The Cetiya Jātaka: The Lie That Sinks Deeper With Every Telling

In the Cetiya Jātaka of the Book of Eights (Aṭṭhaka Nipāta) in the Jātaka, Khuddaka Nikāya, the verses open with a warning: Dhamma, when destroyed, destroys the one who destroys it; Dhamma not destroyed destroys no one, so one should not destroy Dhamma. The following verses repeat that when someone who knows is asked a question and deliberately answers otherwise, the deities depart, the mouth stinks, he falls from his position, rain does not fall in season, his tongue becomes forked like a snake's or absent like a fish's, and his sons scatter in all directions. Every verse ends: if you speak the truth, O king, you will be as before; if you speak falsely, you will sink further into the earth.

The last verse says that this king once travelled through the air, but lost his power and was swallowed by the earth. Therefore the wise do not praise going astray through liking (chandāgati); one should have a mind free of corruption and speak only words bound up with truth.

In the Tipiṭaka the Jātaka consists only of verses. The commentary tells that King Upacara of the Cetiya kingdom could travel through the air. He had once promised Korakalamba, a fellow student, the post of royal chaplain, but the post belonged to Korakalamba's elder brother, the brahmin Kapila. So the king announced he would falsely declare Kapila the younger and Korakalamba the elder. The whole city came to watch, since in that age no one yet knew what lying was. The sage Kapila warned the king with these verses; the commentary explains that the Dhamma of the first verse here means respect for one's elders. Each time the king repeated the lie he sank a stage deeper, from his ankles until the earth swallowed him entirely. The commentary says the Teacher told this story when monks were discussing how Devadatta had been swallowed by the earth.