Admonitory Words
Beware of:
talking a great deal
talking too fast
volunteering information when not asked
giving gratuitous advice
talking up your own accomplishments
breaking in before others have finished speaking
trying to explain to others something you don’t understand yourself
starting on a new subject before you’ve finished with the last one
insisting on getting the last word
making glib promises
repeating yourself, as old people do
talking with your hands
speaking in an affectedly offhand manner
reporting in detail on affairs that have nothing to do with anything
reporting on every single thing you see or hear
making a point of using Chinese words and expressions
learning Kyoto speech and using it as though you’d known it all your life
speaking Edo dialect like a country hick
talk that smacks of the pedant
talk that smacks of the aesthete
talk that smacks of satori
talk that smacks of the tea master
- Ryōkan
Translated by Burton Watson
