四分比丘戒本疏 1.31

1.31

Fifth, 'excepting excessive pride (adhimāna)': relying on and puffing oneself up over a minor virtue is called 'excessive pride'. As the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya says: 'A monk staying in the mountains attained general mindfulness and thought he had attained the noble fruit. Later, approaching the outskirts of the city, he finally realized that he had not yet attained realization.' When one completely lacks virtue and falsely assumes one has virtue, this is called 'mistaken pride' (mithyāmāna). Ancient teachers all said: 'The uncontaminated true Path surpasses characteristic existence, hence it is called 'excessive'. Falsely claiming to have attained what one has not attained is excessive pride.' This is not so. In this precept, seven conditions constitute the offence. This precept does not require an object of harm; so long as it constitutes a falsehood, even if it benefits the other person, it is still an offence. 1. The object constituting the offence, which is divided into two: (1) The witnessing object, which must be in the human realm. The reason for this is that revering and making offerings to the field of merit is gravest among human beings; gods mostly do not believe, so deceiving human beings is grave. (2) The object of the falsely claimed dharma, meaning the falsely claimed superior dharma. 2. The mental state regarding the object, which is also divided into two: (1) Regarding the witnessing object, meaning forming the perception of a human being, without distinguishing between Zhang and Wang, male or female. (2) Regarding the falsely claimed dharma, clearly knowing that it is false. If one has excessive pride, although one falsely claims the dharma, one does not know it to be false. If one has genuinely attained the Path, one does not falsely claim the dharma, and also knows it is not false. The detailed division above constitutes four conditions. 5. The volition initiating the act, meaning intending to deceive others, claiming that oneself has attained it. 6. The preparatory act: the words must be clearly articulated; producing writing, displaying physical signs, etc., must also be clearly discernible. 7. The consummatory act, namely that the other person understands.