Response: O Venerable Ones¹ we will perform the Poṣadha and recite the Prātimokṣa Sūtra. Leader: For whom there may be a fault, it should be confessed by that one. If there is no fault, [one] should be silent. By being silent, we will understand the Venerable Ones to be completely pure. Just as there is an answer by a monk when questioned individually, so also there is the threefold public proclamation in such an assembly of monks. For whatever monk, being questioned in this way three times in the assembly of monks, who does not reveal an existing fault which is remembered, there is the speaking of a deliberate lie. Speaking a deliberate lie, O Venerable Ones, has assuredly been declared by the Blessed One to be an obstructive condition. Therefore, an existing fault should be revealed by a fallen monk, remembering [the offense and] hoping for purity. By revealing it, there is comfort for him, but by not revealing it, there is none.