Types of Stolen Goods

The issue of what constitutes stealing is very complex. The more modernized society becomes, the more self-centered people are, and the more possessions sentient beings have—things unimaginable in the past are now all owned by them. Among these possessions, it is not only the material form (rūpa) that the eyes can see and the body can touch, but also formless and immaterial dharmas that the eyes cannot see and the body cannot touch, such as dharmas resembling information. In fact, the scope of objects of stealing is extremely broad, encompassing all dharmas of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms (aṣṭādaśa-dhātu): the aggregate of form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness; the six faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses—covering all material form, mental dharmas, dharmas that are neither material nor mental, as well as the mind and its mental factors. If one counts them one by one in detail, they are simply countless. The dharmas that can be stolen and that are stolen all belong to the dharmas within a person's own five aggregates and eighteen realms, and are owned by that individual. If someone forcibly takes them as their own without the owner's consent, that is stealing.

In modern society, the more advanced science and technology become, the more dharmas there are that can be stolen and that are stolen—something people in ancient times would not even have dared to imagine. In ancient times, even if people committed theft, they would steal property or possessions, or at most steal a person; these were all solid, tangible things. Nowadays, however, fewer and fewer people steal tangible hardware, while more and more steal intangible software. Below, I will enumerate them one by one. Although they are countless and cannot be listed exhaustively, a rough categorization will help Buddhist practitioners to examine and reflect upon themselves, to conduct self-inspection and self-reflection, and to repent in a timely manner, so as to eliminate as much karmic offense as possible, remove obstacles on the path of practice, turn away from evil and toward goodness, and reform the past while cultivating the future.

Regarding the precept against stealing among the five precepts, the dharmas that can be stolen and that are stolen can be divided into the following categories: the first is tangible material form with physical substance; the second is intangible material form with physical substance; the third is dharmas that are formless and without substance, neither material nor mental; the fourth is mental dharmas; the fifth is mental factors (caittas).

The first category, tangible material form with physical substance, can be seen by the eyes and touched by the body, and can also be heard by the ears, smelled by the nose, and tasted by the tongue. This refers to money, jewels, and various objects—all of which are material form (rūpa), including the five-aggregate bodies and organs of humans and animals, as well as corpses and so on. These are all clear to everyone.

The second category, intangible material form with physical substance, cannot be seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, smelled by the nose, or tasted by the tongue, but can be touched by the body and perceived by the mind consciousness and the manas—for example, the magnetic field contained within the human body, and the energy fields, auras, and so forth cultivated by practitioners. A magnetic field is an invisible material energy. Every living being has a different magnetic field, and its influence on people differs, with attributes of mutual generation and mutual restraint. Without the person's knowledge and permission, secretly stealing another person's exceptional magnetic field energy to nourish oneself also counts as stealing. Not only magnetic fields, but also vitality, energy, essence (jīng), qi, spirit (shén), and so forth—seizing and occupying them without permission all constitute stealing. For example, extracting another person's essence to replenish one's own qi, or "drawing yin to supplement yang," and the like, all belong to stealing.

The third category, formless and immaterial dharmas, includes: reputation, honor, power, status, merit, image, moral character, patent rights, trademark rights, time, secrets, autonomy, the right to make choices, the right to vote, and all other such rights and interests. Taking the fruits of another person's labor as one's own—such as monographs, papers, patents, inventions and creations, ideas, designs, and so on—may need to be subdivided into many types; different kinds have different ownership.

The fourth category is mental dharmas: a thieving mind, deceiving others' feelings, deluding others' first seven consciousnesses to gain their trust, taking what others cherish as one's own, taking the dharmas that others perceive through seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing as one's own, as well as using schemes to make others develop illusions, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations in what they see, hear, and know.

The fifth category is mental factors (caittas): contact (sparśa), attention (manaskāra), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), volition (cetanā); desire (chanda), determination (adhimokṣa), mindfulness (smṛti), concentration (samādhi), wisdom (prajñā); and the eleven wholesome mental factors. For example, suppressing others' feelings, depriving others of their thoughts, making decisions and choices on others' behalf, taking others' ideas and views as one's own, and so on.