a personal perception. It is interesting the present obsession of some people with strict rules on sila. This is very different of previous generations who were attracted to Buddhism by the flexibility on this issue.

I don't know the reason for the emergence of this "patimokkha view" on sila for the lay people. Not sure if this can be only a cultural inheritance from the normative semitic religions, or perhaps more a psychological compensation because all the psychotic rubbish today spreaded inside societies. Who knows.

It seems clear a lay follower should take care of intentions according 5 precepts, and not much more. Goal on sila for lay people is getting protection in the world and avoid obstacles for the arising of wisdom, which can happens when there are fights, prison, personal remorses and similar. It is just to avoid problems and to keep clean the mind space, that's all

Just by looking the own intentions this is like paying a monthly rental for a humble flat. However, a patimokkha view on sila is like a mortgage to get a Palace of purification. Like bhikkhus do. The matter can be, building a patimokkha sila observance without living the monk's life can put more limits than the expected in the Buddha teaching for the lay people. And one should be ready to pay the own compromises. On the contrary, the Remorse debt-collection company maybe will appear to ask for those, and it can become an unnecessary obstacle. In the lay life, observing sila beyond the 5 precepts can be difficult or impossible to fulfill. We lack of the monk's environment. The Buddha was very wise in giving the 5 precepts so the the lay people can be able to follow this Path without leaving it.

"- And to what extent, venerable sir, is one a virtuous lay follower?
- Jivaka, when one abstains from taking life, from stealing, from sexual misconduct, from lying, and from fermented and distilled drinks that lead to heedlessness, then to that extent is one a virtuous lay follower."

AN 8.26


here is not included giving excuses to the boss, dodge suitors, lying in the job "our product is the best".. and a long etc needed to survive.



Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:36 pm Sarchasm = the enormous gap between those who get it and those who do not.
yes, Sarcasm is always risky in the lay life. And everybody knows some bad result experience with this. Never there is total security if this can be "laugh with you" or "laugh at you". However, there are relations in where the sarcasm is shared with some apparent security, although never 100%. Same happens with insults, etc.. In some jobs or friendly relations this is the rule. All together are risky ways to establish relations.

Another kammically risky and unsafe aspect of the lay life.

It is pure logics it should be avoided by monks.
Bhikkhus live and do what we don't have the kamma and courage to do. :anjali:
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salayatananirodha
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by salayatananirodha »

i wanted to revise my last comment to say sarcasm instead of satire
like, i'm not saying if someone is presenting a stage play they are engaging in musāvādā (even though acting may be unwholesome)
anyway, i definitely have been part of the group that 'didn't get it' before and it's cruel, and it teaches me to distrust what people say because it's an acceptable practice. there's nothing wrong with trusting a person to say what is truthful and not what is false, at least deliberately, however naïve
zerotime wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:21 pm here is not included giving excuses to the boss, dodge suitors, lying in the job "our product is the best".. and a long etc needed to survive.
unpopular opinion: lying is flatly unacceptable for a lay person, even at the risk of one's life, and you won't find any qualifications or exceptions in the buddhadhamma for this rule

:arrow:
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Always remember that kamma is intention. If some people don't get it and take offence at satire that is their bad kamma, not yours. The target of the How to beat your wife skit, is the wicked teaching that says it is acceptable to beat your wife. Of course, if humour pokes fun at others in a cruel and bullying way, and that is the intention, then bad kamma is the result. The usual racist, sexist, homophobic, and profane comedy — the only purpose of which is to raise laugh — is that referred to in the Tālapuṭa Sutta, which leads to the hell realms.

The Buddha could be quite scathing at times. See the Soṇa Sutta. Hypocritical Brahmins might well have taken offence at that, but the target was the wicked doctrine of regarding their own caste as superior to those of low castes.

This evil caste doctrine persists in Indian today. There, Open Defecation is still a major public health problem, because some would not empty a cess-pit, which they regard as work only for "untouchables," if they did it themselves they would defile their own caste. Squat toilets are just as healthy for clearing the bowels properly as defecating in open fields, but providing toilets and cess-pits does not solve the problem.

In cases like the above, where deeply ingrained cultural bigotry is difficult to change, satire may be the most effective way to bring about change. People need to be made to understand that the caste system is stupid, and fruitless. Personally, I think monks have a leading role to play in changing social attitudes. Rightly directed satire ridicules the stupid practice, usually by ridiculing an imaginary person, not someone real.

The Brahmin and his goat
Last edited by Bhikkhu Pesala on Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by binocular »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:29 pmThis evil caste doctrine persists in Indian today. There, Open Defecation is still a major public health problem, because some would not empty a cess-pit, which they regard as work only for "untouchables," if they did it themselves they would defile their own caste.
I've seen a documentary about the untouchables in India. In one example, some women were manually picking up human feces -- with bare hands -- from a squat toilet in an upper caste house.
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zerotime
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by zerotime »

salayatananirodha wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:46 pm unpopular opinion: lying is flatly unacceptable for a lay person, even at the risk of one's life, and you won't find any qualifications or exceptions in the buddhadhamma for this rule
for sure an extreme view. Probably a confussion between what is unwholesome and sila. Not all actions with unwholesome elements are contrary to precepts.

I did not a compilation on that but in example Devadatta was deceived by Sariputta and Moggallana in order to rescue many monks from his new sect. One can think it was right to safeguard the Dhamma, although also it happened because they were alive and they should deal with the world and kamma.

