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Way to Enlightenment

Hell (Niraya Vagga)

Verse 306

Pāli Source

Abhūtavādī nirayaṃ upeti, yo vāpi katvā na karomī ti c'āha; ubho pi te pecca samā bhavanti, nihīnakammā manujā parattha.

English Translation

Whoever speaks what is untrue moves toward niraya, as does one who denies having done what he did. Both alike become people of low conduct in the life beyond.

Way to Enlightenment draft translation — not yet reviewed for accuracy.

Editorial Note

From the Niraya Vagga (named for "niraya," a traditional state of downward rebirth resulting from harmful action). The Pali term is kept rather than translated as "hell," since that English word carries different connotations from the traditional Buddhist concept — this verse is about the seriousness of dishonesty, not a claim being made about cosmology on this page.

Source

Pali critical edition: O. von Hinüber & K.R. Norman (Pali Text Society, 1995), digitized by the Dhammakaya Foundation via GRETIL, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0