The fourth precept: not speaking falsehood
from Hoko
There’s a lot more going on here than just a rule about lying. We have to investigate what this precept is saying about reality. Teachings about speech come up again and again in this tradition. It's one of the three things that create karma (body, speech and mind). Unwholesome thoughts lead to unwholesome speech leads to unwholesome action.
This precept is related to the Four Evils: lying, idle or frivolous speech, harsh or abusive speech, and divisive speech, backbiting or malicious gossip. Not doing these things constitutes Right Speech in the Eightfold Path.
The Bonmokyo version of the fourth precept is about a particular incident where monks got a lot of food donations because they went around telling people they were enlightened and had superhuman powers. Clearly, this sort of thing is false speech for one’s own gain, and motivation is the crux of the issue. The clear-mind way to interpret this teaching is to tell the truth. Don’t use words to trick people or get something for yourself that you don’t really deserve.
However, we all know that there are times when the compassionate thing to do is not to express what we’re really seeing or feeling. What do we answer when our best friends ask, "Do these pants make me look fat?" or "Did little Bobby like the sweater I knitted him for his birthday?" Of course, little Bobby really wanted a skateboard. Are those lies doing evil? They’re not true. At the same time, they completely express our reality in that moment, which is that we’re saying something not quite true because we’re trying to be compassionate.
Bodhidharma says not speaking a single word is keeping this precept about false speech. As soon as we say something--anything--we’re telling a lie. Words are symbols for other things, not the things themselves, and in that way, all words are false. The only way to make sure you’re telling the truth is not to say anything.
Words are how we poke our heads into stuff. It’s what we layer on top of the reality of this moment. By their nature words carry our interpretations, ideas, delusions and confusions. Whether our speech is intended as a lie or not, on the one hand it’s a reflection of our own stuff and our own point of view, so it can’t tell the whole story. On the other hand, our speech can’t be separate from this one unified reality; it’s part of the reality or truth of this moment. Language is dualistic by nature. As soon as we say “emptiness,” there is something which is not emptiness. Yet we know this can’t be true since there is nothing outside of emptiness. The same is true of reality, Buddha’s way, awakening, and other ineffable constructs, but limited human consciousness needs to label things because we can’t conceive of these things otherwise.
There's also dualism in the language of small everyday forms. If nothing is actually independent and separate, and if everything is constantly changing, then naming anything is a falsehood. Where is the beginning and ending of [this object] across time and space? Where’s the actual boundary? Yet we have to call it something. We need language in order to function every day and do our bodhisattva work in the world.
Thus this precept is not so simple! Truth or reality is there no matter what we think or say about it. It contains everything, so in that way there cannot be lying. Even the false things we say express the dharma, because the dharma wheel is always turning and Buddha’s teaching is always going on, but as bodhisattvas we have to aspire to speak the truth and not harm others.
Zazen is one way we manifest truth, because when we sit we’re not creating karma with body, speech or mind. Because we’re keeping silence, we’re not adding our own ideas and preconceptions on top of reality. We frequently come across silence as the highest truth in this tradition because we can’t say anything true. There are lots of stories about students asking questions and teachers remaining silent. One of the most important stories in the Zen tradition is the one about Buddha holding up an udumbara flower as the first transmission of the dharma.
Still, we have to say something. One of Katagiri Roshi’s students was trying to talk with him about the ineffable and was struggling mightily. Finally he said, “We can’t talk about this.” Katagiri Roshi said, “You have to say something. If you don’t, no one will understand.” One of the posthumous books of his lectures is called You Have to Say Something.
We have to stop doing and saying anything in order to keep from lying, and we have to discern how to use language to liberate all beings because even our limited ability with language is an expression of reality. Okumura Roshi's summary is: There are three dimensions to this one precept about not telling a lie. In our daily lives we need to make choices; we try not to tell lies and instead to speak truth. From the absolute point of view, whatever we say is false. Finally, when we let go of our small self, whatever we see and whatever we say is reality or truth. When we study these three different texts to understand this one precept, we see a very dynamic teaching.
