OMG !...(Or Should That Be "Oh My Buddha Nature" ) ?
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
The West for the most part is (so it would seem) somewhat "God-Centric" (even for those of us who identify as atheists ) The words "God" or "Jesus" enters into every day conversation for many people, regardless of whether they believe or not.... (including many Western Buddhists) ...
Being born in the West is like these terms of expressions are programmed into one's psyche..."Oh my god" or "Jesus Christ" "God knows" or "God bless" "God almighty" "There by the grace of god go I" ....and so on...(at times the odd swear word is thrown in to add flavour)
Do you still use "God-Centric" expressions in conversation ?
Should Buddhist practitioners phase out using such terms of expression ?
What could be used to replace some everyday "God-Centric " expressions ?
Please try 'not' to take this post (or for that matter 'life') too seriously 
"Oh my Buddha Nature....God and his son are everywhere !"
Comments
I do sometimes, but while I certainly see your point I think it's only "God centric" for certain people. Actually, people who focus on God are far less likely to use those phrases because they consider it against their beliefs to use God's name in that way. My grandma routinely chastised us for saying "Oh my God" for that reason. I have moved away from those things, largely, mostly to not offend the older people in my life who truly take offense to it. I prefer more silly phases like "good gravy" or "good grief" and so on. I stopped saying "oh my god" when I heard my kids say it and it bothered me to hear it. But that was probably my grandparent's conditioning, lol. In general, if I feel a need to verbalize some sort of similar expression, I make up my own random ones, because when they are just silly it takes the stress out of the situation and makes my kids laugh.
So here at least, it depends on who you are with as to the impact it has. I tend to tread more cautiously because it does bother so many people I know and I do try to avoid saying things that I have been made aware upsets people. So in that way, Right Speech comes to mind.
^^^ Ditto. I get on my kids all the time for saying "Jesus" out of anger or frustration bec I know it will offend others.
My favorite in a moment of gratitude is:
Look what the good Lord Buddha brought me!
A common one that I use when something is not going my way is : whew...impermanence is a wonderful thing....I'll be glad when it gets here, hahaha
Instead of OMG..I say: What in the biscuit? ?
Understandably in the US people would be less blasphemous when it comes to everyday expressions than in other parts of the Western world...
In this part of the world (and I guess in the UK too) it's not uncommon to hear things like "God al f$@#ing mighty !" or "Jesus f#$@#ing Christ! " or some will use less swear words like "For Christ's sake !" when becoming fed-up with someone...
I guess a good all rounder Buddhist expression would be something like " May the Buddha catch your/my tongue !" (which does have a "Right Speech" feel to it...)
True!
oh there is plenty of that profanity laced stuff here, too. I don't hear it much in the crowd of people I hang out with, thankfully. But it's prevalent.
how about ...ohhh for buddha sake ,be nice.
ohhh for buddha love,chill!
why for buddha sake are you testing my nerve.
When I swear in anger because the toaster is too slow ...
... the anger is completely inappropriate and usually involves reference to sex and sexual bits (to put it mildly). I also like to throw Jesus and Cod into the mixture ...
eg. What kind of Far King, God Can't King, Toaster peace of Sheet is this meant to be? That is a rhetorical enquiry as I do not expect my toaster to answer ...
The toaster, may all the Buddhas bless it, is innocent and normally we are on good terms.
I will not bring non culturally ingrained deities into the arena, so the following terms would never be used or be satisfying:
Hope that helps
On the odd occasions where I feel moved to exclaim something it's usually "crikey" or "allemachtig"... so not directly referencing religious figures at all. It's out of respect for the beliefs of others, but I'm not a very angry person and this comes quite naturally to me.
When I really swear, I do not involve any religion/philosophy-related characters because I simply use gutter linguistic material and that would be irreverent even for a heathen like me.
But to express surprise in common daily parlance, I do use the expression "Oh my Buddha" a lot.
