四部律并論要用抄 2.24

2.24

The precept against theft. Question: If a monk steals relics that have an owner, how is it an offense or not an offense? Answer: If it is to sustain himself and it is worth five coins, he commits a major offense; if it does not amount to five coins, a sthūlātyaya. If an evil monk takes them so that neither he nor I possess them, it is a sthūlātyaya. If it is for the sake of making offerings, thinking, 'The Buddha is my teacher, I ought to make offerings to him,' and it amounts to five coins, it is a duṣkṛta. This comes from the Mātṛkā-śāstra. Furthermore, the treatise states: A monk stole property belonging to a caitya, thinking there was no offense. The Buddha said: If there is a caretaker and it amounts to [five coins], he commits an offense. Question: If a monk steals property consisting of scriptures, what offense does he incur? Answer: If it amounts to [five coins], he commits a major offense; if it does not amount to that, a sthūlātyaya. If he takes it for the sake of the scriptures themselves, there is no offense. If the scriptures amount to [five coins], he commits a major offense; if they do not amount to that, a sthūlātyaya. If it is for recitation or copying, there is no offense. The Caturvargika-vinaya states: The Buddha's words are priceless; one reckons the value of the paper and ink to assess the offense. The Mahīśāsaka-vinaya states: A monk stole another's scripture, thinking that because it was the Buddha's words there was no offense. The Buddha said: If the value of the labor, paper, and ink amounts to five coins, he commits an offense. The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: A monk intended to guide a horse to turn toward the east, but the horse ran off, turning south, west, or north. What offense does he commit? Answer: A sthūlātyaya. If the horse followed the monk toward the east, as soon as it lifted all four hooves, he committed an offense. As with a horse, so too with other livestock. Just as the east was designated by his intention, the other three directions are likewise. If his mind had no designated [direction] and it proceeded toward a single direction, when its four hooves leave their place, he commits an offense. Because of this, the Mahāsāṃghika masters explained thirteen delimitations of property to clarify the marks of offenses and non-offenses: 1. Delimitation of property: There are eight kinds of property: first, timed medicine; second, seven-day medicine; third, evening medicine; fourth, lifetime medicine; fifth, ancillary property; sixth, seed property; seventh, impure property; eighth, impure-impure property. If a monk touches these eight kinds of property with a mind to steal, it is a vinayātikrama; if he moves that property, a sthūlātyaya; if it leaves its place and amounts to [the requisite value], he commits a major offense. 2. Delimitation of location: Land, water, boats, vehicles, empty space, objects suspended in space, and the like should be understood. 3. Delimitation of fullness: As when one steals food at an improper time; if the food amounts to [five coins], he commits a major offense; if it does not amount to that, a sthūlātyaya, not a pātayantika. If one legitimately obtains food and eats at an improper time, it is a pātayantika. Such cases should be widely known. 4. Delimitation of enclosures: Stables for elephants and horses, pens for cattle and sheep, orchards, vegetable gardens, fences, and the like. If one steals these various properties, it is required that they pass beyond the barrier to demarcate the offense. 5. Delimitation of cages: That is, birds, beasts, and the like; passing out of the cage is the limit. If one intends to steal the cage, but fearing the owner will notice, carries it away cage and all, even if carried far, he has not yet committed [the major offense]. If he abandons the cage and takes the bird, if it amounts to [five coins], he commits the offense. If he steals both the cage and the bird, as soon as they leave the place, he commits the offense. If in an open space people let livestock roam, and a monk steals them by driving them away, and [the owner] immediately notices and pursues the monk, so that the monk does not consider them acquired and the owner does not consider them lost, he has not yet committed a major offense. If the owner forms the thought of having lost them and the monk forms the thought of having acquired them, he commits the offense. If he lures them away with grass, when they leave sight and hearing, he commits the offense. 