“We don’t understand the detailed meaning of the worthy Gotama’s brief statement. Worthy Gotama, please teach us this matter in detail so we can understand the meaning.” “Well then, householders, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, worthy sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“Householders, unprincipled and immoral conduct is threefold by way of body, fourfold by way of speech, and threefold by way of mind.

And how is unprincipled and immoral conduct threefold by way of body? It’s when someone kills living creatures. They’re violent, bloody-handed, a hardened killer, merciless to living beings. They steal. With the intention to commit theft, they take the wealth or belongings of others from village or wilderness. They commit sexual misconduct. They have relations with women who have their mother, father, both mother and father, brother, sister, relatives, or clan as guardian. They have relations with a woman who is protected on principle, or who has a husband, or whose violation is punishable by law, or even one who has been garlanded as a token of betrothal. This is how unprincipled and immoral conduct is threefold by way of body.

And how is unprincipled and immoral conduct fourfold by way of speech? It’s when someone lies. They’re summoned to a council, an assembly, a family meeting, a guild, or to the royal court, and asked to bear witness: ‘Please, my friend, say what you know.’ Not knowing, they say ‘I know.’ Knowing, they say ‘I don’t know.’ Not seeing, they say ‘I see.’ And seeing, they say ‘I don’t see.’ So they deliberately lie for the sake of themselves or another, or for some trivial worldly reason.