The Crime of Ordering a Killing on the Way

Original text of the first section of the Sūtra on the Precepts for Upāsakas: 遣令道中死者。知是道中有恶兽饥饿。遣令往至恶道中。作如是念。令彼恶道中死。死者犯不可悔。余者亦犯。同如上说。是名恶道中杀。

Explanation: The method of sending someone to be killed halfway along the road is this: the upāsaka knows in advance that there are ferocious beasts on that road that are hungry, and sends the person he wants to kill onto that perilous road, thinking to himself: "Let him die on that perilous road." If that person dies, the upāsaka commits an irredeemable offense. If that person does not die immediately but later dies because of it, the upāsaka also commits an irredeemable offense. If that person does not die immediately and later does not die because of it, he commits a medium-grade redeemable offense. This is the manner of killing on a perilous road.

Although the person was killed and eaten by wild beasts, not killed by the upāsaka's own hand, because it was brought about by the upāsaka's deliberate scheming, it is still equivalent to the upāsaka killing him—this is even more serious than killing with one's own hands. It innocently causes the wild beasts and that person to form an evil karmic bond, and in the future, when the beasts repay that debt, the pain will be far greater than one life for one life.