3. Buddhist Communication Ethics
After the Buddha achieved enlightenment, the first people that he communicated his insights to were five ascetics at the deer park outside of the holy city of Banaras. To them he presented the Four Noble Truths that essentially served to diagnose the true human condition, present a vision for healing, and propose the path for the realizing of that vision. The first two Noble Truths constitute the diagnosis part of the Buddhist pedagogy. The Buddha observed that the essence of mundane life was unsatisfactory because of the existent reality of impermanence of all things in the world. By observing the processes of birth, aging, sickness, and death, etc. as well as all the other phenomenal events, the Buddha was able to give these realities a common descriptive name—suffering or unsatisfactoriness (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, SN.5.11). The second truth locates the root of this unsatisfactoriness as due to the ignorance of the true nature of reality, causing one to have craving (tanhā) for things that do not bring about lasting happiness because they are ultimately impermanent. The Buddha listed three kinds of craving—craving for sensual pleasure, craving to become, and craving to get rid of unwanted things. Having made the diagnosis, the Buddha subsequently presented a vision of hope that is contrary to the condition of suffering that one experiences in life. That vision is stated in the third Noble Truth, which declares that human beings do not have to be enslaved to this perpetual cycle of unsatisfactoriness, that one can put an end to the suffering in one’s life by achieving freedom from the various desires mentioned above. Finally, this vision of eternal bliss can be realized by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path with its threefold training of morality, concentration, and wisdom in order to attain freedom.
In the Nidāna Sutta of the Saṃyutta, the Buddha extolls the Noble Eightfold Path as the “ancient road travelled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past” which leads to cessation of aging and death, volitional formations (S.II.12). It leads to “suffering’s appeasement” (S.II.15), cessation of form, feeling, perception, consciousness, clinging (S.III.22), and cessation of kamma (karma) (S.IV.35). It is the raft that takes one to “the further shore, which is safe and free from danger” (S.IV.35). Of course, this further shore is none other than nibbāna itself. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The path translates the Dhamma from a collection of abstract formulas into a continually unfolding disclosure of truth. It gives an outlet from the problem of suffering with which the teaching starts. And it makes the teaching’s goal, liberation from suffering, accessible to us in our own experience, where alone it takes on authentic meaning” (Bodhi, 1998, p. v).
Communication in context of Buddhism is part and parcel of the Buddhist project to eliminate suffering for sentient beings as laid out in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The evaluative criteria then are whether the act of communication contributes to reducing suffering for the person performing the act as well as the person(s) affected by the act. Thich Nhat Hanh (2014) asserts that communication is not neutral because it impacts our karma. “Our communication is what we put out into the world and what remains after we have left it. In this way, our communication is our karma. The Sanskrit word karma means ‘action,’ and it refers not just to bodily action but to what we express with our bodies, our words, and our thoughts and intentions.” Therefore, communication, in the Buddhist understanding includes even thoughts that are not spoken or physically carried out. Thoughts, the moment they are produced, can have either positive or negative effect on the thinker as well as those who are around him or her. While many have emphasized on the third (right speech), fourth (right action), and fifth (right living) elements in the Noble Eightfold Path as especially pertinent to Buddhist communication ethics, the fact that thinking is already a communicative act affirms that the first two elements of right view and right thought are equally important to a well-rounded Buddhist communication approach.
In his conversation with the silversmith Cunda, the Buddha gave four precepts for right speech (Bodhi & Thera, 2000 10, 17, 10 (PTS5, 262)). These include abstaining from false, slanderous, unkind speech and instead practicing truthful, peaceful, friendly, and helpful speech. While the precepts directly pertain to speech, we can easily generalize them to communication as a whole. Telling the truth (abstain from lying), refraining from exaggerating, being consistent, and using peaceful, non-violent communication are all conducive to reducing personal and collective harm and suffering. Nevertheless, from the life of the Buddha, we can see that skillful communication does not mean communicating the sane way to everyone irrespective of each person’s disposition and emotional and intellectual state. Neither does restructuring the message appropriate to the individual nor even silence towards a matter implies hiding or bending the truth.
The seventh element of right mindfulness in the Noble Eightfold Path has also been given much attention in the field of communication and beyond. In recent years, the notions of ‘mindful communication’ and ‘mindful journalism’ have found popularity in both Asian and Western societies. Books and research papers have been written on the subject; seminars and workshops on mindfulness have also garnered a high degree of interest in the corporate world. Apple organized a special talk on “Mindful Communication” while Google has invited guests to present on the topics of “mindful work,” “mindful leadership,” and “mindful connection.” Thich Nhat Hanh himself was invited to give a presentation at Google on mindfulness to great enthusiasm of his audience. However, at Google, Apple as well as in many other places, mindfulness was not always explicitly presented in connection with Buddhism, even if the source of inspiration is abundantly clear.
Mindful journalism is the application of the concept of mindful communication to the field of journalism. Shelton A. Gunaratne who advocates mindful journalism says that the elements of this genre have been derived by delving into the Buddhist phenomenology found in teachings and sermons of the Buddha, the rules and regulations governing monastic life, and Buddhist commentaries that constitute the Buddhist canon (2015, p. 1). Gunaratne says that mindful journalism is “not profit making but truthful reporting without institutional restraints that might defile the clarity of the trained journalist’s mind” (p. 5). Moreover, at its best, mindful journalism will co-exist with other genres and become “formidable example of enlightened journalism” for other genres that aim to produce commercially driven news (Ibid). Mark Pearson and Sugath Senarath, despite grounding their understanding of mindful journalism in fundamental Buddhist teachings readily admit that they do not propose that those who practice mindful journalism should have to become Buddhists (2015, p. 156). Rather, mindful journalism is a specific instance of mindful communication in the public interest (Pearson, 2015, p. 171).
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