For example, if we believe slanderous words about someone, even if the matter is not true, just believing it is enough to diminish our merit. If the person being slandered is a practitioner of virtue, and we believe such words, we will completely lose all the merit we have accumulated in our lives.
With slanderous words arising from misunderstanding or personal malice, if we hear and believe them, nothing serious may happen afterward, yet we have already diminished our merit by that alone. But with serious matters, rumors, and public opinion deliberately fabricated to harm someone or damage a nation, our lives will become extremely unfortunate. The law of karma will punish us appropriately. Sometimes, to falsely accuse someone, people fabricate stories, distort facts, twist the truth, and turn white into black using details and words that are "extremely plausible," so that if we are naive, we easily believe and follow along. Therefore, be careful when hearing gossip and slander!
For instance, to overthrow a regime, hostile forces must find ways to slander the leadership and speak ill of the system. They plan, prepare personnel and media to defame the leadership, speak ill of the regime, attack the state's policies and directions by praising alternative regimes and different countries across all fronts of public opinion (daily life, the internet, social media, etc.), in order to create discontent among the people; then they concentrate efforts to organize protests. If we are naive and believe in fabricated public opinion, becoming discontent with the state and losing confidence in the leadership, we have contributed to destabilizing our nation. Simply because we were sometimes not alert, we become traitors to the country and saboteurs of the nation without realizing it. Just believing is enough—it may seem small, but it is an immense sin, a crime against the nation. Therefore, the Buddha taught that we must have wisdom to "perceive danger in every small fault."
Therefore, living in this world, we must be extremely alert and careful every moment, especially when receiving information. Do not allow ourselves to become victims of those who destroy the nation. Creating merit is difficult and exhausting, but destroying merit is extremely fast—just believing in evil words is enough to shatter the merit and virtue we have painstakingly accumulated.
```Excerpted from: Speaking to Oneself – Most Venerable Thich Chan Quang
