Theft is the act of taking away what people love.

After summarizing all the content of stealing and clearly expounding the behavior of stealing, we will know how many people in the world actually commit stealing and how widespread the phenomenon of stealing is, including among Buddhist practitioners. Only the noble-minded (junzi) do not steal; the noble-minded can refrain from looking at what is improper, refrain from listening to what is improper, and understand the principle of not doing to others what one does not want done to oneself. But how many noble-minded people are there in the world? The noble-minded of ancient times had pure bodies and pure minds, were pure-hearted with few desires, were indifferent to fame and gain, and did not contend with the world; generally they would not have the mental actions of stealing. They knew how to respect others and would not deprive sentient beings of their possessions. Nowadays, many people who keep pets sterilize their pet cats and dogs—all of this counts as depriving cats and dogs of their reproductive rights without their consent. If one respects sentient beings, one will not violate them, and there will be neither the mind nor the action of stealing. Selfish, domineering, and overbearing people frequently violate the interests of sentient beings; they may violate them at every moment and in every place without even realizing it.

Any single precept, when taken up, is extremely deep and subtle. If one has the conditions, circumstances, and merit (puṇya) to fulfill every precept, one can truly bind the manas tightly with the precepts; one will have no mind for unlawful matters, and gradually one will have no mind even for matters that are not unlawful, and one's cultivation of the Path will advance. The noble-minded do not take away what others love. Nowadays people in the world have blazing greed and desire, compete to outdo one another, crave grand achievements and glory, have a strong desire for self-display, and all want to be superior to others—can such people avoid depriving and violating sentient beings? Everyone wants to highlight themselves, proving themselves by belittling others; their minds are not even kind enough.