四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.178

2.178

Among the ninety [pāyattikas], Precept 1: Deliberate lying. That many people are prone to committing this precept is truly because the karmic habit of falsehood has accumulated, and the seeds of consciousness are especially abundant; therefore, following sensory objects, they fabricate falsehoods at every turn. They do not reflect on the beginning of turning back the flow, but only wish to reach the end of their lives. Taking this as essential for securing life, yet at death it certainly cannot ward off karma—how truly lamentable! Moreover, the offense has no fixed object, but necessarily arises dependent on the mind; as long as one speaks contrary to one's internal conception, regardless of whether the external circumstances are real or unreal, all constitute pāyattika. Six conditions: (1) it is a human being, making no distinction between monastic or lay; (2) one conceives them to be human; (3) one speaks contrary to one's conception; (4) one knows that one is speaking contrary to one's conception; (5) the words are articulate; (6) the hearer understands. The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā sets out four permutations across lying, divisive speech, and harsh speech: (1) It is a lie, but not divisive speech or harsh speech: conveying words from another person to this person, which is a lie because it is untrue; because it lacks an intention to cause division, it is not divisive speech; and because it is spoken with gentle words, it is not harsh speech. The remaining permutations are analogous to this, and their presence or absence can be known accordingly. The Tattvasiddhi-śāstra states: 'The other three verbal karmas may be joined or separated, but frivolous talk is never separated [from them].' The Sujāta Sūtra states: 'A person may commit two, three, four, up to eight deeds among the ten courses of karma at the same time, but cannot commit all ten, because greed and hatred cannot occur simultaneously. For the remaining eight deeds, one dispatches agents for six, and does two oneself: first, committing adultery with another's wife; second, asserting that there is no course of karma.' The Dharmaguptaka and Pañcavargika Vinayas state: 'Because a Dharma-master monk was constantly fond of debating doctrines, taking what was right as wrong and what was wrong as right. When asked by others, he replied, 'I actually knew it was wrong, but was ashamed to fall into defeat.' Lying in the midst of the saṃgha is a heavier offense than doing so before a hundred arhats.' The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā states: 'As for the method of not lying: when preaching the Dharma, debating doctrines, conveying messages, or dealing with any right and wrong, do not assert yourself to be correct; always attribute and trace it to an authoritative source, and then there will be no fault; otherwise, an axe is in your mouth.' The Vinaya states: 'Speaking contrary to one's conception of what is seen, heard, sensed, or known, up to what is seen being different, what is accepted being different, or what is conceived being different—all these are lies.' Furthermore, there are three times: knowing beforehand and afterwards that it is a lie constitutes a duṣkṛta; speaking the lie directly with the mouth constitutes a pāyattika. If during the saṃgha's upoṣadha recitation, when questioned three times, one remembers an offense and does not speak, it is a duṣkṛta. The Sujāta [Sūtra states]: 'Whether having doubt or having no doubt, whether having seen, heard, sensed, or known, whether questioned or unquestioned, if it differs from the original fact, this is called a lie. Saying that one has not seen or heard much is also an offense. Speaking to break characteristics or speaking without concealment is not an offense. If spoken in a different dialect and the other person does not understand; if speaking incoherently; if uttering loud, unintelligible words; or if what is said is not understood by the other person—all these are offenses.' The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: 'When butchers and the like are chasing an animal and ask, 'Did you see it?' one must not lie, nor point out the place, but should have them look at one's fingernails and the like (one should use skillful means to guide them so the animal gets far away).' The Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: 'If one tells a person of high caste that they are of low caste, one incurs a pāyattika. If one tells a person with two eyes, 'You have one eye,' one incurs a pāyattika for lying, and another pāyattika for slighting and vexing a monk. If one tells a one-eyed person, 'You are a blind person,' one incurs a pāyattika for slighting another.' Among non-offenses in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, speaking in accord with one's conception entails no offense. The text is as explained in the notes to the Prātimokṣa.