During this talk Shell begins to explore the sila (or virtue, moral conduct) section of the Noble 8-Fold Path, which is considered the foundation of the whole path, what it’s built upon. Without an essential grounding in sila, our practice can easily morph into a kind of self-improvement project … or, a type of self-serving practice that might help us to feel a little more calm or peaceful, but lacks the transformational aspects of ethical speech, action, and livelihood. And this 3rd spoke - Right Speech - is said to be where the practice of sila starts. As the great monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu tells us: “If you can't control your mouth, there's no way you can hope to control your mind.”