4th Precept - Don't Lie

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

“The universe is the truth itself” Nishijima. I entrust myself to the truth of the universe.

Hey! I'm enjoying these video's! I 'grew up' with TNH' s 5 Mindfulness Trainings' which are so like the Christian 10 commandments that I felt right at home with them (each mindfulness training starts with: Mindful of the harm that is caused by... Now you are giving me these other interpretations and it's inspiring me to realize how 'being true to thyself, ' for instance, is about living with the world as it is, with yourself as you really are, without lying to yourself. Maybe that is the hardest lie to give up: the lie you present to the world of who you want to be and who you are in reality...

[@HardcoreZen]

Good point!

[@Riddlemewalker]

Thanks Brad. The precepts are a challenging topic. How to stay true but not succumb to dualistic thinking or worse judging others.

[@Tsotha]

As mentioned elsewhere: I find it fascinating how the precepts usually sound simple enough on the surface, but on closer examination they often turn out to be impossible to avoid breaking if you live as a physical animal in the world at all, or at least participate in any type of organised social life even on the scale a monk does. Hence revealing more abstract and complex philosophical problems within them...

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

This is a very interesting precept. I always thought about myself being honest, but I’ve discovered that I lie to myself. And that couldn’t be more damaging. For instance say that somebody says something that upsets me, well then without be conscious about it I built up mental lies to cover up that unpleasant sensation instead of facing it. It comes as a surprise that I was not as honest as I always thought about myself.

[@osip7315]

to my mind, that's the real zen, you have to go against the grain of yourself without doing that you are worst than wasting your time, sadly, so few do it, well of course its hard to do

[@lorenacharlotte8383]

Andrew Levin : Yes, I have to. There is no escape. Going nowhere is a marvellous sensation of freedom.

[@zenaudio108]

Thank you, Brad. This is a really great series. Please may I ask what your source is for Nishijima Roshi's comments on the precepts?

[@HardcoreZen]

It comes from a pamphlet he made about the precepts. It is available for download on the Dogen Sangha website. It is also available here www.aczc.org/digital-library

[@zenaudio108]

@@HardcoreZen Thank you. Much appreciated!

[@rishied]

I was reading Letters to a dead friend and I wonder if you could spend a video or 2 on Nishijima's interpretation on the 4 Nobel truths.

[@HardcoreZen]

I ought to do that. It's a bit difficult.

[@Fakery]

Does this precept extend to listening properly? Addressing misinterpretation of speech (willful or accidental)?

[@HardcoreZen]

I never considered that. But I think it does. It's very important to try to understand. And it's true that some people deliberately misunderstand things.

[@marknoble2030]

@@HardcoreZen Maybe this issue is addressed by Kobun Chino when he mentions the "words we have spoken to ourselves" betraying a "narrow perspective."

[@pinkfloydguy7781]

I’ve been overthinking this probably, but I have this trait my therapist has called “compulsive honesty” which apparently is an autism spectrum thing, and it can be challenging to know how much I can withhold without lying, even though it’s common social understanding roughly where the line is, someone will ask me how I’m doing (but as a greeting) and I feel a very strong and fast pull to start saying exactly how I’ve been feeling and what I’m thinking in a way that’s inappropriate. “Don’t lie” makes me nervous that every time I’ve been successful at going against my nature to navigate that line, I’ve been kinda fucking up as a buddhist lol 😂

[@HardcoreZen]

That's interesting. I don't think you need to worry. Just be honest and maybe try not to say more than is necessary.

[@benhorner8430]

Kind of interesting to think about whether or not a picture (which is worth 1000 words) can lie, I kind of feel like they can't. I guess maybe it's more common understanding that pictures are illusory, and you're meant to interpret them yourself. The one-mind version kind of surprised me this time, I expected it to be more in line with "it's impossible to steal". I guess it really is though, you could rephrase it as "all words are illusory", a portion of the burden ends up on the listener's end, since the speaker has an impossible task.

[@alexhristov1167]

"The Lie" is very sensitive topic for every human. Women tend to lie more often than man and this part of our social patterns. It's difficult sometimes to understand why other people would lie to you, watching you in the eyes. To be lied by someone can be painful. Also we can find that we lie too which is another side of the same problem. Especially when we are young we often lie ourselves and the people around us, because we're afraid from confrontation. Generally speaking to lie means to be afraid. You feel certain level of fear in yourself. So it is wonderful when you are saying the truth more and more often, but it is very important to let other people lie. You can't force anyone to say the truth. Some people aren't ready to face facts and you can't do nothing about them, because "Don't Lie" is a personal choice.

[@benhorner8430]

I'm curious, do you have anything to back up your claim that women lie more often than men? Would you consider it a lie to state something as true, when you actually have no idea whether it's true or not? (I would.) Haha, not that I generally trust the internet about everything, but just for fun I searched for "do women lie more than men?" This was the first article that came up: www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/connecticut/westport/resources/resources/who-are-the-bigger-liars-men-or-women I only read the the 4th paragraph or so, but it talks about how when men lie, they are bragging, trying to appear more impressive. It was only based on a survey, so who answers such a survey more honestly would play into it. Also, to make it even more suspect, it said that 25% of men admitted lying to their mothers, while only 20% of women admitted the same. I find it very likely that 100% of people who spoke to their mother as a teenager have lied to their mothers. :)

[@sheldonvideos]

You just lied the other day about selling schwag!!