contemporary Theravada monk Bhikkhu Bodhi has written: It is said that in the course of his long training for enlightenment over many lives, a bodhisatta can break all the moral precepts except the pledge to speak the truth. The reason for this is very profound, and reveals that the commitment to truth has a significance transcending the domain of ethics and even mental purification, taking us to the domains of knowledge and being. Truthful speech provides, in the sphere of interpersonal communication, a parallel to wisdom in the sphere of private understanding. The two are respectively the outward and inward modalities of the same commitment to what is real. Wisdom consists in the realization of truth, and truth (sacca) is not just a verbal proposition but the nature of things as they are. To realize truth our whole being has to be brought into accord with actuality, with things as they are, which requires that in communications with others we respect things as they are by speaking the truth. Truthful speech establishes a correspondence between our own inner being and the real nature of phenomena, allowing wisdom to rise up and fathom their real nature. Thus, much more than an ethical principle, devotion to truthful speech is a matter of taking our stand on reality rather than illusion, on the truth grasped by wisdom rather than the fantasies woven by desire. See also Four Noble Truths Noble Eightfold Path Śīla Adhiṭṭhāna (resolute determination) Pañña (wisdom) Dāna (generosity) Passaddhi (tranquillity) Nekkhamma (renunciation) Upekkhā (equanimity) Khanti (patience) Metta (loving-kindness) Vīrya (diligence) Bodhipakkhiya dhamma (Qualities conducive to Enlightenment) Two truths Sacca-kiriya Notes Sources Bodhi, Bhikkhu (1984, 1999). The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering (The Wheel, No. 308/311). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2006-04-30 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html. Bullitt, John T. (2005). The Five Precepts (pañca-sila). Retrieved 2007-11-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/pancasila.html. Harvey, Peter (trans.) (2007). Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: The Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel (of Vision) of the Basic Pattern: the Four Realities of the Noble One(s) (SN 56.11). Retrieved 2007-11-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.harv.html. Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921–25). The Pali Text Society's Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. Buddhist philosophical concepts