PureInsight | February 18, 2002
A good tone of voice during conversation is obtained through cultivation and is a display of benevolence at the human level. To have this requires that the mind is free of attachments. If there are any attachments, then no matter how compassionate a person tries to sound in his tone, he will not be able to touch the heart of the other party. This is because the tone is only an obligatory effort on the surface and not at a deep and pure inner level. In contrast, if one has only good thoughts about others in mind but there is no compassion in the tone, this too will adversely affect the results of the communication. The reason is that he will not have reached the absolute state of Shan as he is lacking compassion in his language qi, thus, raising barriers to others' perception of his compassionate heart. (The word "Tone" in Chinese contains two characters respectively meaning language qi. Qi, in this usage, means a display of one's compassion in this dimension.)
Only when the mind is absolutely pure and when one is aware of the different roles tones play, is one able to express oneself with ease and at will, and communicate the content fully. Then one has all the tones at his command (e.g., solemn, warm, serious, strict, casual, relaxing, questioning, and surprised tones) and all are used at will as long as the tone helps to clarify the communication. What really works are the connotations behind the language, namely the benevolence, which breaks through the shell around the human surface, and enables one to learn to use the language qi.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/23/13483.html
