BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Pārājika Chapter 4rightness, entered the plane of people of integrity, transcended the plane of therun-of-the-mill" (SN XXV.1). This is equivalent to the path to stream-entry. So itwould seem reasonable to say that a claim to a mahaggata dhamma attained in aprevious lifetime would not fulfill the factor of effort here, whereas a claim to alokuttara dhamma attained in a previous lifetime would. And, of course, if a bhikkhufalsely claims present knowledge of previous lifetimes, that would unequivocallyfulfil this factor.Intention. To incur an offense under this rule, the statement must be (1) meant tomisrepresent the truth and (2) motivated by evil desire.According to the Vibhaṅga a statement meant to misrepresent the truth can becharacterized in any of seven ways (§): Before making it, one knows that it is a lie;while making it, one knows that it is a lie; after making it, one knows that it was alie; one misrepresents one's view; one misrepresents one's opinion; onemisrepresents one's approval; and one misrepresents one's state. The Commentaryfocuses on the first of these characteristics as essential: One must know beforemaking the statement that it will be a lie. If one doesn't realize it beforehand butnotices it only while making it or just after making it, it would count simply as a slipof the tongue, and thus — as discussed under Pc 1 — not as a deliberate lie. Whenthe intention to misrepresent the truth is absent, the statement does not come underthis rule. For example, if one means to say one thing that does not bear on asuperior human state but accidentally says something else that comes out as aclaim to such a state, one commits no offense.Other examples of not intending to misrepresent the truth appear in a series ofcases in the Vinita-vatthu where bhikkhus are absolved of an offense under this rulebecause they "did not intend to boast." The Vibhaṅga gives no precise definition ofthis phrase, but the cases in question give a fair idea of what it means. They allinvolve statements where the reference to a superior human state is only implicit. Insome of them, ill bhikkhus are asked — as was common in the time of the Buddha— "Do you have any superior human states (§)?" the purpose being — if they hadsuch an attainment — to focus their minds on it; and if not, to direct their efforts togaining such an attainment before their illness worsened. The ill bhikkhus respond ina variety of ways which, on the surface, look like equivocation. They don't have anysuperior human attainments, yet don't want to give the impression that they'veachieved nothing at all, so they say such things as, "A state to be aroused throughthe arousing of energy," or, "A state to be aroused through committedcommitment." In other cases, the ill bhikkhus are told not to fear death and theyrespond, "I'm not afraid of death," or "He who has remorse might be afraid ofdeath." In still other cases, ill bhikkhus are asked how they are bearing up undertheir illnesses and they respond, "This could not be borne by any old person (§)," or,"This could not be borne by an ordinary person (§)." There are also cases wherebhikkhus are being pressured by their relatives to disrobe and they respond withsuch statements as, "It's impossible for a person like me to live in a house" or, "Ihave blocked off sensual passions."In each of these cases, the bhikkhus later felt conscience-stricken that their wordsmight be construed as a boast, and so went to the Buddha, who stated that,69