The Sin of Stealing the Possessions of the Three Jewels

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, and certainly should never casually take it away. This is because all property in a monastery belongs to the monastic community of the ten directions, including monks from worlds beyond the Saha world; monks of the ten directions all have the right to enjoy its use. If you take it for personal use, you are stealing from monks throughout the ten directions—a debt that can never be repaid. This offense is a hellish karma, even the karma of the Avīci hell.

Offerings from the ten directions are offerings from beings of the ten directions—that is, east, south, west, north, above, below, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. Property of the monastic community of the ten directions refers to the belongings of monks from worlds in the 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 worlds within the Saha world in the ten directions. For example, one small world within the trichiliocosm of the Saha world includes the four great continents, the four great seas, 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, as well as the First Dhyāna Heaven. One thousand small worlds constitute a middle thousand-world, and one thousand middle thousand-worlds constitute a great thousand-world.

Anyone who has committed this offense must earnestly repent before the Buddha until a good sign appears; only then can the offense of stealing from the Three Jewels be eradicated. For example: the Buddha comes to touch your crown and comfort you, telling you your offense has been eradicated; or you see a lotus flower bloom; or you smell a fragrance in the air as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas come to bless you. 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 depleting the property of the monastic community of the ten directions; this offense is also not small. The debt owed to the monks of the ten directions is not easy to repay. Therefore everyone in a monastery must be frugal and avoid waste; if anything is damaged, compensation must be made immediately. If compensation is overdue, it must be doubled or multiplied. The precept sutras teach that if a person violates a precept and does not repent, after one night the offense doubles; after two nights, it doubles again—becoming fourfold. The same applies to debts owed to the Three Jewels: they double with each passing night. 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 theft in nature, not only must compensation be made, but one must also earnestly strive in repentance every day, seeking to see a good sign. To eliminate evil karma and avoid or lessen evil retribution, there are two ways: first, repentance; second, remediation—compensation with money and property.

Everyone, whether at home, at the workplace, in a monastery, or in all public places, must be clear about who the owner of each item is, and must not infringe upon the owner's rights of ownership. Before using something, first ask the owner. This includes the rights of your own family members—the ownership of your parents, children, and spouse must not be violated or offended. This is the cultivation and virtue of being a person. Live with purity, and there will surely be pure retribution.

If a monastery deliberately places Buddhist sutras and other items for the public somewhere as gifts to establish affinity, those are given freely to everyone and may be taken at one's own discretion without informing the monastery's supervising personnel. Certain items are managed by designated personnel; if you wish to use them, you must obtain the consent of the designated personnel. If someone is not the designated manager, even their consent is invalid—taking items then constitutes theft. You must check whether a person actually has the authority and duty; you cannot simply find anyone to give permission.

Some lay practitioners, upon arriving at a monastery, like to take charge on behalf of the monastery's masters. Regardless of whether the masters are willing or allow it, they seize all authority and make decisions on everything on their own, as if in their own home—not only managing affairs, but also managing money, and even managing people. This offense is extremely grave, and whether it can be purified through repentance is unknown.

Some people even go so far as to try to manage the monastics themselves when they come to a monastery, 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 wishes—subordinates overstepping their superiors, despising the Three Jewels and their dignity. Monastics are not subject to the management or direction of any layperson. Only the monastic's own master has the authority to manage and educate them, as well as the abbot of the monastery where they reside and the monastic administrators. Most importantly, monastics receive education and governance from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions; even Dharma-protecting deities such as earth gods have no qualification or authority over them, because monastics are directly the Buddha's disciples, not disciples of the 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 should 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 torments of hell.

There are also some laypeople who like to wear monastic robes and like to use monastics' names. Others like to impersonate monastics to gain respect and receive various offerings—these are great thieves among thieves. Still other lay practitioners insist on claiming, "We are also the Three Jewels and should receive the treatment of the Three Jewels," infringing upon the reputation and standing of the Three Jewels. The influence is quite pernicious; this is great greed and great theft, which admits no repentance—repentance is of little use, and they will still have to report to hell.