Wiser by Day
Stung by Words · Lesson 1 of 6 · Free
Everyone is blamed
Understand why words sting, sort what is true from what is not, and answer without handing over your day.
Listen at your own pace
Listen to Everyone is blamed
Playback starts only when you choose Play. The recording includes the teaching and reflection prompts. Quiet practice time is separate from the recording.
Read the recording transcriptThe lesson
Welcome. Few things stay with us like a sharp comment or a slight. Over six short days, we'll practise taking words more lightly, and more usefully. Today, we start with a plain fact.
They blame him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed.Traditionally attributed to the Buddha · Dhammapada, verse 227
F. Max Müller, 1881
The verse calls this an old saying: they blame the one who stays silent, the one who talks a lot, and the one who says little. Nobody escapes. That isn't exactly comfort, but it is relief. If every way of being draws criticism from someone, then one criticism isn't proof that you did something uniquely wrong. It's what happens to people. Today we only practise seeing it that way, as ordinary weather.
Try it for yourself
A short reflection
Recall a recent comment that stung, a remark or a silence. Keep it small. Notice where you feel it: chest, jaw, stomach. Then silently say: people are blamed whatever they do. Let that sentence settle in beside the sting. You don't need the sting to go. If it's too much, you can stop at any time. Take three minutes.
One question to write about
What was said, in the plainest words you can find?
You can reflect without writing. Nothing you think or write on this page is collected.
Recording transcript
This text follows the recorded narration. Source credits for the quoted passage appear above.
Welcome. Few things stay with us like a sharp comment or a slight. Over six short days, we'll practise taking words more lightly, and more usefully. Today, we start with a plain fact. From the Dhammapada, a collection of early Buddhist verses, in Max Müller's translation of 1881. They blame him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed. Traditionally attributed to the Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 227. The verse calls this an old saying: they blame the one who stays silent, the one who talks a lot, and the one who says little. Nobody escapes. That isn't exactly comfort, but it is relief. If every way of being draws criticism from someone, then one criticism isn't proof that you did something uniquely wrong. It's what happens to people. Today we only practise seeing it that way, as ordinary weather. Recall a recent comment that stung, a remark or a silence. Keep it small. Notice where you feel it: chest, jaw, stomach. Then silently say: people are blamed whatever they do.