“Well then, brahmin, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” Cunda replied. The Buddha said this:

“Cunda, impurity is threefold by way of body, fourfold by way of speech, and threefold by way of mind.

And how is impurity threefold by way of body? It’s when someone kills living creatures. They’re violent, bloody-handed, a hardened killer, merciless to all 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 the threefold impurity by way of body.

And how is impurity 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.