There’s a lot more going on here than just a rule about lying. We have to investigate what this precept is saying about reality. Teachings about speech come up again and again in this tradition. It's one of the three things that create karma (body, speech and mind). Unwholesome thoughts lead to unwholesome speech leads to unwholesome action.
This precept is related to the Four Evils: lying, idle or frivolous speech, harsh or abusive speech, and divisive speech, backbiting or malicious gossip. Not doing these things constitutes Right Speech in the Eightfold Path.
The Bonmokyo version of the fourth precept is about a particular incident where monks got a lot of food donations because they went around telling people they were enlightened and had superhuman powers. Clearly, this sort of thing is false speech for one’s own gain, and motivation is the crux of the issue. The clear-mind way to interpret this teaching is to tell the truth. Don’t use words to trick people or get something for yourself that you don’t really deserve.
However, we all know that there are times when the compassionate thing to do is not to express what we’re really seeing or feeling. What do we answer when our best friends ask, "Do these pants make me look fat?" or "Did little Bobby like the sweater I knitted him for his birthday?" Of course, little Bobby really wanted a skateboard. Are those lies doing evil? They’re not true. At the same time, they completely express our reality in that moment, which is that we’re saying something not quite true because we’re trying to be compassionate.
Bodhidharma says not speaking a single word is keeping this precept about false speech. As soon as we say something--anything--we’re telling a lie. Words are symbols for other things, not the things themselves, and in that way, all words are false. The only way to make sure you’re telling the truth is not to say anything.
Words are how we poke our heads into stuff. It’s what we layer on top of the reality of this moment. By their nature words carry our interpretations, ideas, delusions and confusions. Whether our speech is intended as a lie or not, on the one hand it’s a reflection of our own stuff and our own point of view, so it can’t tell the whole story. On the other hand, our speech can’t be separate from this one unified reality; it’s part of the reality or truth of this moment. Language is dualistic by nature. As soon as we say “emptiness,” there is something which is not emptiness. Yet we know this can’t be true since there is nothing outside of emptiness. The same is true of reality, Buddha’s way, awakening, and other ineffable constructs, but limited human consciousness needs to label things because we can’t conceive of these things otherwise.
There's also dualism in the language of small everyday forms. If nothing is actually independent and separate, and if everything is constantly changing, then naming anything is a falsehood. Where is the beginning and ending of [this object] across time and space? Where’s the actual boundary? Yet we have to call it something. We need language in order to function every day and do our bodhisattva work in the world.
Thus this precept is not so simple! Truth or reality is there no matter what we think or say about it. It contains everything, so in that way there cannot be lying. Even the false things we say express the dharma, because the dharma wheel is always turning and Buddha’s teaching is always going on, but as bodhisattvas we have to aspire to speak the truth and not harm others.
Zazen is one way we manifest truth, because when we sit we’re not creating karma with body, speech or mind. Because we’re keeping silence, we’re not adding our own ideas and preconceptions on top of reality. We frequently come across silence as the highest truth in this tradition because we can’t say anything true. There are lots of stories about students asking questions and teachers remaining silent. One of the most important stories in the Zen tradition is the one about Buddha holding up an udumbara flower as the first transmission of the dharma.
Still, we have to say something. One of Katagiri Roshi’s students was trying to talk with him about the ineffable and was struggling mightily. Finally he said, “We can’t talk about this.” Katagiri Roshi said, “You have to say something. If you don’t, no one will understand.” One of the posthumous books of his lectures is called You Have to Say Something.
We have to stop doing and saying anything in order to keep from lying, and we have to discern how to use language to liberate all beings because even our limited ability with language is an expression of reality. Okumura Roshi's summary is: There are three dimensions to this one precept about not telling a lie. In our daily lives we need to make choices; we try not to tell lies and instead to speak truth. From the absolute point of view, whatever we say is false. Finally, when we let go of our small self, whatever we see and whatever we say is reality or truth. When we study these three different texts to understand this one precept, we see a very dynamic teaching.
