Sacca
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'''Sacca''' is a [[Pali|Pāli]] word meaning "real" or "true."<ref>Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 668, entry for "Sacca" (retrieved 2007-11-12 at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3:1:2866.pali).</ref> In early [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] literature, ''sacca'' is often found in the context of the "[[Four Noble Truths]]," a crystallization of Buddhist wisdom. In addition, ''sacca'' is one of the ten [[paramita|paramis]] or perfections that a [[bodhisattva|bodhisatta]] must develop in order to become a [[Buddhahood|Buddha]].
== The profoundest truth of reality ==
In the [[Pali Canon]], ''sacca'' is frequently found in the term ''ariya-sacca'', meaning "noble truth" or "truth of the noble ones."<ref>See, for instance, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.harv.html Harvey (2007),] in his "Glossary and Commentary" section's explanation of "Reality for the Noble One(s) (or, for the Noble One(s), a reality)."</ref> More specifically, the term ''ariya-sacca'' refers to the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s "[[Four Noble Truths]]," elucidated in his [[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|first discourse]] as follows (where ''sacca'' is translated as "reality"):
:"Now ''this'', [[bhikkhu]]s, for the Noble One(s), is the reality which is [[dukkha|pain]]: [[jati (Buddhism)|birth]] is painful, [[jaramarana|aging]] is painful, illness is painful, [[jaramarana|death]] is painful; sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, unhappiness and distress are painful; union with what is disliked is painful; separation from what is liked is painful; not to get what one wants is painful; in brief, the [[Skandha|five bundles]] of [[upadana|grasping-fuel]] are painful.
:"Now ''this'', bhikkhus, for the Noble One(s), is the pain-originating reality. It is this [[tanha|craving]] which leads to renewed [[bhava|existence]], accompanied by delight and attachment, seeking delight now here now there; that is, craving for [[Kāma|sense-pleasure]]s, craving for existence, craving for extermination (of what is not liked).
:"Now ''this'', bhikkhus, for the Noble One(s), is the pain-ceasing reality. It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.
:"Now ''this'', bhikkhus, for the Noble One(s), is the reality which is the way leading to the cessation of pain. It is this [[Noble Eightfold Path|Noble Eight-factored Path]], that is to say, right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, [[Four Right Exertions|right effort]], right [[mindfulness]], right mental [[samadhi (Buddhism)|unification]]."<ref>Harvey (2007).</ref>
In the [[Pali literature]], these Four Noble Truths are often identified as the most common idea associated with the [[Noble Eightfold Path]]'s factor of "right view" or "right understanding." And in the Buddhist causal notion of [[Pratitya-samutpada|Dependent Origination]], [[Avijja|ignorance]] of these Four Noble Truths is often identified as the starting point for "the whole mass of [[dukkha|suffering]]" (''kevalassa dukkhakkhandha'').
== Truth as an ethical practice ==
In terms of the daily practice of Buddhist laity, a [[upasaka|lay devotee]] daily recites the [[Five Precepts]] which include:
:I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech.<ref>Bullitt (2005).</ref>
"Incorrect speech," at its most basic, reflects speaking truthfully. Regarding this, contemporary [[Theravada]] monk [[Bhikkhu Bodhi]] has written:
:"It is said that in the course of his long [[training]] for [[Enlightenment (concept)|enlightenment]] over many lives, a bodhisatta can break all the [[The Five Precepts|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 communication|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."<ref>[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html#ch4 Bodhi (1999), ch. 4.]</ref>
==See also==
* [[Prajna]] (Buddhist wisdom)
* [[Sila]] (Buddhist ethical precepts, includes abstaining from lying [''musāvādā''])
* [[Noble Eightfold Path]] (includes "Right Speech")
* [[Four Noble Truths]]
* [[Paramita]] (Buddhist "perfections")
==Notes==
<references/>
==Sources==
* [[Bhikkhu Bodhi|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)'' ([[Samyutta Nikaya|SN]] 56.11). Retrieved 2007-11-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.harv.html.
* [[T.W. Rhys Davids|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/.
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[[Category:Buddhist terms]]
[[Category:Pali words and phrases]]