Right Speech in Real Life: 14 days

Fourteen days on how we talk: messages, meetings, criticism, silence, and repair, each grounded in a short passage.

Right speech is the path factor most people meet a dozen times a day. The Analysis of the Path (SN 45.8) defines it in one line: “Refraining from speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical.” Other discourses add when to speak, how, and with what intention.

This path takes those definitions into ordinary situations: a message you are about to send, a meeting where you want to be right, criticism you need to give, and the conversations worth repairing.

Scope. Day 1 is a complete free preview. Days 2–14 are part of Daily Dharma Plus.

All 14 days

  1. Day 1What right speech leaves outSN 45.8
  2. Day 2Five questions before sendingAN 5.198
  3. Day 3Not even as a jokeMN 61
  4. Day 4Words checked before and afterMN 61
  5. Day 5Carrying words between peopleAN 10.176
  6. Day 6Like a broken gongDhp 133–134
  7. Day 7Four lines on speaking wellSnp 3.3
  8. Day 8True, useful, and well timedMN 58
  9. Day 9No one escapes blameDhp 227–228
  10. Day 10Five ways they might say itMN 21
  11. Day 11Food the guest declinesSN 7.2
  12. Day 12Not everything seen needs sayingAN 4.183
  13. Day 13Kindly words as a linchpinAN 4.32
  14. Day 14Dung, flowers, or honeyAN 3.28

Day 1 is published here in full. Days 2–14 are in the iPhone app with Daily Dharma Plus; each title above links to the source text it is built on, which is free to read.