..续本文上一页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.
这段叙述，佛陀揭示了戒律的消极面向和积极面向。消极面指不说妄语，积极面是指说诚实语，决定是否违犯(妄语戒)的背后因素为「是否有欺骗的意图」。如果一个人说了他自己本身认为是真实的「妄语」，这并不构成犯戒，因为他并没有欺骗的意图。虽然所有的妄语都有欺骗的意图，但是，妄语会因为不同的动机原由 —不论是贪婪、愤恨或是缪见错觉( delusion)，而个别呈显出不同的形貌。若贪婪是主要动机，就会导致谎言是以获得某些私人利益或亲近者的利益为导向，如物质上的财富、地位、尊敬或赞美。如果愤恨是主要动机，妄语就会以愤恨的谎言形式呈现，这谎言意图伤害或损害他人。如以缪见错觉( delusion)作为主导动机，谎言就比较不会造成有害或致命的后果。这种谎言，如：非理性的谎言、无法自我控制的谎言、有趣的夸大，以及为了玩笑而说谎。
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.
佛陀对妄语的指责基于许多因素。其一，妄语会造成社会分裂，人们可同处在一个社会，就是基于相互的信任，他们相信他人所说的是诚实语；摧毁了这信任的基础，就会产生怀疑。妄语的广泛流布，是社会团结走向混乱的前兆讯号。而且，妄语还有其他恶果，就是对深层人性会造成危害。一旦说了谎，并发觉我们的话语可疑，我们会不得不再度说谎，来捍卫自己的信用，把那些事件，交织贯串成一幅天衣无缝的图像。于是，一再地重复这样的过程：谎言延伸、繁衍、交织，直到将自己锁进难以逃脱的谎言之牢，这谎言，因而成为整个自我幻象过程的小型范例。无论如何，那个自欺的创造者，被他自己的谎言所吞没，最终成为其受害者。
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
从佛陀对他儿子 —刚剃度为僧的年轻罗睺罗 —所做的劝告，或许可看出隐藏其中的这般考量。一天，佛陀走近罗睺罗，指着一个残留少许水的水盆并问他：「罗睺罗，你看到水盆中剩下些许的水吗？」罗睺罗回答：「是的，尊者。」「所以，罗睺罗，一个故意说谎而不感到羞耻的人，他的修行成就(沙门法)就像这幺少。」然后，佛陀把水倒掉，将水盆倒盖并问他：「你看到水如何被倒掉吗？同理，一个故意说谎的人，他的修行成就，就像这样被丢弃了。」他再次问：「你看到现在水盆是空的吗？同理，一个说谎而不感到羞耻的人，他的修行成就，就像这样空无一物。」然后，佛陀把水盆倒盖并问：「你看到了吗？罗睺罗，这水盆是如何倒盖的？同理，一个说谎的人，如同将他的修行成就覆盖，无法再进步。」因此，佛陀总结说：「即使是玩笑的话语，也不应说谎。」
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…
《八圣道之正语正业正命 Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…