The Sūtra on the Mindful Contemplation of the True Dharma on Stealing

Original text of the Sūtra of the Mindfulness of the True Dharma (Saddharma-smṛtyupasthāna-sūtra): 云何偷盗乐行多作。云何乐行多作。盗已堕于地狱。此恶戒人。性自偷盗。近恶知识。若恶知识近住之人与彼相随。则行偷盗。

有下中上。何者为下。谓王法等。如前所说。何者为中。非福田所。偷盗彼物。此盗为中。何者为上。佛法僧物。微少偷盗。是则为上。

彼佛法僧。若盗僧物。佛法能净。盗佛法物。僧不能净。若盗众僧现食用物。堕大地狱。头面在下。若取属僧所常食物。则堕无间阿鼻地狱。宽广闇等。以重福田。微少偷盗。以有心念。乐行多作。彼少偷盗。堕于地狱畜生饿鬼。若复忏悔。不生随喜。心中生悔。彼不定受。若偷盗人。无量方便而行偷盗。以如是故。名为偷盗。

This passage discusses what kind of stealing is the most serious: stealing the property of the Three Jewels. Among acts of stealing, this is the heaviest—stealing the property of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. By "stealing" it means taking for oneself, without permission, things that belong to the Three Jewels, deciding on one's own to use them as if they were one's own property. Even if the item is extremely trivial, the karmic retribution is extremely heavy—for example, tissues, towels, and the like; if one steals items more valuable than these, the retribution is even heavier. Those who have committed such offenses should find ways to make amends themselves in order to lighten their karmic obstructions. People who frequently go to temples should often reflect and examine themselves to see whether they have committed any stealing, including the pettiest of gains.

Giving to the Three Jewels brings immeasurable merit, but stealing and appropriating the property of the Three Jewels brings immeasurable sin and immeasurable debt. The Three Jewels are the greatest field of merit in the world: the merit gained is the greatest, and the offense incurred is also the greatest. The Kṣitigarbha Sūtra says that taking even a single blade of grass from a temple is an offense—let alone items more valuable than a blade of grass, including water, electricity, gas, food, tea, and various utensils.

Usurpation also falls within the scope of stealing. It includes not only food, drink, and articles, but also the various rights and duties belonging to the Three Jewels. When powers and responsibilities that properly belong to the Three Jewels are arbitrarily taken over by others on their behalf—deploying and allocating the people, wealth, and property that belong to the Three Jewels, and riding roughshod over the Three Jewels—the offense is even greater.

Appropriating and seizing the merit and reputation of the Three Jewels also counts as stealing, and this offense may be even greater. If we can strictly keep these precepts without violating them, the mind will naturally settle into purity; no longer thinking about what to gain or what advantage to take, we gather the mind in, and meditative concentration (samādhi) arises naturally. If a person's mind cannot settle, there must surely be things weighing on it. If one lets go of all these matters and no longer dwells on them, why worry that meditative concentration cannot be cultivated?

It is good to cultivate the habit of taking advantage of no person and no group. With this good habit, one will incur far fewer debts and lose far less merit. The very place where one gains an advantage is precisely where one loses it. In this world there is fundamentally no advantage to be gained at all, because cause and effect exist: for every bit of advantage taken, a record is made in each person's tathāgatagarbha, and when the conditions ripen, it must all be repaid a thousand-fold, ten-thousand-fold, immeasurably multiplied. The later the repayment, the higher the accrued interest, and the more must be repaid.