On Gossip

Abandoning gossip, he abstains from gossip; he speaks at the right time, speaks what is fact, speaks on what is good, speaks on the * Dhamma and the Discipline; at the right time he speaks such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate, and beneficial.

Majhima-Nakaya i. 180

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     Gossip is damned near impossible to shy away from and most of it is passed on, at the least, as second hand information. One of the first guards I’ve been able to employ when someone is “dishing the dirt” has been to ask whether or not the information spoken of is first hand. In legitimate journalistic practice, before the "net", it was asked, “Do I have a reliable source that can be verified?”
 
     I put the plumb line of integrity to it after I can attest that it is true; I ask, “Is it necessary to know this item?" Or, in this instance, "why am I being told this juicy item?… what are the motives behind the rumor." Then I can determine to some degree whether what I hear, or read, will help, cause harm, be productive or divisive?”

     Is it kind? Most often the excuse is that I must know this in order to be informed… to help my brother in when it is merely to tear down someone for the appearance of having superior information… to be a busy-body.

     The old adage goes; the noisy hive is the most dangerous.

     By this I don’t mean I ought to stick my head in the sand. I hear folks proudly proclaim that they don’t read the newspaper, news feeds on the “net” or watch the news on T.V. because it bums them out. Regardless, it is none of my business to know idle gossip. But I can watch the twists and turns of world events, or gossip about other people, with the same detachment as watching weather reports. It can be helpful to know that I am in the path of a hurricane or tornado… that I can send a dime or two to a disaster area, visit someone in the hospital etc. The rest is nothing more than a sickening curiosity that I have no power to do anything about with no good ends in mind.

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* Buddhist terms translate universally and easily to any spiritual practice. Dhamma, or Dharma, can be the tenets, the actions, the practices, or the religion I adopt as my spiritual path.