6. Delimitation of entrusted property: If a monk receives another's entrusted property and carries it away, and along the way sees an item, and liking it, gives rise to a mind to steal and moves it away from its place, he commits a major offense. If while carrying the entrusted property along the way he sees another monk approaching from ahead and asks, 'Where do you come from?' and that person says, 'I come from such-and-such a place'; he asks, 'Do you know so-and-so?' and he answers, 'I know him'; he asks further, 'Is he well?' and he answers, 'He has already died'; now this property ought to belong to the saṃmukhībhūta-saṃgha; if that monk who received the entrustment knows the Dharma but is very deceitful and thinks, 'Why should I share it with him?' and immediately leaves the road beyond sight and hearing and performs a legal act to take it for himself alone, what offense does he incur? Answer: A vinayātikrama offense; even if he goes out of the boundary and deceitfully performs a karman, it is likewise a vinayātikrama. 7. Delimitation of miscellaneous property: Like the various livestock of the herdsmen mentioned above. 8. Delimitation of banners: Stealing canopies and the like. If it is too heavy to bear and he drags it away, even if far, he does not commit an offense, as should be understood. If banners and canopies of a stūpa or property of a devālaya are blown far away by the wind, covered in dust, dirt, and black grime, and one takes them considering them discarded rags, there is no offense. 9. Delimitation of circumstance: As when in a householder's home there is property not gathered away, and a monk goes and sees it, gives rise to a mind to steal, and takes it, and so forth. Furthermore, as when at mealtime a monk takes another monk's sitting mat and key, places them into his bowl, and has a disciple carry them away: he incurs a vinayātikrama; when the disciple goes out, he incurs a sthūlātyaya; if he had a mind to steal, he commits a major offense. The other noticing should be understood accordingly. 10. Delimitation of stakes: Similar in conception to the banners. 11. Delimitation of fields: Acting on behalf of others' plots and the like; if with a partial mind one divides it for another, up to shifting a boundary marker by a single barley-grain, he commits a major offense, because land is priceless. 12. Delimitation of thieves: Plotting with evil thieves to rob together and the like. If a monk loses property, pursues the thieves, and forcibly takes back his property, terrifying them and taking it: if that monk had not yet formed the thought of having lost it, in taking back the property there is no offense. If he vainly formed that thought and then took it back, he is a thief plundering thieves again, and if it amounts to [the requisite value], he commits a major offense. 13. Delimitation of customs duties: Violating government toll regulations regarding forbidden goods and the like. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: If a person secretly puts dutiable goods into a monk's bundle, and the monk does not know, or if he carries dutiable goods through the air and passes by the inspectors, there is no offense. The Mātṛkā-śāstra states: Transforming gold into copper to pass through a customs post incurs a sthūlātyaya. Furthermore, if a monk carrying dutiable goods intends to pass through, and on his own reflects, 'If I pass through, I commit a major offense; I shall bestow these goods on my parents, brothers, or sisters, or bestow them on a stūpa or the saṃgha,' and gives rise to doubt and asks the Buddha, the Buddha said: A sthūlātyaya. The Caturvargika-vinaya states: A monk stole another's robe and bowl property, but mistakenly took his own robe. The Buddha said: A sthūlātyaya. A monk stole another's robe and also took his own robe: [for his own] a sthūlātyaya, for the other's robe he commits a major offense. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: If a donor's food for the saṃgha has not yet reached his turn, but he says it has reached him, it is a pātayantika; if the food he obtains amounts to [five coins], he commits a major offense. Question: If a monk takes non-clothing property that is not covered or concealed, and with a mind to steal moves it to a different place, does he also commit a major offense? Answer: Yes. A monk playing dice who with his mind turns the die is an example. Question: Does stealing property in Uttarakuru incur a major offense? Answer: The people of that land have no sense of 'mine' or belonging, therefore there is no offense. In the other two continents, if it amounts to the requisite coins, he commits a major offense. Question further: If a monk transforms into the form of a bhikṣuṇī to steal, is it an offense? Answer: It is an offense. A