??
It doesn't matter all that much.
I tend to use other Western-centric terms.
Tis life.
Peace to all
I find myself uttering Jesus' name in vain, as we used to say. I don't like it. Old patterning from hearing it growing up. My wife says you wouldn't use the Buddha's name like that would you? Then, I heard my daughter say, under stress, 'Good gravy!' Time to retrain.
@Lionduck I suppose it depends on how you determine something matters. In the Grand Scheme, of course not. But in our daily lives here, I think it does. Being respectful and attempting to not offend people (when you know it's reasonable that they might be offended) is important, I think. And part of Right Speech. I said the same thing after the shootings at the news office over the Mohammed drawings. Of course nothing justifies the killing of people. But, to purposely inflame people isn't skillful, either. To claim "fun" while using knowingly offensive images and words isn't skillful. It might fly under Free Speech. But Right Speech has higher ideals, I think. Finding the line might not always be easy. It's easy to say "Well, they shouldn't be so attached to things like images of Mohammed" but that is putting our religion on them the same way we don't like when others do to us. We don't get to determine what people should or shouldn't do.
Disclaimer: I am not talking about going overboard with safe spaces and so on. I'm talking about being reasonable and making an effort to be aware of the people you share the world with and being kind to them with your words. Rather than making fun of something they hold dear.
That is one of the best posts in any forum that I've read in a long time.
The place I see it most lately is in political discussions, especially online where one can remain relatively anonymous. I'm a strong Democrat, and imperfect myself with the Trump backlash, but some of what I see posted by Democrats makes me cringe. I sometimes ask what happened to, "They go low, we go high!" With some of the groups (such as Occupy Democrats), I see so much personal attack and so little discussion of actual issues. It's a difficult situation.
I hope people read this and remember it when posting here. It would be a great reminder of Right Speech for all of us.
My own personal view is that often "right speech" is not saying to "not speak", it is saying to "speak in a correct manner". I do not believe that it requires one to state no viewpoint, but to use our intellect to state an opinion in a manner that clarifies but does not offend. Of course, there are people who will be offended by anything, but that is not our responsibility. Our responsibility in "right speech" is about us being responsible for our voice.
@dhammachick Indeed. I most certainly do not always get it right, especially in areas that aggravate me and bring me back to things that caused me problems even many years ago that clearly still bother me. Which of course is my issue to work on and I do appreciate when people point it out. My goal is improvement without an expectation of perfection, since it's not possible in my lowly human state, lol.
Right Speech?
What's that?
Is it this?
As a bodhisattva (third class) our duty extends further, we become responsible for the voicing we stimulate. In other words, if we swear and the toaster replies with Noble Silence, we have generated right speech of a high order.
To generate positive or right speech in others beyond inanimate objects is not easy. It entails a degree of self-stillness and attention to others ...
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/buddhist-practice/attention.html
At times one might say something nice but be thinking something horrible...just saying
Right Speech can only come about with "Right View" and the others that make up the 8FP...
Can't have one without the others
One is better than none at all.
Speaking trumps thinking.
Spoken words are heard by many, and the thought lies still, unseen, unheard, within the mind.
Intention is all.
If there is negative thought but positive word - it's a start.
We keep showing ethical restraint, whilst developing genuine qualities. At some point a greater integration between kind thoughts and words comes through ...
Iz my f£&ing kind plan. Still working on it.
I don't think you need the entire 8FP to be in place for any of it to matter/count/whatever. It seems to me that bits happen at a time, and in the end (whatever and whenever that is) it all comes together. Yes, one needs to have a clear understanding to even know what Right Speech etc are and how to use them. But it is all practice. We cannot need Right View to grasp Right Speech, but in practicing Right Speech, my Right View then continues to develop. I know there are differing beliefs on the best approach to the 8FP but to me, it's always made most sense and has been the most helpful to approach it as pieces moving and working together rather than just steps.