【The Meditation Session - Preparation】- Being a witness to indict someone

For the five vows of lay people, one of them is about lying. At that time, I couldn’t quite understand, but now I do. That is “being a witness to indict someone” – if he committed wrongdoing and you were asked to be the witness, if you saw it and said, “Right! I saw him [doing that].” This is not the right thing to do [in Buddhism]! Well? We may say, “He did commit the sin, I am only speaking the truth, am I suppose to lie?” Well, you think about it, why? Only if you are better than Buddha would this view of yours be correct! If you have faith in Buddha, here is where the crucial point lies.

So never say, “He is definitely wrong” as though I am saying this with great confidence, in this manner. This attitude is wrong! Let’s not refer to Buddha Dharma, not refer to Buddhism – [instead, let’s refer to] a worldly case. Do you remember that Confucius taught us a classic story? There was a man and his father, the two of them. The father stole a goat from someone else, and the son investigated, and then said his father was the one who did it. Some people would claim, “Oh, this person is really righteous!” When Confucius heard this, he shook his head and said, “The father should keep quiet for his son, and the son should keep quiet for his father. The fairness is within.” I believe many people have heard this story. Thus, the sages’ way of teaching is certainly not understood by us ignorant beings.

SOURCE 来源 :

23A 28’09” Vol 3 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P232 Ll4
English Lamrim Vol 1 P97

日常师父法语📡23A 28’09”手抄稿第3册P232 LL4

修持轨理-加行 : 证人入罪

受五戒，它的妄语戒当中有一条，我当时一直不大懂，现在懂了。就是[证人入罪]，如果他犯了罪了，叫你去做证人，你看见的，你说：[对！我看见他。]不可以！欸？我们说：[他明明犯了罪了，我只是说实话，难道叫我说妄语吗？]嘿，你们倒想想看，为什么？要嘛佛不如你，你对！如果，你信得过佛的话，这个地方，它就有关键所在。

所以不要说，[他就是错的]，我就在这个地方的话，好像理直气壮，就这个样。就这个样，错了！我们不要说佛法，不要说佛法—世法，记得不记得孔老夫子告诉我们一个最好的典型的故事？有一个人，他这个父子两个人，他的父亲偷了人家一只羊，然后他的儿子去证察，说我的父亲偷了人家羊了。人家说，哎呀，这个人很直啊！孔老夫子听见了，摇摇头，[父为子隐，子为父隐，直在其中。]我想大家可能听说过这个公案，所以圣人教人的方法，的的确确不是我们无明愚痴的人所看得见的。