Book of the Ones (Ekakanipāta), Chapter Three — Iti 25 of 27 in this book
Setting
No location or interlocutor is given — only the Itivuttaka’s stock opening and closing formula
Form
A single sentence of prose, then a single quatrain of verse restating it — no simile, no narrative
Length
< 1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — extremely short, and stark
Why this discourse, twenty-fifth
This is one of the shortest discourses in the entire Itivuttaka — a single sentence of prose and a single four-line verse, with no image, no story, and no elaboration at all. What it lacks in length it makes up for in the size of its claim: of every possible transgression, it singles out exactly one as the point past which literally nothing is held back.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
“For an individual person who transgresses in one thing, there is no bad deed they would not do, I say. What one thing? It is this: telling a deliberate lie.”
As short as the collection gets
It is worth simply noting how brief this discourse is, rather than reading more into it than is there. There is no setting, no interlocutor, no simile, and the verse adds only one new phrase to the prose statement. Several discourses in this chapter share a family resemblance — a single quality or transgression, isolated and named — and this is the sparest example of that pattern in the whole collection.
Not every lie: a deliberate one
The Pali term translated “deliberate lie,” sampajānamusāvāda, is precise. It does not describe an honest mistake, a misremembered detail, or an unintentional exaggeration; it names a falsehood spoken knowingly, with full awareness that it is false. The discourse’s claim is about this specific, deliberate act — not about the ordinary human fallibility of getting things wrong.
Why lying, specifically, opens every other door
The verse supplies one phrase the prose does not: such a person is “spurning the hereafter” — vitiṇṇaparalokassa, someone who has, in effect, crossed over or given up any concern for consequences beyond the immediate moment. This is the discourse’s real claim, compressed into a single word: deliberate lying is not simply one wrongdoing among many, ranked alongside the rest. It is treated as diagnostic — evidence that a person has already stopped caring whether their actions matter beyond what they can get away with right now. Once that concern is gone, nothing else remains to hold any other wrongdoing back.
The illustration this discourse leaves out
This teaching states its claim but supplies no image to make it vivid — that work is done, almost word for word, by another discourse: the Buddha’s advice to his son Rāhula, where the identical claim (“there is no bad deed they would not do”) is illustrated with the image of a war elephant that will use every part of its body in battle except its trunk, which it protects until the very last — the one thing held back, the line not yet crossed. Read together, the two discourses complement each other: this one states the principle in its barest form; the other gives it a memorable picture.
Key terms
sampajānamusāvāda — “a deliberate, knowing lie”: the specific transgression named, distinguished from honest error or unintentional falsehood.
ekadhammaṃ — “one thing”: the discourse’s framing device, isolating a single transgression rather than a general list of faults.
vitiṇṇaparalokassa — “spurning the hereafter”: the verse’s description of such a person, having given up concern for consequences beyond the present moment.
pāpakamma — “bad deed, evil deed”: the category the discourse claims becomes entirely unrestricted once deliberate lying has occurred.
the war-elephant simile — not present in this discourse, but supplied elsewhere (MN 61) for the identical claim: an elephant that protects its trunk in battle until the moment it does not, at which point “there is nothing it would not do.”
The text
The discourse in full: one sentence of prose and one quatrain of verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, for an individual person who transgresses in one thing, there is no bad deed they would not do, I say. What one thing? It is this: telling a deliberate lie.”
The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
§3“When a personage, spurning the hereafter,
transgresses in just one thing—
lying—
there is no evil they would not do.”
§4This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
· · ·
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What single transgression does this discourse name?
Correct: B. “It is this: telling a deliberate lie.”
Question 2 of 10
What does the discourse claim about a person who commits this one transgression?
Correct: C. The discourse’s entire claim, stated identically in both the prose and the verse.
Question 3 of 10
What does the reading guide say is distinctive about the Pali term sampajānamusāvāda?
Correct: A. The word is precise about intention and awareness, not mere factual error.
Question 4 of 10
What phrase does the verse add that is not in the prose statement?
Correct: D. This phrase supplies the reasoning: losing concern for the future removes the last restraint on any wrongdoing.
Question 5 of 10
How does the reading guide characterize the length and style of this discourse?
Correct: B. The reading guide is explicit that this is among the sparest discourses in the collection.
Question 6 of 10
Which other discourse does the reading guide say supplies a vivid illustration of the identical claim, using a war elephant?
Correct: C. MN 61 uses the image of a war elephant protecting its trunk until the moment it does not, illustrating the same principle.
Question 7 of 10
Does this discourse itself include a simile or illustrative image?
Correct: A. This discourse is bare of illustration; the war-elephant image belongs to MN 61.
Question 8 of 10
Where does this discourse sit in the Itivuttaka?
Correct: B. Iti 25, still within the Book of the Ones.
Question 9 of 10
How does the closing formula of this discourse read?
Correct: D. The standard closing formula shared by every discourse in this collection.
Question 10 of 10
According to the reading guide, why might deliberate lying specifically be treated as opening every other door to wrongdoing?
Correct: A. Once genuine concern for consequences is gone, nothing else remains to restrain any other wrongdoing.
