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sentient beings. [28]
"Abstaining from taking life" has a wider application than simply refraining from killing
other human beings. The precept enjoins abstaining from killing any sentient being. A
"sentient being" (pani, satta) is a living being endowed with mind or consciousness; for
practical purposes, this means human beings, animals, and insects. Plants are not
considered to be sentient beings; though they exhibit some degree of sensitivity, they
lack full-fledged consciousness, the defining attribute of a sentient being.
The "taking of life" that is to be avoided is intentional killing, the deliberate destruction
of life of a being endowed with consciousness. The principle is grounded in the
consideration that all beings love life and fear death, that all seek happiness and are
averse to pain. The essential determinant of transgression is the volition to kill, issuing
in an action that deprives a being of life. Suicide is also generally regarded as a
violation, but not accidental killing as the intention to destroy life is absent. The
abstinence may be taken to apply to two kinds of action, the primary and the secondary.
The primary is the actual destruction of life; the secondary is deliberately harming or
torturing another being without killing it.
While the Buddha's statement on non-injury is quite simple and straightforward, later
commentaries give a detailed analysis of the principle. A treatise from Thailand, written
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The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html
by an erudite Thai patriarch, collates a mass of earlier material into an especially
thorough treatment, which we shall briefly summarize here. [29] The treatise points out
that the taking of life may have varying degrees of moral weight entailing different
consequences. The three primary variables governing moral weight are the object, the
motive, and the effort. With regard to the object there is a difference in seriousness
between killing a human being and killing an animal, the former being kammically
heavier since man has a more highly developed moral sense and greater spiritual
potential than animals. Among human beings, the degree of kammic weight depends on
the qualities of the person killed and his relation to the killer; thus killing a person of
superior spiritual qualities or a personal benefactor, such as a parent or a teacher, is an
especially grave act.
The motive for killing also influences moral weight. Acts of killing can be driven by
greed, hatred, or delusion. Of the three, killing motivated by hatred is the most serious,
and the weight increases to the degree that the killing is premeditated. The force of
effort involved also contributes, the unwholesome kamma being proportional to the force
and the strength of the defilements.
The positive counterpart to abstaining from taking life, as the Buddha indicates, is the
development of kindness and compassion for other beings. The disciple not only avoids
destroying life; he dwells with a heart full of sympathy, desiring the welfare of all
beings. The commitment to non-injury and concern for the welfare of others represent
the practical application of the second path factor, right intention, in the form of good
will and harmlessness.
(2) Abstaining from taking what is not given (adinnadana veramani)
He avoids taking what is not given and abstains from it; what another person
possesses of goods and chattel in the village or in the wood, that he does not
take away with thievish intent. [30]
"Taking what is not given" means appropriating the rightful belongings of others with
thievish intent. If one takes something that has no owner, such as unclaimed stones,
wood, or even gems extracted from the earth, the act does not count as a violation even
though these objects have not been given. But also implied as a transgression, though
not expressly stated, is withholding from others what should rightfully be given to them.
Commentaries mention a number of ways in which "taking what is not given" can be
committed. Some of the most common may be enumerated: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]