The same Buddha appears (Apannaka Jataka) as a boddhisattva merchant who should haggling over prices as a common task in his job. Haggling contains apparent unwholesome elements because there is a succesion of falsehoods until fixing the price of the thing.

Such things like haggling, job excuses, selling "the best" to customers... are not against the precepts for the lay people. A real problem can arise when somebody is possesed by an obsession with morality beyond the 5 precepts, and then some real unwholesome factors can arise as an obstacle when those unnecessary limits he has built for himself cannot be accomplished.
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Sam Vara »

zerotime wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:47 pm A real problem can arise when somebody is possesed by an obsession with morality beyond the 5 precepts, and then some real unwholesome factors can arise as an obstacle when those unnecessary limits he has built for himself cannot be accomplished.
Good point. I'm reminded of this, from Ajahn Thanissaro:
The standards set by the precepts are simple — no intentional killing, stealing, having illicit sex, lying, or taking intoxicants. It's entirely possible to live in line with these standards. Not always easy or convenient, but always possible. I have seen efforts to translate the precepts into standards that sound more lofty or noble — taking the second precept, for example, to mean no abuse of the planet's resources — but even the people who reformulate the precepts in this way admit that it is impossible to live up to them. Anyone who has dealt with psychologically damaged people knows that very often the damage comes from having been presented with impossible standards to live by.
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by zerotime »

Sam Vara wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:20 pm
Good point. I'm reminded of this, from Ajahn Thanissaro:
The standards set by the precepts are simple — no intentional killing, stealing, having illicit sex, lying, or taking intoxicants. It's entirely possible to live in line with these standards. Not always easy or convenient, but always possible. I have seen efforts to translate the precepts into standards that sound more lofty or noble — taking the second precept, for example, to mean no abuse of the planet's resources — but even the people who reformulate the precepts in this way admit that it is impossible to live up to them. Anyone who has dealt with psychologically damaged people knows that very often the damage comes from having been presented with impossible standards to live by.
thanks for this more clear quote :namaste:
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Gwi
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Gwi »

Even lie, even though joking is lying.

Humor that doesn't lie is fine.

Stand up comedy is not humor,
But "cons" (they like to make up fake stories).

However, a bhikkhu should not like
to make humor. Coz, his glory will diminish.
Bahagia Tidak Harus Selalu Bersama

Dhammapadå 370
"Tinggalkanlah 5 (belantara) dan patahkan 5 (belenggu rendah),
Serta kembangkan 5 potensi (4 iddhipādā + 1 ussoḷhi).
Bhikkhu yang telah menaklukkan 5 kungkungan (belenggu tinggi),
Lebih layak disebut 'orang yang telah mengarungi air baih (saṃsārå)'."
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta »

  • Monk:
    • Why did Buddha smile?
  • Audience:
    • Because He wanted to laugh, Venerable Sir!




A Burmese joke.

:heart:
𝓑𝓾𝓭𝓭𝓱𝓪 𝓗𝓪𝓭 𝓤𝓷𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓿𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓓𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽
  • Iᴅᴇᴀ ᴏꜰ Sᴏᴜʟ ɪs Oᴜᴛᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴ Uᴛᴛᴇʀʟʏ Fᴏᴏʟɪsʜ Vɪᴇᴡ
    V. Nanananda

𝓐𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓽ā 𝓜𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓘𝓼
  • Nᴏ sᴜᴄʜ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀs ᴀ Sᴇʟғ, Sᴏᴜʟ, Eɢᴏ, Sᴘɪʀɪᴛ, ᴏʀ Āᴛᴍᴀɴ
    V. Buddhādasa
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Dhamma Chameleon »

Sam Vara wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:20 pm
zerotime wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:47 pm A real problem can arise when somebody is possesed by an obsession with morality beyond the 5 precepts, and then some real unwholesome factors can arise as an obstacle when those unnecessary limits he has built for himself cannot be accomplished.
Good point. I'm reminded of this, from Ajahn Thanissaro:
The standards set by the precepts are simple — no intentional killing, stealing, having illicit sex, lying, or taking intoxicants. It's entirely possible to live in line with these standards. Not always easy or convenient, but always possible. I have seen efforts to translate the precepts into standards that sound more lofty or noble — taking the second precept, for example, to mean no abuse of the planet's resources — but even the people who reformulate the precepts in this way admit that it is impossible to live up to them. Anyone who has dealt with psychologically damaged people knows that very often the damage comes from having been presented with impossible standards to live by.
Yes to all this.

Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.

I'd much rather spend time with (and be) a cheeky person who can poke fun at themselves and others, than a humourless one weighed down by their interpretation and monitoring of sila. Just to be sure I tried both and the first option led to way more happiness and less suffering all round! :thumbsup:
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by Mr. Seek »

I think it's false speech in the sense that it's animal talk. Waste of time. Unless used as skill of means, albeit subtly.

Sutta about a comedian going to hell comes to mind. Also sutta about how laughing is crying.

Obviously though it's in the realm of serious practicioners
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by bodom »

The Buddha Smiles:
Humor in the Pali Canon


https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Buddh ... n0014.html

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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Re: Humour - wrong speach?

Post by bpallister »

Ajahn Brahm uses humor frequently. I don't think it's wrong speech in all cases.
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