The sin of stealing the property of the Sangha of the ten directions

If you are in a monastery, no matter whether an item is useful to the monastery or not, lay practitioners should never take or use it without permission, let alone take it away. Because all property in a monastery belongs to the Sangha of the ten directions, including monks from other worlds beyond the Saha world—monks of all worlds in the ten directions have the right to enjoy its use. If you take something for personal use, you are stealing from monastics of worlds throughout the ten directions, and this is a debt that fundamentally can never be repaid. This offense is a hellish karma, even the karma of the Avīci hell.

Offerings from the ten directions are offerings made by sentient beings in the ten directions centered on the Saha world. The ten directions are east, south, west, north, above, below, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. Property of the Sangha of the ten directions refers to the belongings of monastics from worlds in these ten directions. Worlds vary in size: large worlds refer to the Buddha-lands surrounding the Saha world in the ten directions, while small worlds refer to the small worlds within the Saha world in the ten directions. One small world of the Saha world includes the four great continents, the four great oceans, the seven golden mountains, the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, the Tuṣita Heaven, the Yāma Heaven, the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, and the first dhyāna heaven. One thousand small worlds constitute a medium thousand-world, and one thousand medium thousand-worlds constitute a great thousand-world.

Anyone who has committed this offense must sincerely and earnestly repent before the Buddha until a good sign appears; only then can the karmic offense of stealing from the Three Jewels be eliminated. For example: the Buddha comes to touch your crown and comfort you, telling you that your offense has been eliminated; or you see lotus flowers blooming; or you smell fragrance in the air; or in dreams Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appear to bless you—such auspicious signs are the good signs. Otherwise the offense remains, and at the end of your life you will fall into hell to undergo retribution.

Deliberately or unintentionally wasting monastery property is wasting and consuming the property of the Sangha of the ten directions. This offense is also not small: you owe a debt to the Sangha of the ten directions, which is not easy to repay. Therefore everyone in a monastery must be frugal and not wasteful; if you damage something, you must compensate for it immediately. If the compensation is overdue, you must pay double or multiple times the amount. The precept sutras say that if a person violates the precepts and does not repent, each night that passes doubles the offense; after two nights it doubles again, becoming fourfold. The same applies to debts owed to the Three Jewels: each night that passes doubles the debt. Anyone who has ever privately taken away any item from a monastery, or damaged items, or wasted items—including water, electricity, gas, and the like—must find a way to make amends and compensate. If it is of the nature of stealing, not only must you compensate, but you must also earnestly and diligently repent every day, striving to see a good sign. If you want evil karma to be eliminated and to avoid or reduce evil retribution, there are two ways: first, repentance; second, remediation, including monetary and material compensation.

Some lay practitioners, upon arriving at a monastery, like to take charge and act as masters on behalf of the monastery's teachers, regardless of whether the teachers are willing or permit it. They seize all authority themselves, making decisions on everything without permission, as if they were in their own homes—managing affairs, managing money, and even managing people. Depriving monastics of their rights is an extremely grave offense, and whether it can be purified through repentance is uncertain. Some people, upon arriving at a monastery, even try to manage the monastics themselves, insisting that monastics must follow their own commands in whatever they do or do not do, instructing monastics to do things they have arranged, in order to satisfy their own greed and desire for control—subordinates overstepping their superiors, despising the Three Jewels and the dignity of the Three Jewels. Monastics are not subject to the management or direction of any layperson; only their own teacher has the authority to manage and instruct them, as well as the abbot of the monastery where they reside and the monastics in charge of affairs.

Monastics are primarily subject to the instruction and governance of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions; even Dharma-protecting deities such as the earth gods have no qualification or authority over them, because monastics are directly the Buddha's disciples, not the disciples of Dharma-protecting deities. Monastics may only pay homage to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not to Dharma-protecting deities. Therefore, if a layperson's desire for power is too strong, they must restrain themselves as much as possible; if they truly cannot restrain themselves, they should stay away from monasteries and away from monastics, so as to avoid creating hellish karma and suffering the torment of hell.

There are also some laypeople who like to wear monastic robes and like to use monastics' names. Others like to impersonate monastics in order to receive veneration and various offerings—this is the greatest of thieves among thieves. There are also some lay practitioners who insist on claiming that they themselves are also the Three Jewels and should receive the treatment accorded to the Three Jewels. This is an act that infringes upon the reputation and fame of the Three Jewels; its influence is extremely pernicious. It belongs to great greed and great theft, and does not admit of repentance—repentance is of little use, and they will still have to report to hell.