Transformation of ethical speech among contemporary Buddhist and Jewish teachers in America

Speech is where our private thoughts and emotions become public; where what is silent becomes vocal and what is personal becomes interpersonal. The quality of its expression reflects the extent of our spiritual development. Both Buddhism and Judaism describe what kind of speech conduct is congruent with the tradition's highest goal and consider it essential in fulfilling that aspiration. But research on the actual experience of cultivating such verbal activity is notably absent. This study explores the dynamic process of evolving speech behavior that is in accord with Buddhist and Jewish ideals. The main research question is: How do we transform ordinary habits of talking into a spiritual practice of ethical speech?;Using organic inquiry within the transpersonal approach to qualitative research, the study answers the question through the "good person criterion." Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen teachers of the Buddhist and Jewish traditions who are exemplars of fulfilling the precept or commandment to speak in a wholesome, holy, or ethical manner. Individual narratives reveal the teachers' distinctive journeys of psychospiritual transformation. The details of their personal experiences address three aspects of the process: (1) how they understand the concept of ethical speech as propounded in the authoritative texts of their religion; (2) how they have learned to apply, in daily life, the speech-ethics prescribed by their spiritual path; and (3) how they teach it to others. While there is no magic formula, each teacher, according to personal inclination, has employed a variety of internal and external means to implement the tradition's teachings on speech conduct. No one claims overnight success. Beyond preceptual restraint and behavior modification, it is ultimately a matter of transforming the heart and mind from an egocentric orientation to a state of feeling and knowing that is informed by the tradition's understanding of Reality. Preliminary comparisons are drawn between Buddhism and Judaism regarding their definition of "right speech" or "ethical speech" and the path leading to it, and thus toward the tradition's end point.