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The Concept of Pancasila in Indian Thought
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that it has neither been seen, nor heard nor even doubted. Then again when the monk slanders, or abuses or speaks disrespectfully of another monk or nun, he is accused of 'pacittiya' offences. A monk consuming another's food and telling a lie deliberately for this is another example of păcittiya offence.2 In simple deliberate lies and in teasing a monk there is păcittiya offence. And also giving no reply to the Samgha when asked about any offence committed by the monk himself or some other monk and thus annoying the authorities is also păcittiya offence. This though does not apparently show any violation of the vow of truth, indirectly it means concealing the offence committed by the monk himself or some else. Thus keeping silence is regarded as speaking a falsehood. On the Uposatha days the monks sit together and an authoritative monk recites the Patimokkha rules and asks all the monks three times whether they are pure and when no body replies it is taken for granted that all the monks are pure and nobody has committed any violation of Pätimokkha rules. Therefore, keeping silence on such an occasion which gives a false impression of purity means nothing less than telling deliberate lies and hence it is rightly considered pacittiya. But at the same time it is also stated clearly that telling lies in joke or fun is not an offence. Fun and jest, however, are understood as such simple acts, which do not involve any annoyance or disturbance, as for example after telling plainly that a falsehood is going to be uttered, the monk tells a lie.
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The discussion so far on truth-as-a-precept in various systems of Indian philosophy shows that it is one of the top ranking tenets of morality, which is subject to the least change
1. Ibid., pp. 5-6.
2.
Pārājika, p. 72. ओमसवादे पाचित्तियं । 4. Ibid., p. 7.
3.
Jain Education International
-Pacittiya, p. 10.
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