THE ANUD¢PAN¢
SÈma's speech was like Vidhura's: it was not to make others believe nor was it to get his
wish fulfilled. In fact, it was a speech made to avoid falsehood and, therefore, was
musÈviramaÓa-sacca
.
In the Bh|ridatta JÈtaka also, when NesÈda Brahmin approached the (
NÈga
) Bodhisatta
who was observing the precepts, and asked him: ‚Who are you? Are you a powerful god?
Or are you a mighty
nÈga
?‛ ‚This man will believe me,‛ thought the NÈga King, ‚even if I
say I am a divine being. But I ought to tell him the truth.‛ and told him that he was a
powerful
nÈga
. This speech of the NÈga King, like Vidhura's, was made not to make others
believe nor was it to have one's wish fulfilled. But as it was made to avoid falsehood and to
reveal the truth, it was
musÈviramaÓa-sacca
.
What constitutes the sixth of the Ten Perfections is this
musÈviramaÓa-sacca
. Bodhisattas
of old always made it a point to cultivate this kind of speech which is an avoidance of
falsehood. They fulfilled their Perfection of Truthfulness by speaking truthfully, existence
after existence. If they kept silent to avoid having to tell lies and to observe truthfulness, it
was not pure verbal truth (
vacÊ-sacca
) because there was no speech at all. It was only
viratÊ-sacca
, avoidance of falsehood.
Use of The Three Kinds of Truth by Bodhisattas
Only when circumstances demand to convince others did Bodhisattas use truth of the first
kind,
saddahÈpana-sacca
; otherwise they did not. Similarly, only when they were required
to get their wish fulfilled, they made use of the truth of the second kind,
icchapurana-
sacca.
As regards the third kind,
musÈviramaÓa-sacca
, they always resorted to it on all
occasions. Following their examples, those who are virtuous should speak
musÈviramaÓa-
sacca
and make efforts to cultivate it.
Two Kinds of Truth
The aforesaid truths may be classified under two headings only, namely,
(1) VacÊbhedasiddhi Sacca (Truth that accomplishes something the moment one speaks.)
(2) PacchÈnurakkhana Sacca (Truth that entails a follow-up after one has spoken.)
As has been mentioned before, the SaddahÈpana Sacca of the Bhisa JÈtaka, the
IcchÈpurana Vacisacca of the SuvaÓÓa SÈma, SuppÈraka, Sivi, Maccha, Vattaka,
KanhadipÈyana, NalapÈna, SambulÈ, Temiya, Janaka, KatthavÈhana and MahÈmora JÈtakas,
and the MusÈviramaÓa Sacca of the Vidhura, SuvaÓÓa SÈma and Bh|ridatta JÈtakas
produced results as soon as they were individually spoken out. There was nothing more to
be performed to achieve results. Therefore, such truths are to be known as
VacÊbhedasiddhi-sacca.
But Truthfulness shown by King Sutasoma to Porisada in the above-mentioned MahÈ
Sutasoma JÈtaka was different. It was a Saddahapana Sacca spoken to convince Porisada
that he would definitely return to him. This promise would be fulfilled when the King did
return to the cannibal and only then would his truthfulness be established. For this, he had
to make special arrangements to effect his return to the Bodhisatta. This truthfulness of
King Sutasoma was therefore of
pacchÈnurakkhana-sacca
type.
In the same way, the truthfulness practised by King Jayadisa in the Jayadisa JÈtaka of the
Timsa Nipata and that practised by Prince RÈma in the Dasaratha are both
pacchÈnurakkhana-sacca
.
With reference to King Jayadisa's truthfulness, here is the story in brief. While King
Jayadisa of Uttara PaÒcÈla City, in the Kingdom of Kapila, was going on a hunting spree,
on the way, he met Nanda Brahmin who had come back from TakkasÊla and who wished to
deliver a discourse.
The King promised him to hear the discourse on his return and went to the forest.
On arrival in the forest, the King and his ministers divided the hunting ground among
themselves, each one to his own allocated area to catch deer. But one escaped through the
King's location and the King had to pursue it with all his might. After a long pursuit, he