四分律比丘戒本 1.p14

1.p14

Now if a stranger ask one of us a question, we are bound to reply truthfully; so, also, monks, we who reside in community, if we know that we have done wrong and yet decline to acknowledge it, we are guilty of prevarication. But Buddha has declared that prevarication effectually prevents our religious advancement. That brother, therefore, who is conscious of transgression, and desires absolution, ought at once to declare his fault, and after proper penance he shall have rest and peace.