Six Kinds of Killing Offenses

Original text of the Sūtra on the Karmic Aspects of the Five Precepts for Laymen, Section One: 佛告诸比丘。犯杀有三种夺人命。一者自作。二者教人。三者遣使。自作者。自身作夺他命。教人者。教语他人言。捉是人。系缚夺命。遣使者。语他人言。汝识某甲不。汝捉是人。系缚夺命。是使随语夺彼命时。优婆塞犯不可悔罪。

Explanation: The Buddha told the bhikṣus: Those who violate the precept against killing have three ways of taking a person's life: the first is killing by one's own hand, the second is inciting others to kill, and the third is sending an emissary (to kill on one's behalf). Killing by one's own hand means the upāsaka personally goes to take another's life; inciting others to kill means using words to tell another person: seize that person, bind him, and take his life; sending an emissary to kill means saying to another person (often a subordinate, someone under one's authority): Do you know so-and-so? Seize him, bind him, and then kill him. When this emissary follows the instruction and takes that person's life, the upāsaka commits an irremediable (unconfessable) offense.

The key point here is the difference between inciting others to kill and sending an emissary to kill, and the respective karmic consequences. What is the difference between inciting someone to kill and sending an emissary to kill? "Incite" means to instigate and urge on; in the end, it is the person who was incited who directly kills and violates the precept against killing. The inciter and the incited are in an equal relationship, but the inciter's offense is graver. Sending an emissary to kill, however, means dispatching one's own emissary to kill according to one's instructions—it is killing on one's own behalf. The principal perpetrator of the killing is the upāsaka himself, while the person dispatched merely obeys the arrangement and carries out the task. The dispatcher is the principal offender, and the dispatched person is an accessory, who also bears guilt. Whether it is inciting others to kill or sending an emissary to kill, the principal offender and the chief culprit is the upāsaka himself, so the upāsaka commits an irremediable violation of the precept against killing. His karmic offense is even heavier than killing with his own hands, because although the outcome is the same—one person is killed—inciting and dispatching others to kill also induces them to commit evil karma, defiling their minds and karmic conduct, causing them to form unwholesome karmic bonds with others and planting seeds of evil karma.

Original text of the sūtra: 复有三种夺人命。一者用内色。二者用非内色。三者用内非内色。内色者。优婆塞用手打他。若用足及余身分。作如是念。令彼因死。彼因死者。是犯不可悔罪。若不即死。后因是死。亦犯不可悔。若不即死。后不因死。是中罪可悔。

Explanation: There are three more ways of taking a person's life. The first is killing with one's own internal form (rūpa), that is, with one's own body; the second is killing with non-internal form, that is, killing with instruments outside the body; the third is killing with both internal and non-internal form simultaneously, that is, killing by holding a weapon in one's hand. Internal form refers to the upāsaka's physical body; one strikes and kills with some part of the body, such as striking with the hand, or kicking with the foot / butting with the head, or striking with other parts of the body, while thinking in one's mind: I will beat him to death just like this. After the person who was struck dies as a result, the upāsaka has committed an irremediable offense of killing. If that person does not die immediately but later dies as a result of the beating, the upāsaka has also committed an irremediable offense of killing; if that person does not die immediately, and later does not die as a result, the upāsaka commits a middling, confessable offense.

Original text of the sūtra: 用非内色者。若人以木瓦石。刀槊弓箭。白镴叚铅锡叚。遥掷彼人。作是念。令彼因死。彼因死者。犯不可悔罪。若不即死。后因是死。亦犯不可悔。若不即死。后不因死。是中罪可悔。

Explanation: In the case of killing with non-internal form, if the upāsaka uses wood, tiles, stones, or a knife, lance, bow and arrow, a block of pewter, or a block of lead-tin alloy, and hurls them at that person from a distance, while thinking in his mind of making that person die from being struck, then if that person truly dies as a result, the upāsaka has committed an irremediable offense of killing. If that person does not die immediately but later dies from the blow, the upāsaka has also committed an irremediable offense of killing. If that person does not die immediately, and later does not die from the blow, the upāsaka commits a middling, confessable offense.

Original text of the sūtra: 用内非内色者。若以手捉木瓦石。刀槊弓箭。白镴叚铅锡叚。木叚打他。作如是念。令彼因死。彼因死者。是罪不可悔。若不即死。后因是死。亦犯不可悔。若不即死。后不因死。是中罪可悔。

Explanation: In the case of striking and killing with a combination of internal and non-internal form, if the upāsaka takes in his hand wood, tiles, stones, a knife, a lance, or a bow and arrow, a block of pewter, or a block of lead-tin alloy, or strikes with a block of wood, while bearing in mind the thought of making that person die as a result, then if that person truly dies from the blow, the upāsaka's offense of killing is irremediable. If that person does not die immediately but later dies from the blow, the upāsaka also commits an irremediable offense. If that person does not die immediately, and later does not die as a result, the upāsaka commits a middling offense that is confessable.