Liar, liar
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Never did I think that a children’s taunt, like this one, actually holds the jewel of Buddhist teaching within it.
There’s more there that the catchy rhyming. Or the rabbit hole of a vast array of the supposed origins of the phrase (from a William Blake poem to the Bible (Revelations 21.8) to the Ramayana).*
This taunt actually distills the core Buddhist teaching of ‘actions have consequences’ (‘dependent arising’ or pratitya samutpada). When one lies^ (to others or to ourselves), there is a consequence – sometimes minor, sometimes huge.
The consequences of saying ‘I didn’t finish the peanut butter’ (when actually you did) may not seem important (unless someone is quite desperate for peanut butter). But in fact just these ‘little’ lies start to undermine our desire to be honest, transparent – and so undermines trust or confidence we might have in ourselves or others. Translate that to ‘big’ lies and the consequences can be even more far reaching (as ‘fake news’ demonstrates). Increasingly, there is less and less of a sense of mutual concern and support if we really can’t have faith in what is being said or done.
Being honest may not seem that exciting. But it’s actually more radical than avoiding, much less ignoring, the truth.
In short, keep your pants safe from fire.
With a bow
Maitripushpa
* in other words, no one really knows, as the variety of ‘answers’ on the web assert
^ truthful communication is one of the five core Buddhist ethical guidelines
