On Stealing

Suppose a person dies and is reborn as a human again, and by chance he digs open the tomb of his own previous life. Due to the mystery of the intermediate veil, he does not know that this tomb is that of his own previous life. If he takes away the burial objects at this point, does it count as permitted by the owner? If not, does this constitute theft?

Although what this person steals are the possessions of his own previous life, this act still constitutes theft, because there is a thieving mind. All karmic deeds of sin and merit are centered on the mind; without the mind, there is no sin or merit. However, since this person steals his own property, he does not harm others, and the objects are not transferred from another person to himself—the ownership has not changed hands. The karma of theft is thus not fully satisfied, and the offense incurred is slight.

This is the same as the case of someone who clearly goes to another person's home to steal a certain thing, but rummages through everything without finding it. It is also the same as the case of someone who is just about to carry the object away when the owner returns, so he has to abandon the object and flee by himself. These examples show that although the thieving mind exists, the karma of theft is not fully established, the object has not been transferred, and a crime cannot be definitively established; the punishment will be light, and the retributive results will be light.