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Jaina Path of Purification (Liberation)
115
it is to be regarded as not untruth but truth, not vice but virtue, not an improper act but a proper act, because it is a lie spoken by us not for our own sake, but for the sake of others.
A man knows a secret. It is necessary for him not to disclose it in the interest of others and at the same time it is not possible for him to keep quiet. Under such a situation, if he speaks a lie, it is not improper.
One does not incur a defect or sin of untruth, if one breaks an unjust and improper vow. For example, a man takes a vow that he will make an offering of a goat to the goddess if his son is cured of a disease. Afterwards when he gains right understanding that killing of an animal is a grave sin and that to perform the killing before the goddess is a highly deplorable, derogatory and despicable act of sin, he should break his vow. To keep and fulfil any evil and sinful vow is bad, while to break it is good.
If one has to speak such exceptional untruths as are illustrated above, then one should undergo some proper atonement and undertake critical self-examination, because both the atonement and critical self-examination enliven and accelerate spiritual progress.
In soft and innocent merriment with children and others, speaking untruth for the moment in such a manner that it causes no harm to anyone is not the untruth of the form of defect. Again, for the sake of formality, the untruth one is required to speak is also pardonable.
Out of hatred and with a view to hurting him if we call the blind a blind one, the one-eyed a one-eyed one, and the fool a fool, we incur the defect of untruth. Out of malice and undue excitement saying bitter words, calling names and cutting cruel jokes are the cases of untruth.
To speak what is factually true but what causes distress to another person is a case of speaking untruth or what is reprehensible.
About Non-theft A man finds someone stealing things of another person. Yet he does not prevent him from stealing, nor does he draw attention of the owner. On the contrary, he ignores his act of stealing and maintains silence out of
1. Manusmrti teaches the good manner of speech as follows:
satyam brīyāt priyam brīyān na brúyāt satyam apriyam / priyam ca nānstań brīyād eșa dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ //138// Adhyāya IV. One should speak what is true and at the same time pleasing. One should not speak what is true but unpleasant, nor should one speak what is pleasing but untrue. This is the universal and eternal religion.
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