..續本文上一頁f — material wealth, position, respect, or admiration. With hatred as the motive, false speech takes the form of the malicious lie, the lie intended to hurt and damage others. When delusion is the principal motive, the result is a less pernicious type of falsehood: the irrational lie, the compulsive lie, the interesting exaggeration, lying for the sake of a joke.
這段敘述，佛陀揭示了戒律的消極面向和積極面向。消極面指不說妄語，積極面是指說誠實語，決定是否違犯(妄語戒)的背後因素爲「是否有欺騙的意圖」。如果一個人說了他自己本身認爲是真實的「妄語」，這並不構成犯戒，因爲他並沒有欺騙的意圖。雖然所有的妄語都有欺騙的意圖，但是，妄語會因爲不同的動機原由 —不論是貪婪、憤恨或是缪見錯覺( delusion)，而個別呈顯出不同的形貌。若貪婪是主要動機，就會導致謊言是以獲得某些私人利益或親近者的利益爲導向，如物質上的財富、地位、尊敬或贊美。如果憤恨是主要動機，妄語就會以憤恨的謊言形式呈現，這謊言意圖傷害或損害他人。如以缪見錯覺( delusion)作爲主導動機，謊言就比較不會造成有害或致命的後果。這種謊言，如：非理性的謊言、無法自我控製的謊言、有趣的誇大，以及爲了玩笑而說謊。
The Buddha”s stricture against lying rests upon several reasons. For one thing, lying is disruptive to social cohesion. People can live together in society only in an atmosphere of mutual trust, where they have reason to believe that others will speak the truth; by destroying the grounds for trust and inducing mass suspicion, widespread lying becomes the harbinger signalling the fall from social solidarity to chaos. But lying has other consequences of a deeply personal nature at least equally disastrous. By their very nature lies tend to proliferate. Lying once and finding our word suspect, we feel compelled to lie again to defend our credibility, to paint a consistent picture of events. So the process repeats itself: the lies stretch, multiply, and connect until they lock us into a cage of falsehoods from which it is difficult to escape. The lie is thus a miniature paradigm for the whole process of subjective illusion. In each case the self-assured creator, sucked in by his own deceptions, eventually winds up their victim.
佛陀對妄語的指責基于許多因素。其一，妄語會造成社會分裂，人們可同處在一個社會，就是基于相互的信任，他們相信他人所說的是誠實語；摧毀了這信任的基礎，就會産生懷疑。妄語的廣泛流布，是社會團結走向混亂的前兆訊號。而且，妄語還有其他惡果，就是對深層人性會造成危害。一旦說了謊，並發覺我們的話語可疑，我們會不得不再度說謊，來捍衛自己的信用，把那些事件，交織貫串成一幅天衣無縫的圖像。于是，一再地重複這樣的過程：謊言延伸、繁衍、交織，直到將自己鎖進難以逃脫的謊言之牢，這謊言，因而成爲整個自我幻象過程的小型範例。無論如何，那個自欺的創造者，被他自己的謊言所吞沒，最終成爲其受害者。
Such considerations probably lie behind the words of counsel the Buddha spoke to his son, the young novice Rahula, soon after the boy was ordained. One day the Buddha came to Rahula, pointed to a bowl with a little bit of water in it, and asked: “Rahula, do you see this bit of water left in the bowl
” Rahula answered: “Yes, sir.” “So little, Rahula, is the spiritual achievement (samañña, lit. “recluseship”) of one who is not afraid to speak a deliberate lie.” Then the Buddha threw the water away, put the bowl down, and said: “Do you see, Rahula, how that water has been discarded
In the same way one who tells a deliberate lie discards whatever spiritual achievement he has made.” Again he asked: “Do you see how this bowl is now empty
In the same way one who has no shame in speaking lies is empty of spiritual achievement.” Then the Buddha turned the bowl upside down and said: “Do you see, Rahula, how this bowl has been turned upside down
In the same way one who tells a deliberate lie turns his spiritual achievements upside down and becomes incapable of progress.” Therefore, the Buddha concluded, one should not speak a deliberate lie even in jest.22
從佛陀對他兒子 —剛剃度爲僧的年輕羅睺羅 —所做的勸告，或許可看出隱藏其中的這般考量。一天，佛陀走近羅睺羅，指著一個殘留少許水的水盆並問他：「羅睺羅，你看到水盆中剩下些許的水嗎？」羅睺羅回答：「是的，尊者。」「所以，羅睺羅，一個故意說謊而不感到羞恥的人，他的修行成就(沙門法)就像這幺少。」然後，佛陀把水倒掉，將水盆倒蓋並問他：「你看到水如何被倒掉嗎？同理，一個故意說謊的人，他的修行成就，就像這樣被丟棄了。」他再次問：「你看到現在水盆是空的嗎？同理，一個說謊而不感到羞恥的人，他的修行成就，就像這樣空無一物。」然後，佛陀把水盆倒蓋並問：「你看到了嗎？羅睺羅，這水盆是如何倒蓋的？同理，一個說謊的人，如同將他的修行成就覆蓋，無法再進步。」因此，佛陀總結說：「即使是玩笑的話語，也不應說謊。」
It is said that in the course of his long training for enlightenment over many lives, a bodhisatta can break all the moral precepts except the pledge to speak the truth. The reason for this is very profound, and reveals…
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