The Fourth Precept: Abstain from False and Harmful Speech
The fourth of the five precepts—Buddhist guidelines for an ethical life—is to refrain from false and harmful speech, often simplified as not lying. However, the fourth precept is more than a simple directive to tell the truth. It is often viewed in the context of the foundational Buddhist practice of Right Speech, a more thorough framework, contained in the eightfold path, for how best to thoughtfully and compassionately speak and listen.
False speech includes any untrue statement as well as some factual ones. Straightforward lies clearly violate the precept but so do common behaviors like self-inflation, exaggeration, lying by omission, pretending to know something, and even some forms of humor, such as sarcasm, that may be hurtful. Gossip, true or not, is considered false speech, as is anything divisive or malicious, as well as idle chatter.
The fourth precept covers all forms of communication—speaking, writing, even body language. As with the other precepts, violations are not evenly weighted. Telling a lie as part of a joke is not as serious as, say, lying to get a job or spreading harmful rumors. In Theravada Buddhism, there are four factors that lead to an infringement of the fourth precept. Intent is one, so saying something false that you believe to be true is not considered a violation. Whether or not the listener believes the falsehood is not a factor.
A frequent question that arises in discussion about the fourth precept concerns lies told to prevent harm. For example, if Anne Frank were hiding in your attic and the Nazis came knocking to ask if you were harboring her, would lying to save her violate the fourth precept? Opinions vary about whether a lie in such case would constitute an offense, as do recommendations on the right course of action. Generally, in daily life, Buddhist teachers advise against rationalizing lying as beneficial in intent and encourage practitioners to handle sticky situations without falsehood. However, especially in extraordinary circumstances, it’s important to understand the precepts not as rules to be blindly followed but as guidelines for acting compassionately and cultivating a mind unperturbed by guilt.
Zen teacher Roshi Nancy Mujo Baker challenges us to explore our personal failures to tell the truth, whether obvious or subtle, and resist the urge to gossip.
The Fifth Precept: Refrain from Intoxicants
The fifth of the five precepts—Buddhist guidelines for an ethical life—is to refrain from using intoxicants, which are said to cause carelessness. While the phrasing in Pali, the language of some of the oldest Buddhist texts, undoubtedly refers to alcohol, beliefs about whether this precept allows for any form of alcohol consumption or drug use differ from school to school and even from teacher to teacher. Perhaps because of ingrained cultural habits of social drinking and the association of alcohol with the good life, the fifth precept is often not followed to the letter.
The fifth precept was created as a support for following the rest of the precepts. As anyone who has drunk to excess knows, minding yourself in word and deed is far more difficult, sometimes impossible, when you are intoxicated. The Buddha, in one of the Jataka Tales about his past lives, minces no words when describing the effects of drunkenness:
The one who drinks this brew will sin in thought, word, and deed. He will see good as evil and evil as good. Even the most modest person will act indecently when drunk. The wisest man will babble foolishly. . . . You will grow accustomed to evil behavior, to lies, to abuse, to filth, and to disgrace.
—Kumbha Jataka: The Fifth Precept, from Jataka Tales of the Buddha: Part III, retold by Ken & Visakha Kawasaki
Still, many Mahayana Buddhist schools and teachers today maintain that it is intoxication of the mind that violates the precept and not the drinking per se. Those who hold this view are apt to draw a distinction between becoming tipsy, blacking out, and enjoying a glass of wine with dinner.
Taking medicines containing alcohol and eating food made with trace amounts of alcohol are not considered violations in any Buddhist schools because unless abused they do not cause intoxication. Pain medication is also not an issue, if taken as prescribed for legitimate medical reasons.
Most traditional Theravada Buddhists find marijuana, hallucinogens, and other recreational drugs to be clear violations of the fifth precept, while opinion among Mahayana Buddhists varies. The belief that hallucinogens can serve as spiritual aids has been popular in the West, since many current Western Buddhist teachers came to Buddhism during the drug-exploratory counterculture of the sixties. This view lost favor in ensuing decades but is once again in vogue today.
Some teachers, particularly Zen Buddhists, understand the fifth precept to mean refraining from any addictive or compulsive behavior that intoxicates the mind, such as pornography, gambling, shopping, overeating, excessive exercise, unskillful use of the internet, and overconsumption of TV, and other media. Even Buddhist practice, when undertaken obsessively, can be an intoxicant in this view.
Four Buddhist teachers share their thoughts on refraining from intoxicants.
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