bhikṣuṇī transforming into a monk is likewise. A monk begged for vegetables and grapes from a householder's garden; when the householder did not give them, the monk used the power of incantations to curse them to death. Giving rise to doubt, he asked the Buddha; the Buddha said: It is an offense. Other vegetables are likewise. A person hid treasures in the ground; a monk used the power of incantations to ruin the treasure's color and destroy the other's benefit. What offense does he commit? The Buddha said: He commits a major offense. A hunter pursued a deer into a monastery and came afterwards looking for it; the monk answered, 'How could I return it to you?' The hunter left. The monk doubted; the Buddha said: There is no offense. Furthermore, a deer that had been shot entered a monastery; the hunter said, 'This deer has already been hit by an arrow; I must shoot and kill it again. You all stand clear of the arrows.' The monks said, 'We will not stand clear for you, nor will we give you the deer,' and scolded him until he left. Later the deer died; the monks did not know what to do. The Buddha said: You should return it to the hunter. Furthermore, monks deliberately destroyed another's hunting nets; the Buddha said: A sthūlātyaya. If they destroyed them without that intention, a duṣkṛta. Destroying bird nets or destroying prisons is likewise. The Samantapāsādikā states: If a monk deliberately destroys another's property, he must repay its value; if he does not repay, he commits an offense. If he sees birds or beasts caught in a net, and with a compassionate mind wishes to release them, he must first give property matching the value, tying it to a post, and only then release them; he gains merit and incurs no offense. Furthermore, the Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: A thief took away a disciple, and the upādhyāya took him back; with a mind of doubt he asked the Buddha. The Buddha said: If he belonged to the thief, taking him back incurs a major offense; if ownership was not yet determined, taking him back is no offense. If he took him back by testing the power of incantations, no offense. If by supernormal powers, no offense. If [the disciple] ran away on his own and gained escape, no offense. If a monk steals undivided property belonging to many persons, even if it exceeds five coins, he does not commit a major offense; he incurs a sthūlātyaya. The Mahīśāsaka-vinaya states: If a monk steals property in the ground, generating the intention and the preliminary means are both duṣkṛta; digging the earth and killing vegetation is a pātayantika; moving that property is a sthūlātyaya; when it leaves the place and amounts to [the requisite value], he commits a major offense. Other cases should be understood by analogy. The Daśādhyāya-vinaya, however, is not like this: digging the earth and killing vegetation incurs only a duṣkṛta. Why? Because it serves as the preliminary means to achieve theft. The Samantapāsādikā explains eight kinds of duṣkṛta: 1. Preliminary-means duṣkṛta: As in sthūlātyaya; seeking companions and looking for knives and axes, according to the preliminary means, it is called a preliminary-means duṣkṛta. 2. Mutual-aspect duṣkṛta: As when cutting down the vegetation and trees above a hidden treasure, all constitute duṣkṛta. Why? Because they serve as the preliminary means to achieve the theft offense; this is called a mutual-aspect duṣkṛta. 3. Heavy-property duṣkṛta: Such as the ten kinds of jewels, ten kinds of grains, various weapons, and so forth, which ought not to be handled; this is called a heavy-property duṣkṛta. 4. Money duṣkṛta: With all fruits as primary; if one handles them, it is a duṣkṛta; this is called non-money. 5. Vinaya duṣkṛta: Entering a village to beg for food, and dust enters the bowl and one does not receive it again; this is called a vinaya duṣkṛta. 6. Knowing duṣkṛta: Hearing the proclamation, already knowing it, but not confessing the offense; this is a knowing duṣkṛta. 7. Pure-half duṣkṛta: If during the ten days one incurs a duṣkṛta in one day; this is called a pure-half duṣkṛta. 8. Hearing duṣkṛta: The Buddha addressing the monks where previously it had not been manifested; this is called a hearing duṣkṛta. What are the 'five coins'? The other three divisions and the treatises do not differentiate them; only the Daśādhyāya-vinaya states: 'Five coins' means the value of one copper coin, which is sixteen small coins. Furthermore, the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: Nineteen ancient coins are called one kārṣāpaṇa, which makes four parts; if one steals the value of one part, he commits a major offense.