Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Communication is a critical life skill, particularly in the contemporary world of 24/7 social media. We'll look at what the Buddha had to say about skillful speech and apply it to communication more broadly. We will also look at examples of difficult conversations in the Buddha's day.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
☸️ Free mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org.
🎙Check out my podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: digginthedharma.com
✅ Videos recommended:
Practicing Buddhist Right Speech: Pervasive, Wise, and Difficult -- youtu.be/vjYeXuIR3Lc
Buddhist Right Speech and Promoting Social Justice -- youtu.be/pWJuC5js0oI
Buddhist Right Speech: How Does it Relate to Free Speech? -- youtu.be/xX9s78E6lHE
✅ Suttas mentioned:
suttacentral.net/dhp100-115/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/an5.198/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn58/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn21/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/SN7.2/en/sujato
Webpage: dougsdharma.com
Facebook: facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute
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Threads: threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Thumbnail images courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors and Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay.
❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Anonymous (3)
Omar
John Oborne
Debbie Mattison
Ron Peat
Michael S. Kearns
Anne
Matthew Smith
Shantha Wengappuli
Karma_CAC
Jorge Seguel
Christopher Apostolof
GailJM
David Bell
T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
Michael Scherrer
khobe schofield
Alex Perdomo
Benji Forsyth
Sonny Flink
Steve Marlor
Joy L Lee
Andrew Tom
Anthony Tucker
Karlee R
Ethan M
Billy in Singapore
Olivia Otter
Carl Lennartson
xiao mao
Jeff Harvey
Andrew Ingrouille
Kenneth Grandchamp
Rene Gariepy
Russell Needham
Smoggyrob
Mac Roja
Clémence Ortega Douville
Kwan Alex
Scott Johnston
Richard J Beninger
Nathanael O. Arnquist
SaturnianMandala
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dorien Izel
Robert Paterson
Jake Tobiason
Louvenia Ortega
Steve S.
Richard Rappuhn
Sarah Kress
John Aaron
Paul Niklewski
Kong Ing Kai
Dave Gorman
rhys reed
Osanda Wijeratne
Scarlett Farrow
BJ - RetreaTours™
Roland Harris
karen
Rob
John
Brady Schickinger
Jenn A.
Hieu Chi Tran
Kenneth Sorensen
Will Mosse
Sharon E.
Ken M
Mattias Sjölin
Marc Belanger
00:00 Intro
00:44 What is "Right Speech"?
02:23 When is communication skillful?
07:02 Examples of difficult communication
10:11 Right communication in the modern world
13:18 The path to skillful communication
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!
Communication is a critical life skill, particularly in the contemporary world of 24/7 social media. We'll look at what the Buddha had to say about skillful speech and apply it to communication more broadly. We will also look at examples of difficult conversations in the Buddha's day.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
☸️ Free mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org.
🎙Check out my podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: digginthedharma.com
✅ Videos recommended:
Practicing Buddhist Right Speech: Pervasive, Wise, and Difficult -- youtu.be/vjYeXuIR3Lc
Buddhist Right Speech and Promoting Social Justice -- youtu.be/pWJuC5js0oI
Buddhist Right Speech: How Does it Relate to Free Speech? -- youtu.be/xX9s78E6lHE
✅ Suttas mentioned:
suttacentral.net/dhp100-115/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/an5.198/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn58/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/mn21/en/sujato
suttacentral.net/SN7.2/en/sujato
Webpage: dougsdharma.com
Facebook: facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma
Instagram: instagram.com/dougsdharma
Threads: threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Thumbnail images courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors and Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay.
❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Anonymous (3)
Omar
John Oborne
Debbie Mattison
Ron Peat
Michael S. Kearns
Anne
Matthew Smith
Shantha Wengappuli
Karma_CAC
Jorge Seguel
Christopher Apostolof
GailJM
David Bell
T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
Michael Scherrer
khobe schofield
Alex Perdomo
Benji Forsyth
Sonny Flink
Steve Marlor
Joy L Lee
Andrew Tom
Anthony Tucker
Karlee R
Ethan M
Billy in Singapore
Olivia Otter
Carl Lennartson
xiao mao
Jeff Harvey
Andrew Ingrouille
Kenneth Grandchamp
Rene Gariepy
Russell Needham
Smoggyrob
Mac Roja
Clémence Ortega Douville
Kwan Alex
Scott Johnston
Richard J Beninger
Nathanael O. Arnquist
SaturnianMandala
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dorien Izel
Robert Paterson
Jake Tobiason
Louvenia Ortega
Steve S.
Richard Rappuhn
Sarah Kress
John Aaron
Paul Niklewski
Kong Ing Kai
Dave Gorman
rhys reed
Osanda Wijeratne
Scarlett Farrow
BJ - RetreaTours™
Roland Harris
karen
Rob
John
Brady Schickinger
Jenn A.
Hieu Chi Tran
Kenneth Sorensen
Will Mosse
Sharon E.
Ken M
Mattias Sjölin
Marc Belanger
00:00 Intro
00:44 What is "Right Speech"?
02:23 When is communication skillful?
07:02 Examples of difficult communication
10:11 Right communication in the modern world
13:18 The path to skillful communication
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!

![The Knowledge That Cant Be Overpowered — Socrates & the Buddha
Weve all known better and slipped up anyway. But what if thats proof we never really knew? Socrates argued real knowledge cant be overpowered — and early Buddhism made it a practice. Theres knowing about whats good for us, and the knowing that changes what we want to do.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: https://www.patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: https://paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: https://books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
📖 Index of all my videos: https://dougs-dharma.github.io/dougs-dharma-index/
✅ Sutta & sources:
- MN 19, Two Kinds of Thought — https://suttacentral.net/mn19/en/sujato
- Plato, Protagoras / Meno / Gorgias (Perseus): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178
- Plato, Complete Works (Cooper, ed.) — https://amzn.to/4fPsQix
✅ Related videos:
- Why You Dont Do What You Know You Should — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMhA6UZZJ4
- Can You Practice Buddhism by Studying It? (Anālayo) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oT04eft43o
- Do You Really Understand What Wisdom Is? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ger9h33r8Lk
- The Myth of Privileged Epistemology — [link]
- Knowledge and Wisdom: Whats the Deal? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFcP0ZnqHSQ
Webpage: https://www.dougsdharma.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute/
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dougsdharma/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Assistance from Claude models.
❤️ Thanks to all Patreon Patrons!
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you! The Knowledge That Cant Be Overpowered — Socrates & the Buddha](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rDbEbPNZQiE/mqdefault.jpg)








