Hi Venerable Sir,
Can you please let me know what constitutes as idle chatter? This is one of the precepts which deviates the most from social norms hence want to know how this precept can be practiced in lay life without significantly causing problems to us.
Thank you in Advance.
With Metta
Dear Abhishek,
Idle chatter is defined in the suttas (e.g. MN41) as follows:
If you have friends who are interested in Buddhism and the spiritual life, you are more likely to have useful conversations. So the sort of friends we have is an important factor. Another is our priorities. If your social life has a high priority, whereas meditation has a low one, then you will tend to get into more idle chatter. And only you can set priorities for your life.He is a gossip: as one who tells that which is unseasonable, that which is not fact, that which is not good, that which is not the Dhamma, that which is not the Discipline, and he speaks out of season speech not worth recording, which is unreasoned, indefinite, and unconnected with good.
Having said this, it is important not to get too idealistic too quickly. Idle chatter is the fourth of four ways of wrong speech and is therefore the least harmful. Let your practice mature gradually and allow this aspect of virtue to grow quite naturally. You can experiment a little with restraint in speech, but be careful not to take it too far too soon, or you might just create too much suffering for yourself.
With metta.
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